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Sonoma County, a diverse county of over one million acres, is famed for its agriculture, industry and recreation, boasting a booming economy and unique lifestyle for its citizens. Described by the same Luther Burbank as the chosen spot of all the Earth, Sonoma County is the place to

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live, work and play as we move into the 21st century. Led by the forward looking philosophy of its governing bodies, Cinema Counties, 340,000 residents are, Ah, harmonious, successful blend of ethnic and economic backgrounds. We invite you to take a closer look at Sonoma County in the

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nineties with your host, Rich McGlinchy. I'm rich. McClatchy in the program is you know, it's only county in the nineties, and, you know, when this program we're going to be saying goodbye in a sense of the word to a gentleman who has been with the county

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government for a long, long time. Uh, he's no, not actually. I guess a member of the county function itself. But in most people's eyes, it will always be part of the county government and direction of family. A gentleman we're talking about his dad, David SAB se,

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and he's the director of the Snow County library system. And I'm very happy to saving a friend of mine for about 20 years. And, uh, I don't like the idea of this being the final visit, but I really think it's wonderful that you finally after how

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many years? 35 someone's Wow, I guess I guess that's okay. I guess you have earned it now. It has been the director of the German county library system. For how many years? Well, I've been a director of libraries in Cinema County for 35 plus years, but

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not always. Wasn't Sanoma County Library were the main system that you hated. Now that has been recorded. Well, that's been since, uh, 75 65 75 went through many times 78 0 um, you retirement date is September 30th. And you say you've been a director for over

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35 years, right? And has been, And then the last, uh, 17 18 of them right here and the ticketea entire county level, right? And done a great job, David. I mean, you with with libraries. Mildred Lee and stepped on the school's office visited was a while

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back. We did a program over represent, and I remember some of the very nice thing she had to say about you and what has been accomplished in that time, and I certainly concur with that. We have a hell of a fine library system, and the reason

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we do is a great deal due to David Sub Day and his sojourns to the border supervisors. Sacramento On all the other ways of keeping the ship afloat, especially when times got really tough, I think everybody knows your real voter. Thanks, sweet. We are technically send

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yard, you know, when a pat on the back instead of kick, um, you must have been in office longer than any other public officials. Only Gary. At this point, I'm sure and passed. People have served longer, but I don't think there's anyone know hitting a major

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agency or department who was in office in 1956. Most can't last 35 years. We had the stamina to go 35 years. Um, let's look back at your career. Who were some of the officials that you worked with over the years that you, uh, that impressed you?

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Or that you enjoyed working with or didn't enjoy working with the case. May be Oh, I'm hard working with all of them. Uh, I had great fun is for Sam Hood, who was city manager of Santa Rosa two times through. I was I was first City

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librarian of Santa Rosa. Huh. Um, it was quite a character in a mentor, in a way. Wrecked with other city managers at that time. Bob Myers, Petaluma. And at Langhart in Healdsburg. On, of course, Neil Smith, County administrator. The time And we're intensively with with his

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successor, Dave Nicholls and Larry under those are some of the appointed. C'mon, of course, City Councilman and supervises back to nine Chedadi. You was very instrumental. And so you work for a lot of different supervisors at the county level. And incidentally, uh, once again, another flower

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in your okay, there. I see many of those people were still living that serve in the past, and they all still hold you in high esteem. May have disagreed with your times, our budget medic, anything. But they believe that you believed in what you were doing,

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and they were supportive. Flavor. Yeah, I've always had good support from government at every level. It's nice to have a career like that. I mean, there's been a lot of downs. I know for you because especially the dollar on a lot of things that you know,

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should have been done and could have brought about but just didn't quite have enough to do it. But you know something? Mildred said Library's being closed everywhere else in the immediate area, and here was from a county building another library. Not not too long back, uh,

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which indicates perhaps a lot of things. Good management and the value in which local government places done libraries and the people and the people most assuredly Um, what was your first position in the library, Gene, And how old were you? Wouldn't started out well. I was

