Congratulations to Goleta for supporting their library and making it local again! Now if only Santa Barbara could do the same.
Sadly, our current administration seems to be “autocratic,” as Corinne Horowitz, president of the active Friends of the Goleta Valley Library, indicated. The downtown library now has fewer books, invisible staff, and poorly lit spaces. It has shut down or impoverished the mystery, science fiction, and paperback sections. It is nonresponsive to citizen feedback — as my husband and I discovered after filling out a complaint slip and never hearing from anyone. Even the Friends of the Library group seems to be unwelcoming to newcomers.
What can our community do to take back and revitalize our downtown library? Refurbishing the building and holding movie nights just isn’t cutting it.