One big library would have been better than two little ones

I am a 15-year-old Boy Scout of Troop 745 and I am writing you this letter for the Citizenship in the Community merit badge. I want to talk about the issue of having the two libraries of Westlake Village and Agoura.

Last year I participated in an Academic Decathlon, in the Current Events portion of the competition. I was required to look at the USA Today newspaper from September to February of that year. I went to the Westlake library and found only current newspapers. I then went to the Agoura library, where I found more newspapers.

Ultimately, I had to go to the Thousand Oaks library, where I was able to finish reading the newspapers. This was very inconvenient for me, as I had little time in which to prepare. If the Westlake and Agoura libraries had been combined, I am sure that I would only have needed to visit the one conjoined library because it would have been large enough to hold this information.

These two libraries are about a mile apart and it seems idiotic that they should not be combined to form one library for both cities. This makes sense because by having a conjoined library, the citizens of the two cities would be able to have access to a larger library able to provide more.

It would also make checking out books easier because the two libraries would have a larger set of books, if combined. The issue of having library cards would be easier, as citizens would only have to obtain one library card. Our family has found it necessary to have a T.O. library card. If the two libraries were combined, we would have the facilities available to us that are now only available in T.O.

I wish that the two city councils had been able to reach an agreement on the libraries because it would have been much easier for the average citizen to be able to go to one large library and not have to waste time driving to two libraries.

As a resident of Westlake Village, I hope that in the future, our city council will be able to cooperate with other cities in making this town better for everyone.

Tim Koch

Westlake Village