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hired as centres of city Library in in 1956 at the age of 25. Oh, however, it was not a very large library. Will I have to admit it was not a very large library. It was a little old can icky building for handsome building where the

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present main library now is, and staff consisted of four full time people and and two pages students for that's pretty impressive deal. Well, I've never had before. Um, how many people were employed in the library that I'm just for in the city library? And what did

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they do it? What would it was, forward people. Well, the janitor, Well, we're not counting well, one of the most important and beloved figures when Stagnant Jewel, a longtime Children's library for three generations virtually of Santa Rosa. She was. She represented the library, and I have

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the green pleasure of working with her for a few years until she retired and way at all. Dacre, who was a jack of all trades. Who's it all? Dacre? William, who stayed with us many years after that way, had clerical personnel. You worked with Francis Murphy

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before you became the chief over here. That's right, The county she had It was great at first. Another minute. Oh, absolutely. A marvellous person. Dedicated library you equated with Mildred lead to another person is just totally dedicated to library. Wonderful work. So my I mean, you

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know when I have my preferences and what governments are people should sponsor, it's always at the top of the list because I use it's literally I think the one that you operate downtown Santa Rosa is just I'm sure they're all fine. But the one that I

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can is there, and it's just beautiful. I mean references. You really done an amazing job and all the things that are there now. I mean, it's not like the little old library we used to go to her kids. Everything in there, right, Right. It's Ah, it's

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the strongest reference library north of San Francisco, is it? And it's going to get stronger. Have you won a lot of national awards? Don't we tend up to go after awards per se? We just do our job and the recognition compass. I think you're I think

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it's widely regarded as one of the finest library system, certainly in California and I think by many people around the country, but not because we say so, but because it is what it is. Over the years, you know, I've been a public information officer the county

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and travel to other areas in the state. Lost Anderson, North Sacramento, Redding. Rekha Um, you have a rep. Your reputation proceed just all when we go there. When we hear about it, they talk about certain things that you started or something you innovated or something that's

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new. You put a distant recently you put a new somewhat of a terminal out there in the county administration center, which I noticed people were getting in there using that thing every day. All these ideas where they come from, who gave me all these ideas. If

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I told you they wouldn't be my ideas, it's met of keeping up with what's going on in the world around us of now. A days when I go down to the library, I see that you have not only are tapes for Martin Omagh County the Ages

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program, which people can view some of our long pass program, but mainly the fact that you have so much on tape and on video now is this is this, uh, the library of the future, when libraries have never or should never have distinguished among different media.

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Our job is to provide people with information and entertainment, and the medium in which it appears is irrelevant. More and more material appears on video, so we buy it on video. Starting next month, will be will be buying music on CDs because the old vinyl records

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are gone on cassette tapes are going. So if that's what if that's where we can find the material, that's what people want to use. That's what we'll do. And it should always be that way. It's it's the content, not the format that governs it. Just program,

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you know, it's kind of a of, ah, so long and a tribute to you anyway. And this fits in with what you just said here. This group under you, in my opinion, has been as innovative at his progressive moving, not just thinking but moving as any

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library I've encountered in the state of California. That that's that must make you feel really good. Well, it does, particularly because we do it on a shoestring, Um, way Don't have a lot of money. Little time you drink. If you have money, I think you can

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do things with some ease. We do things with difficulty and and always by sorting out priorities, because we we can't do it all. David, how did the Const. Allegation, if you will, of the labouring come about where a lot of threads a lot of threads came

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together, including the good work that Francis Murphy did, and when the county library was established, working with the existing city libraries close relationship I had working with her are the North Bay Cooperative Library system, which we found it together in the in the early sixties. But

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the real impetus came when the city of Santa Rosa was building the new library, largely as a result of a successful bond issue passed by the city voters. But coincidentally, the Congress appropriated that year the first ever money for public library construction in the state Library

