As the current budget crisis has shown, public libraries are one of the first services to take a hit when the economy is down. Just last month Santa Cruz County was forced to cut back on hours, programming, and even staff to meet the most recent cuts in funding. Their salvation came from an unexpected sources—volunteers, who have been flooding public libraries asking to help out. Countywide, volunteers have increased 75 percent, totaling 16,000 hours.
As the current budget crisis has shown, public libraries are one of the first services to take a hit when the economy is down. Just last month Santa Cruz County was forced to cut back on hours, programming, and even staff to meet the most recent cuts in funding. Their salvation came from an unexpected sources—volunteers, who have been flooding public libraries asking to help out. Countywide, volunteers have increased 75 percent, totaling 16,000 hours. According to Ron D’Alessandro, volunteer coordinator for Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, community involvement has been so spectacular that he now takes resumes from new volunteers to see where they can fit in best.
Donations of both cash and second-hand books have also shown a significant increase, and the county is now in the process of expanding its small store in the downtown Central Branch to boost revenues even further. Read more at the San Jose Mercury News.
