REPAIRS MEAN NEW CHAPTER FOR LIBRARY.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Five years after the Northridge Earthquake, the Newhall Public Library will close for seismic retrofitting funded in part by a federal disaster assistance grant.

The temporary closure will begin Monday at the library, 22704 W. 9th St. The library is scheduled to reopen March 8, said Nancy Mahr, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County library system.

During the five-week closure, the library will hold its popular children's story times at the Santa Clarita Valley Boys & Girls Club. The hourlong sessions, held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Fridays, will meet Feb. 9, 12, 16, 19, 23 and 26 at the club, 24909 Newhall Ave.

Library officials are encouraging patrons to use the branches in Valencia and Canyon Country while the Newhall site is out of commission. The Valencia branch is at 23743 Valencia Blvd., in the civic center complex next to the sheriff's station and the courthouse. The other branch is at 18536 Soledad Canyon Road.

Sandra Duncan, a regional administrator for the county library system, said repairs and upgrades on the library could be completed faster and more easily if crews didn't have to work while employees and the general public around were using the building.

``When you work with stucco, it's really dusty. It's too small of a library to remain open and try to do all that work,'' Duncan said.

The 4,800-square-foot building, which the county has leased as a public library since 1957, houses a collection of 55,000 books, periodicals, videos, CDs and other materials, Duncan said.

Library staff won't have to clear out the building in advance of the work. ``We're going to pack up some of the items, and for the rest of it (workers) will probably put some drop cloths and plastic over it,'' Duncan said.

``We don't anticipate too much moving things out at all.''

The Valencia branch library sustained serious damage to its building and books in the Northridge Quake. ``It was closed for nine months for repair and renovation because of all the damage,'' Duncan said.

By comparison, the Newhall branch emerged relatively unscathed. ``Once we got our books back on the shelves, we opened,'' Duncan said.

During the closure, library borrowers can return materials in the Newhall book-drop or keep them until the branch reopens. The loan period will be extended until March 15, with no penalties for books borrowed Jan. 11 and after, Duncan said.

Fliers about the upcoming closure have been posted at the Newhall branch to alert visitors, she added.

Irwindale-based Gibraltar Construction will perform the refurbishments, which will be paid for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency grant and the county library system's insurance policy.

``In cases where there's insurance for a facility, we'll pay a facility's deductible plus any other costs that are eligible and aren't covered by an insurance company,'' said Brett Hansard, a spokesman for FEMA's quake-recovery office in Pasadena.

The repairs and retrofit are covered by FEMA's public assistance program, which is designed to reimburse states, counties and local governments for disaster losses associated with public buildings, Hansard said.

Newhall is one of 84 public libraries in the Los Angeles County system, county librarian Mahr said

Hansard said structural damage included cracks to shear walls throughout the building, structural failure at the connections between the building's steel frame and wood frame, and cracked walls at the foundation level.

Other damage included seven broken windows along the building's north and west facades, broken ceiling tiles and cracked asphalt in the parking lot.