New Library Book Drop Box
A new drop box has been installed at Ventura Community Park at 901 S. Kimball Road.
This convenient box drop is now available for returning Ventura County Library books.
Summer Reading Program 2013
Ventura County Library
Summer Reading Program
June 2 – August 31
Starting June 1, pick up a reading log at any Ventura County Library. All children and teens up through Grade 12 may participate.
Color a strawberry for every hour that you read or someone reads to you. Complete 5 hours of reading, return your log to any Ventura County Library and pick up a small prize from the prize board.
Turn in 1 log per week, for a total of 12 logs.
All logs will be entered into an end-of-summer drawing for a Nook HD.
Paws for Reading
A reading program designed to help improve a child’s reading skills.
Read aloud to registered therapy dogs
Saturdays
12:00 P.M. — 1:00 P.M.
E.P. Foster Library
For additional information or to schedule an appointment, Call Star Soto, Youth Librarian 648-2716
Library Advisory Commission News
The Commission is forming working committees to implement the first year goals of The Strategic Plan. In addition, committees to explore the future of both the Avenue Library and a library presence in east Ventura are being formed.
If you wish to participate in planning for the future, please email Berta Steele at b.steele@roadrunner.com or Denise Sindelar at dsindelar@ci.ventura.ca.us. We are also planning public meetings to apprise the residents of our progress in meeting our one-year goals and receiving feedback on actions and accomplishments. Watch for announcements and get involved in creating the library of the future for the City of Ventura.
City Council Meeting May 7 Library Issues
City Council takes up question of library paint job
For two years the Library Advisory Commission has been studying the issue of a new paint job for the E.P. Foster Library. Paint samples were applied to the front of the building so that patrons could express their opinion concerning the color. The Design Review Committee, county staff and historic preservation groups were also consulted. The Historic Preservation Committee had a scraping taken to determine the color the building was originally painted. The Library Advisory Commission recommended a parchment with green trim color scheme similar to that of an architectural drawing made before the construction of the building. The Historic Preservation Committee rejected this recommendation and approved the green color scheme discovered through the scraping and seen in this photograph from the 1950′s.
The green option was particularly unpopular with passers-by who expressed an opinion of the paint samples.
The report of the Ventura County Star on the historical color debate can be found here.
The City Council will take up the matter of the paint color at their meeting this Monday, May 7.
At the May 7 City Council meeting, the Library Advisory Commission will also present the Vision for the Future: 2012-2017 Library Strategic Plan. The plan was developed
around specific goals and priorities as identified through numerous community conversations and synthesized into a cohesive plan by the Library Strategic Plan Steering
Committee and the Library Working Group as stewarded by the Library Advisory Commission. The plan will be presented to the City Council with a recommendation to approve and allocate staff and resources to begin implementation. The Vision for the Future can be found as Attachment A to agenda item 2 here.
Library Advisory Commission presents Recommendations to City Council
On Monday, November 14, after three hours of deliberation, Ventura City Council voted 5-2 to adopt the recommendations made by the city’s Library Advisory Commission and Library Strategic Planning Committee.
The recommendations were jointly developed by the Library Strategic Plan Steering Committee and the Library Advisory Commission in a joint session on October 12. Both bodies worked to modify the language of the recommendations made by Santiago Library Consulting to reflect their preferred language and direction. Specifically, the group determined they did not support the consultant’s proposal to downsize E.P. Foster to operations to one floor.
The recommendations as approved unanimously by the Committee and Commissioners
include the following 9 points and are not listed in a priority ranking:
- Refresh the entire collection in both locations in consultation with City representatives and County staff. Exception: local history, rare materials, reference
collection. - Refocus to adopt a more patron-centric work focus. Staff will be working to develop programs and to increase one-on-one interaction with the public to raise the level of engagement with patrons. There is a need for increased bilingual staff to serve an increasingly diverse community.
- Refurbish the library furnishings to accommodate all ages with low shelving,comfortable seating and flexible technology. Signage, book displays, tables,conversation areas, magazine and newspaper areas all need attention.
- Merchandizing ideas should be incorporated into the design of the library. The displays will encourage higher circulation and collection use.
- Reallocate existing funds to acquire “fresh” materials for the collection with special attention to DVD’s, current titles, paperbacks for teens, adults and children.
- Reconfigure the technology area to make the space more inviting. Provide new technologies like e-book readers, laptops, tablets and educational computer games. Provide strong Wi-Fi throughout the facilities and meeting rooms.
- Rethink how programming can be provided to the community. Increase PR and marketing efforts and internet presence to provide greater awareness of the current services offered.
- Reach out to the Latino population in our community. Current service does not provide a focus to this growing community demographic. Programming and material enhancement is needed at all locations.
- Prioritize the creation of a plan to establish a library presence on the east side of town, and determine the resources necessary to implement the plan. The Committee recognizes that the east side of Ventura is underserved, and that a stable source of revenue, including potential use of private funds, will need to be raised and set aside to correct this deficiency.
The Library Advisory Commission formulated two additional recommendations to present to the City Council.
- LAC recommends that Council accept as endorsed the nine points forwarded to the Council in the Staff Report and to work towards implementation immediately upon Council’s approval.
- LAC recommends that Council direct staff to work with the Commission and Ventura County Library Services to seek any and all funding sources and community partnerships to support the achievement of the long-term goals of this process.
City Council also adopted a proposal to form a committee consisting of representatives from City Council, city staff, Strategic Plan Steering Committee and Library Advisory Commission to work with the County Library System to implement the adopted recommendations. This committee will report to the City Council in April 2012.
To read the documents that have been developed through this process, go to the city’s website. To read the account of the meeting published in the Ventura County Star, go to their website.
San Buenaventura Friends of the Library president Kathy Thomson comments appeared in the Star: Bring ‘great equalizer’ into tech age.
Berta Defren Steele, Chair of the Ventura City Library Advisory Commission and vice-president of SBFOL commented: Proposals can be achieved within Ventura’s budget.
Michael Tapia, member of the Library Strategic Plan Steering Committee and principal at Montalvo Elementary School, commented: Public library a treasure for kids and community.
The Library Strategic Planning Process continues
On September 14, the Library Strategic Planning Committee met again with library consultant MaryEllin Santiago. The Ventura Star reported on that meeting: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/sep/15/ventura-libraries-need-new-perks-but-staying-may
There is also a report of the meeting at the city manager’s blog.
In August and September, final information gathering (from the community, organizations and agencies) was completed. The Consultant’s Request for Information which was used to develop four different plans for library service to be presented to the City Council and Frequently Asked Questions about the Library Strategic Planning Process are available at the city’s website.
The meeting of the Library Strategic Steering Committee held on October 12 finalized its recommendations to the Library Advisory Commission and the City Council.
SBFOL Supports the public libraries of the City of Ventura in their delivery of library services, including:
1. Purchase of library materials and equipment, e.g. books, CDs, DVDs, books on tape, display and bookcases
2. Year around reading programs for children and youth
3. Summer programs for children and youth
4. Special programs, e.g. receptions, anniversaries, speakers
5. Increase of public awareness of legislation and other activities that may affect the delivery of library services
The Friends are grateful to be the beneficiary of a relationship with Ventura County Credit Union. By seeking a loan with VCCU, borrowers can choose to become a member of SBFOL during the application process. We appreciate the support and recognition for the Friends that this partnership provides.