Libraries Hit by Cuts Need Help

* Recent budget cuts have resulted in severely reduced funding to the county library system. The result has been cutbacks in operating hours and significant reductions in the purchase of new books.

Whether we agree with them or not, these cuts are a fact of life. As individuals, we may not be able to do much to alleviate the reduced hours, but we can help with the availability of new books.

Many of us buy books, read them, then put them on a shelf. Instead, I suggest that when you have finished a book you donate it to the nearest county library. I am told that they will review each donated book and put it either into circulation or into the Friends of the Library book store.

In either case, your donation will help increase the availability of current titles in the library.

As an added benefit, I believe that properly documented donations to the library are tax deductible for those who itemize their tax returns.

This would be a small way for each of us to help improve our local library with no added taxes or cost to us.

DONALD A. WOODMANCY

Laguna Niguel

* I am upset that Orange County public libraries are closing down and reducing hours. It seems that whenever government budgets are cut, the first things to go are the services ordinary people use most.

Few government services are as useful to the average citizen as the library. We learned to read because of libraries. We want our children to have the same privilege. We want to support the libraries.

The politicians know this. They think we will support taxes to fund the libraries. So they cut library funds, hoping they can then look like heroes by raising our taxes. The result is that taxes go up and services go down, while massive bureaucracies are left untouched, subsidies stay intact, and vocal interest groups are as well funded as ever.

JEFF CRAMPTON

Laguna Niguel