Candidate Q & A: Steven Lamb

Glendora Patch asked the candidates for Altadena Library Board to answer questions before the Nov. 5 election. All the candidates answered the same questions via email.

Name: Steven S. Lamb

Age: 56

Occupation: Residential designer/historic preservation consultant

1. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background and why you should be elected.
I believe my background makes me uniquely qualified at this moment to serve on the Altadena Library Board. I am a lifelong Altadena resident who has spent the last thirty five years professionally in the Historic Preservation, Contracting and Design businesses. I served for 19 years on the Altadena Town Council, on the Land Use Committee and twice as the Land Use Chair. I was a Library Board member for eight years and was responsible for convincing the board to raise the assessment to the present level so the library could function without a yearly fiscal crisis. I have also served on the Board of Directors of the Altadena Chamber and Christmas Tree lane Association and many more not for profits out of town.

What do you think distinguishes you from other candidates? What do you bring to the table?
I think the biggest two things that distinguish me from others running for the Library Board are my broad scope view of Altadena's history and how all the pieces of the town fit together governmentally and socially. I actually, because of my experience know , when say the project architect says the county will waive parking requirements, that I need to call someone to confirm that, and I know who to call to get a definitive answer. That kind of experience and relationship with the various structures becomes very important when an institution, such as the library, is undergoing dramatic change, and libraries are undergoing dramatic change over the next two decades.
 
I think the next thing is that I have remained curious about libraries since my past time on the Altadena Library Board. Every time we go anywhere, my wife can tell you, I stop into the library and ask a LOT of questions. I also am writing three books and spend a lot of time in different private and university libraries. Many libraries are doing different things to meet the challenge of the future. Some, Like the Avery Library at Columbia University,  are fully digitalizing their collections and dropping them on the Web for easy universal use. Some are beefing up special and rare collections that there are user fees to access, some are doing what the Netherlands have done and are becoming open free access internet providers, and some are hugging the books and hoping nothing will change. Some are attempting to become social centers of their region.
This is an exciting time because we can choose what route or combination of them to take.

2. Tell us about an issue that is facing the Altadena Library and how would you work to resolve that issue?
The Altadena Library is facing several important issues all at once at the present time. We have a building that must be remodeled to meet the ADA, we have a population that is undergoing dramatic demographic shift and that will be shifting dramatically for at least two decades, we face a change over the next two decades as to what a book will be, our collection is Spanish and other languages needs expansion, and we need an increase in our literacy program with some augmentation to adult English Language Learning.
 
 These issues, however, can not be effectively solved unless we solve the biggest issue, that being that the Library as a institution has become closed and insular and at arms length from the Altadena public. Most Altadenans have no idea we have a Library District, and most I have met are shocked to find that there is a discussion of remodeling the main branch and spending $12 Million or more on that project. The Library Board actually actively discourages people from running, in order to discourage elections from happening, and to keep the library from having to spend money on an election and do the peoples business in the light of day. The Major reason I decided to run, aside from the fact that I believe I can be very helpful to the District, is to begin to air these issues by causing an election to happen. The library must become an institution that is transparent and open and engaged with the public. I plan on using my relationships with the Altadena public, the local press, and government to push towards more openness and more open, honest, not facilitator controlled discussion of the issues facing the Altadena Library.

3. What are the most pressing issues facing the community today? How would you approach and resolve these issues?
I think what I have said for the Altadena Library District, is true of the town, generally. It almost doesn't matter what major issue I pick, the only way to effectively solve it is through community engagement. Our institutions have become disengaged and self serving. The Altadena Town Council, Chamber and so on are in a echo chamber where they can not hear the public and the public is not participating.  Altadena as a place relies on an army of volunteers to accomplish everything that happens in town. The volunteer pool is aging, and younger people who would volunteer are either being shut out or so disrespected at a basic level, that they decide to go have a completely private life and disengage. I hope that by revitalizing the Altadena Libraries transparent community engagement, back to the kind of engagement we had in 1962-1966 when we planned and built the present main branch, that we can rekindle the Altadena spirit of small town community volunteerism and neighborliness.