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offered us the entire allocation for the state that year. If we would enlarge that building, which was scale on the drawing boards and consolidate the county library with the city library. And we had about 90 days to make that decision and do it way did, um

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and that that was in 1965. And then the next year, Cloverdale joined the merger, and the next year, so basketball in the next year, Sanoma and so on. By 1975 we formed a joint powers agency on that brought in the rest of the library. It's been

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very successful to a family of six, have the library, fearing financially well, uh, compared compared with what I'm tempted. Compared with most libraries in California, it's it's it's it's doing reasonably well. Um, we're on tight rations. Andi will be for some time. We well are funds

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come from a fixed percentage of the property tax base over which no one has any control. So when the tax base rises are our income arises. Um, and if it doesn't rise as much as it will not this coming here because of the recession reduction in

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building, then our revenue does not rise. On the other hand, it can't decrease. The money can't be diverted to other purposes. So there's a floor, a swell as a ceiling, and we just live within that. Those me we'll touch on that a little bit when we

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come back later, gentlemen, we're gonna parts for a moment when we come back and talk more to David said it's a the director of Sonoma County library system who I'm sorry to say, is retiring soon, and we're losing a magnificent public servant. An excellent library director.

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to do the homework, but I have to see it. Let us show off what he learned praising more show you care if they get a dancing? A good chance. Show me a parent who really cares and I'll show you a kid who can learn. Welcome back

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to this edition of Cinema County in the nineties, and this addition is kind of sad one for me because although he's not going to the great beyond, the fellow that's visiting with us in this program, David said, say directed the snowmen kind of library system is

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retiring for public services very soon, and we're losing a a fine library director, one of the finest and also I'm losing close contact with it with a good friend I hope to see more under afterwards. Let's go back into the things you have done is a

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library director. One of the things is how have you been able to retain or maintain reasonable hours of service in spite of all the budget crunch? Very difficult, very difficult in it. And incidentally, we probably are open more hours. Something people I think may take locally

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may take for granted were open probably more hours in any other county. Libraries, certainly in California, 63 hours typically ah, a week and 68 at the main library. The reasons are threefold, I think. Well, we our volunteer corps. Ever since 1978 we've had upwards of 200

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individuals of volunteer time every week to shelve books and keep the shells in order on. That's a major major contribution. We have, ah, very dedicated, re competent staff who know their jobs, and we also have, even though we've built many buildings that we had to take

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under our wing and operate even in difficult times, they were carefully designed, not require any more staff in upkeep than strictly necessary. So I think it's a combination of those factors, David what aspects of this new a county library system Are you proud of stuff? Uh,

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the service that we give. And that's, of course, due to the staff extremely confident and committed staff longevity on the staff the excellent collection that the staff has been able to build over the years, starting from almost scratch, uh, the community support, whether it's the volunteers

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or the friends of the library. We have friends or library organizations in every community, and I'm proud of the building with which they all helped us to to accomplish, because without those, you can't provide decent service. Any major disappointments over the not any. Um, I spent

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a lot of time nudging the Legislature to Teoh take responsibility for funding some elaborate public library service at some level, and and that's been successful but gradually losing ground. That's a disappointment. The Cooperative Library System movement, which we pioneered in in the North May and in

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Sonoma County, are weakening to the point of almost being irrelevant. And that's too bad because libraries are, as we've proven in cinema, county libraries are stronger when they work together cooperatively and then more local. Still, we once out of fine service to the inmates of the

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county jail and on our farm. And, uh, the former sheriff dissolved that contract and that that was a good service that is now gone. And I'm regretting that very much. It has not been renewed. No. Now, that's something we work on. Um, I mentioned earlier on

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when I said, Did you when he made many visits to the border supervisor for the council to Sacramento. You have been active in promoting library legislation all over the state and through the years. Do you want to talk a little bit about those activities? You know,

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in the early days in the sixties, the big push was to get the state to recognize a responsibility for libraries and more specifically to fund cooperative systems. And we have the 1st 1 hears I mentioned in the six county North Bay area was a demonstration. And

