Previously in the Neighborhood Series, Lacey Baldiviez of Fairview Gardens cited the Goleta Library as a collaborator and neighbor, and sure enough, the library is right next-door, at 500 North Fairview Avenue.
We spoke with Allison Gray, Supervising Librarian and soon-to-be-Director, to learn more about the library’s role in the neighborhood.
The library serves the city of Goleta as well as the area known as “Noleta” (including Isla Vista, Hope Ranch, and other unincorporated areas), which means there are about 89,000 people in the “neighborhood.”
Contrary to trends elsewhere, this library serves an average of 700-1000 visitors on a slow-to-normal day, and up to 1300 on days with children’s programming. (Editor’s note: As I waited in front of the library on a Tuesday morning, I held the door for a visitor who told me she likes to arrive right when the library opens at 10:00 AM; otherwise there might be no parking available.) According to Gray, “Our neighbor church (First Church of Christ, Scientist) is very good about letting our guests use their parking lot, for which we are very appreciative.”
The library boasts an extremely active children’s department, offering services from birth through age 12, with weekly programs for toddlers and their parents or caregivers. “The staff member who runs these is like the baby whisperer. She does one program for children 12-36 months old and regularly gets 40 children and their adults, and she holds their attention for the whole time.”
Gray adds that children are not the only beneficiaries: “This is a really great program because many are first-time moms and they’re a little bit isolated. They meet peers and form social groups, creating connections that give them a deeper place in the community. What starts at the library often grows far beyond the library, which is wonderful.”
As part of its STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) programming for school-age kids, the library offers two 3-D printers, teaching kids how to create their own printable objects – with related instruction in coding, design, etc.
“We work a lot with community partners; bringing experts in on a broad range of subject matter. There are crafts and computer classes, Internet access for the community, special computers appropriate for kids, and all the traditional library services, loaning books, dvds, cds, large print editions, magazines, newspapers, etc.”
The service desk is positioned near the entrance so everyone is greeted, and staff strives to make everyone feel welcome. It must be working; the library has a quarter-million visitors annually and circulates over 600,000 items per year – as much as a library four times its size.
In addition to Fairview Gardens, other neighbors work closely with the library, including Fire Station 12 on Calle Real, which conducts safety programs for both children and seniors. Dos Pueblos High School provides teen volunteers that help with summer reading programs for younger kids, craft lessons, and 3-D printer programs.
Neighbor and partner Channel City Kennel Club provides supervised dogs to help reluctant readers in the PAWS to Read program: “It’s very stressful for kids to read aloud in school, with the teacher correcting them and other kids teasing, but kids build confidence and find the joy of reading by reading to dogs. Test results show how this relaxes the kids and gets them to practice and get better at reading. One of our first PAWS to Read kids is now an honors student in high school, but as a third-grader he struggled; during the first year of this program his reading scores went from very low to above average. It’s adorable to see kids pick out two books and show them to the dog: ‘Okay, Barney, which one do you want to read?’ and whichever one Barney looks at, that’s the book they read to Barney.”
Two meeting rooms, one with a capacity of 133 and the other seating 12, are used by non-commercial community groups, including homeowners associations, a Ford Model A Club which fills the parking lot with cool old cars), and other clubs and groups. The larger room and library foyer are also used for displaying artwork from the Goleta Valley Art Association, the Santa Barbara Fiber Arts Guild, and the Goleta Unified School District, which every May covers the walls with amazing children’s artwork.
As we write this, the Goleta Library is a branch of the Santa Barbara Public Library System and has been staffed and managed by the City of Santa Barbara under a contract with the City of Goleta. On August 15, 2017, the Goleta City Council unanimously voted to assume direct management and operation of the Goleta Library, effective July 1, 2018.
On that day, Allison Gray takes over as Director of the Goleta Valley Municipal Library, and her neighbors and the Santa Barbara Foundation wish Allison all the best in this new endeavor.
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