Please help us deprivatize the Temecula Public Library and put it under the care of the city and the community.

The Ronald H. Roberts Temecula Public Library has been a long-beloved staple of our community for almost 20 years. What many people don’t know is that the library is not actually “public” and is currently being run by a privatized company, Library Systems and Services (LS&S) that controls even the most basic aspects of library operations.

Library workers that have put in years of devoted service to the community are still making minimum wage, with veteran circulation staff earning the same wage as the newest hires – just $16.00 per hour – under the LS&S policies. Despite years of hard work, Temecula Library employees have absolutely no opportunities for raises or bonuses, even if their job performance is exceptional. Experience and performance hold no value to LS&S. Worse still, there are many trained reference librarians at the Temecula Library who, despite their high qualifications and masters degrees, can’t even afford to move out of their childhood homes due to such low pay. Library staff devote their days to providing invaluable services to their community. They share the joy of handing children their first library cards, becoming an integral part of their lifelong learning journey, offer a kind smile for the elderly who come in every day just to have someone to talk to, promote literacy (which is invaluable), and so much more. Despite the priceless impact they make, they feel undervalued and overlooked by those they work for. The corporate mentality that dictates their work atmosphere views them not as public servants, but merely as customer service workers, when they are so much more than that. In the past five years alone, the library has seen an alarming turnover in staff. In that timeframe, almost 80 hardworking and passionate staff members have been lost to an atmosphere poisoned with low morale and poor compensation. Frustratingly, the vacancies these departures create are often left unfilled by LS&S in order to save money, leading to severe understaffing. Specifically, the Temecula Library circulation department now operates with nearly half the staff it had just five years ago, which makes it more and more difficult to provide patrons with the service they deserve. The pressing need to replace hard-working employees who leave due to low wages, the demands of an understaffed environment, and the burnout caused by a toxic workplace must be addressed. Public libraries should always remain dedicated to serving their communities, not profit-making entities.

On top of monopolizing staffing decisions, LS&S has been making an incessant stream of other decisions without consulting library management, imposing changes without considering if they properly accommodate our community. Gradually, more control is being shifted from the library itself to the company and the county.This encroachment has been so extensive that library staff are now obligated to remove items that haven't been checked out within the last three years, thereby eradicating valuable resources from their shelves. The Temecula Public Library has a meaningful history nurturing community life by offering free access to the full spectrum of human knowledge. In due time, bestsellers, recent releases, and acknowledged classics will dominate the shelves, while others are unceremoniously cast aside. Soon enough we’ll live in a world where, for instance, if a student needed a less mainstream, more obscure book, or perhaps an older non-fiction book for a research project, they would most likely not find it there. This situation denies access to critical educational resources. When we give our libraries to private entities, we run the risk of accepting a skewed system that curates its collection not based on educational and cultural value, but on popularity and financial considerations. The essence of a library is its ability to cater to its local community, and this includes a collection that matches the needs, aspirations, and interests of its patrons. Public libraries are not just buildings full of books. They are the heartbeat of our communities and neighborhoods, a source of knowledge, and a refuge for those who seek solace in the pages of a book. They serve as the epicenters for public learning, places where imagination can grow.  Public libraries are a pillar of our society, and their well-being should rest in the hands of those who genuinely understand their value and mission

Not only is the library collection being impacted by the insensitive decisions made by LS&S, so is the library’s long-beloved summer reading programs. Within the past few years, impersonal company and county policies have taken control, implementing a one-size-fits-all programming system that is slowly starting to eliminate the diverse and treasured programs our library has always had since its opening in 2006. Their ultimate goal is uniformity between all libraries in the library system. For instance, the program no longer has weekly games and quizzes for the teens and adults like it used to solely because it wouldn’t be consistent with the other libraries’ programming. Despite how beloved they were by our patrons and how much they encouraged patrons (especially teens) to read and come back to the library every week, the library is no longer allowed to have them. The joy, engagement and enrichment that these programs brought to library patrons (from ages 1 to 100) is slowly dwindling because of county and company decisions.  Even the weekly prizes for the program are becoming cheaper and unoriginal as time goes on. Library programming plays a significant role in the lives of the community members. Yet, the soul of this programming is being drained. Our libraries are more than just storage for books; they are integral components of our community. Our elderly need them. Our children need them. I, as a former library worker, need to see their grandeur restored, not commercialized.

I urge Temecula city officials to reverse this trend, to restore pride in our work, and to ensure our community retains its valuable resource by making the Ronald H. Roberts Temecula Public Library a CITY library. This isn’t just about the community or the workers, it’s about the integrity of the library itself. Libraries are a public service, not a business. They should be for the public and by the public.  

Please sign this petition to help Temecula reclaim its beloved library. Pass it on to your friends and family to spread the word. Your signature can be the crucial voice that initiates this change.