Libraries around Santa Barbara County have reached an equilibrium where funding is balancing services and expenses, a dramatic change from recent years when a sea of red ink sent agitated pleas for help to the Board of Supervisors. At Tuesday’s meeting, $4.6 million from the county would keep the libraries solvent, while Isla Vista would begin to consider how to use its per capita funds.
Jay Freeman, a member of the I.V. Community Services District (IVCSD) who said he was speaking for himself, proposed that letting Isla Vista handle its own library contracting would be liberating: “The county may be excited at the idea that it’s not your problem anymore. I.V., Santa Barbara, and Goleta can argue among ourselves,” he said, a reference to the bitter fight between Santa Barbara and its then-satellite branches in 2017 over fees.
Five of the cities in the county — Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Santa Maria, Goleta, and Carpinteria — fund their libraries, too, as well as their branches to some degree. Goleta broke away from Santa Barbara’s public library system in 2018, joining up with Buellton and Solvang libraries. It has been serving Isla Vista with a bookmobile, purchased with funding from the state provided by State Senator Monique Limón, since 2021. Goleta has also been using Isla Vista’s per capita amount — $8.88 per patron this year, which the county provides to all the libraries — for Fairview Avenue, its main library and home to the bookmobile.
Marcos Aguilar, president of the I.V. Community Services District, assured the supervisors that they would like to take over the decision-making on how to direct the funds. “I’ve worked at the UCSB library for 10 years,” he said, “and libraries are dear to my heart.” He indicated they might choose to stay with Goleta, but that IVCSD would like to be able to decide how the money was used.
Supervisor Bob Nelson argued, “We don’t pay for city roads, but we pay for city libraries,” and was the sole dissent in the 4-1 vote to give staff the green light to begin talking with IVCSD on administering library services and I.V.’s per capita sum.