Library's fund campaign reaches $1 million goal
Somis man's Chicago-based charity donates $375,000
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

For the Camarillo City Council, 2007 has already been a very good year.

The city began the new year by accepting a $375,000 grant for the new Camarillo Library from the Esper A. Petersen Foundation during Wednesday's council meeting.

The donation has helped push the library's "Next Chapter" fundraising campaign total past its $1 million goal.

The grant money, city manager Jerry Bankston said, will be used to stock the homework study center in the children's section, which will be named the "Esper A. Petersen Foundation Study Center" in recognition of the Illinois-based charity.

Established in 1945, the foundation was created by Esper A. Petersen with money he had amassed as a one of the first plastic manufacturers in the United States, his son, Somis resident Esper Petersen Jr., said.

Petersen, 56, said his father came to the U.S. as a "poor immigrant" from Denmark in the 1920s and went on to make his fortune in plastics.

Soon after his retirement, the senior Petersen founded his charity "to improve social conditions and to advance the good will among men through education," Petersen said in a letter to the city.

Following his father's death in 1969, Petersen eventually took over as the foundation's director, and now co-manages the charity with his sister, Ann.

Petersen, who moved to the area from Chicago last year with his family following his "semiretirement" from his work as a real estate developer, said he heard of the "Next Chapter" campaign at its September inception.

The city plans to use the campaign money to stock the library, slated to open in March, with 40,000 books and other learning materials.

To meet state requirements for public libraries, Bankston said the city wants the library to eventually house more than 225,000 books and materials- more than double its current number.

Within a few weeks of the campaign's kick-off party, Petersen invited the city to submit a grant application to his family's foundation. By mid December, the city's request was approved and a check was written soon after, Bankston said.

"I'm really impressed with the way the city's employees and elected officials have put together the grants to fund the library," Petersen said. "It's an amazing building; they did a great job getting the grants and it's going to be a huge asset to the city of Camarillo."

During the fundraising campaign, city officials said the children's library is one of the most highly anticipated features of the 65,000-square-foot facility.

"I think one of the reasons it has attracted so much attention is when you look at the totality of the new library, it's easy to draw a comparison that the children's library is going to be the same square footage as the entire old library," Bankston said.

The city's old library on Ponderosa Drive is about a quarter the size of the new facility.

The homework study center is the largest of three new library rooms that require additional funding because of the special services and computer equipment they house.

Major donors are still needed to pay for the library's $250,000 adult literacy center and the $150,000 technology center. Bankston said the old library had six computers; the new one will feature wireless Internet access and a bank of 80 computers open to the public.

The $26 million library will serve approximately 90,000 residents from throughout the Pleasant Valley area and is expected to open in March.

Petersen lives in Somis on his 180-acre ranch with his family, wife, Olga, and their two sons, Esper, 6, and Martin, 6 months.

For additional information on the "Next Chapter" campaign, call (805) 388-5307.