Students Spared from $80 Library Card for Non-Residents

Pay $80 a year for a library card? The  and its counterparts in the county library system will ask patrons living outside their cities to do just that starting July 1. With one exception.

On Thursday, the Joint Powers Authority Board, in response to public outcry, voted unanimously to exempt students who attend schools whose districts overlap with the boundaries of the Santa Clara County Library District.

"So we're really thrilled that the JPA will offer the limited card for students for free," Cheryl Houts, community librarian. "It will enable us to continue our outreach to our local schools and provide library cards regardless of their residency."

"Campbell is a unique city in that its schools in the district serve residents in San Jose, Campbell and Los Gatos," she said.

Almost 60 percent of library card holders live outside of the city, she said. About 45 percent of the circulated items are checked out to patrons who reside outside of Campbell.

The state reimburses the libraries for each item checked out by those patrons, but the money has dwindled to 15 cents per item. The cost to the library is about $3 per item.

By charging, the Santa Clara County Library system forgoes state reimbursement while, at the same time, projects to recover $240,000 from an estimated two percent of the non-resident patrons. With the student exemptions, the revenue is estimated to go down to $208,000.

Students from preschool to the 12th grade will be eligible for a one-year limited use library card, good for five checked out items and computer access. Students are required to provide proof of their student status and attend a school in a district which overlaps with the boundaries of the Santa Clara County Library District. Private school students are also eligible.

The theme of the "haves" and the "have nots" carried during the meeting on Thursday. San Jose residents, who use the Campbell and Milpitas libraries, stand to see their own library hours reduced to three days a week with impending city budget cuts. 

"I can't tell you how much my stomach turns," said Campbell Mayor Jason Baker, who said he supported the idea that libraries ought to be open and free. "However, I can't go to my constituents and ask them to do it alone."

Half of the patrons of the Campbell Library are from San Jose, he said.

The decision to charge is "against the principle of a public library," said Jean Mordo, a Los Altos Hills councilmember, who sits on the Joint Powers Authority Board. "It should be free. Period." 

Mordo said the Los Altos Public Library would look for a way to pay for the cards for non-Los Altos residents.