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that was a bill which I helped draft and get through. And with the assistance of then Senator Joe McCarthy, Joe Radical, a real Sonoma County senator, uh, carried by Jerry Wald. Ian Lee, Assembly. Uh, subsequently I worked another legislation for Intertype of library cooperations that got

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his fire is the governor's desk, and then Governor Reagan decided to veto lab. Uh, the next time I went back to the Frey was after Proposition 13 when local libraries were hurt so badly because of the reduction in property tax base. And at that point I

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worked with then Senator Jim Nielsen drafted a bill which subsequently became Law, which provides some state funds directly to individual public libraries. That law is still on the books, uh, that the appropriation seems to dwindle each year, and I hope we can reverse that. You, David,

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is a bad thing about this is the library is, and I think it's to the door audiences. It treasure they. They provide anything you want to provide learning. They provide enjoyment. They were fired, escape. They provided a great place to G. O. And, uh, and see

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some of the video here about the past. Read about the past in a magnificent setting. It's a stimulating experience, and yet somehow or other, it's always low on the totem pole of what to do with our taxpayer dollars. And that is really I think, the tragedy,

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and I'm sure you must do well again. I think people assume a lot. I think people and take it for granted, and they're comfortable with it. As long as it's there, it's when it begins to disappear, they become alarmed. One nice new thing you're leaving with,

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sort of speak the new Regan Valley Library. Tell us a little bit about that. Uh, that's exciting because it's the first new library and to be built in the immediate Santa Rosa area in 25 years, it will. It will serve a huge population and Rincon Valley

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and Oakland. Even more important, it will take a lot of pressure off the Central library, which is overcrowded now and will allow that facility to become uneven, stronger reference centre for the whole county. That library system, where your whole rivalry system is really highly automated now,

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isn't it? Is just about everything we do is done through that computer, uh, really efficient do believe me, I'm there a lot, and one doesn't even have to be there people our able with a home computer and note him to dial right into the system and

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your stations out like one administration brief amount of time. We have enough You what future advances. Do you see for our library that is, in the immediate future? I think it's in the field again of automation, but more specifically, telecommunication. We're working on a project now

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with Sonoma State, which will allow our system to tie in to theirs and, in turn, into the California State University system and then into, um, international network so that people will not be limited to what's within the walls of anyone library but literally have access to

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library resource is and other information anywhere in the world. That's the direction our library and other libraries will be moving in quite rapidly. Two quick questions about a minute and 1/2 Here, uh, were you ever tempted to take a position outside the county? Um, early one

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position because I've never, never really wanted to be the to do the same thing in another locality. Too pleasant and too much support here. Um, a couple of times when the state library position was open and I was considered for that, that was a temptation simply

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for the ability to accomplish more over a larger area. But otherwise I've been quite content to, uh, to stay here and grow with this is going to enjoy your retirement. I plan to try, basically. Okay, We got about a minute left. Um I don't quite know

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what else to say. Except today. I like to get together with you sometime soon. For lunch. You tell me how you're getting around, sleeping late and not having all these crises every day, which I know. And you and I have shared over lunch a lot of

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times. The many, many crisis that we both experienced with our positions over the county. Sonoma you certainly have earned your retirement and leaving a splendid facility and a splendid group A facilities, if you will. I sincerely hope I trusted your successor will follow in your footsteps.

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And I hope that I will say this. In all honesty, whoever comes in here, you've got a hell of a job. You replace this man. But I wish whoever takes it over the very best of luck, and I certainly will support you. Thank you. Thank you.

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Pleasure medicine. Gentlemen, the program is to know what kind of the nineties my guest has been my long time friend and the one of the finest library directors instead of California, who is now about to retire the program. As I said, us to know what kind

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in the nineties. I'll see you next week with another member. The county government family were related agency until then. Good night. Good luck and good health to each and every one of you. Visit your library. So, uh,

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you know