Book Fund Drive Tops $10,000 GoalIn July, the Friends of the Chula Vista Library board launched a fund-raising campaign to offset recent reductions in the library budget for books, magazines and other materials. The good news is that we reached our goal of $10,000 in less than two months!
The not-so-good news is that the library currently has a book budget of just $75,000 - down from $525,000 a few years ago - which represents about 30 cents per city resident. The library serves about 600,000 visitors per year. But among the 184 public library systems in California, Chula Vista ranks fifth from the bottom in per capita spending for books. To ensure that the library has adequate funding for books, the board recently secured a $10,000 grant from the Chula Vista Public Library Fund at the San Diego Foundation. The board also solicited donations through a direct mail campaign with the theme "Imagine a library . . . without books." That campaign has now raised almost $12,500. To contribute, please click on the Donate link at the top of the page. Tax-deductible contributions may also be mailed to: FCVL Book Fund, P.O. Box 393, Chula Vista, CA 91912. Donations of $50 or more will be acknowledged with a commemorative bookplate in books purchased with the fund. Click here to download a PDF of the campaign flier above. Don't let those shelves stay empty!
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