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Ralph Gallegos flips through children's books as he hunts for his 4-year-old son at the San Pedro Library. New technology and a growing city are putting the squeeze on many libraries, especially older ones like San Pedro, located at Trumbull Avenue and San Pedro Drive Southeast.

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Eileen O'Connell has a lifelong illness and she hopes it is catching.

O'Connell developed her illness as a child when she first visited her neighborhood San Pedro Library, which she now manages.

It got worse when she got her first high school job at the library as a book shelver.

"It just confirmed the library disease," O'Connell said. "It's sort of like being a New Mexican. It gets in your blood and it stays there."

She hopes. But gone are the days when libraries only served up books. Nowadays, it's not just a love of books that brings patrons to the city's 17 libraries.

New technology and a growing city are putting the squeeze on many libraries, especially older ones like San Pedro.

And city and library officials are starting to talk about just how they might fix the crunch.

Waiting for a cyberspace

A growing population and an urgent need to use the Internet play dual havoc on San Pedro Library.

City Councilor Martin Heinrich has initiated a study in his district to determine whether a San Pedro expansion or renovations are viable options for improving library services.

"I think that the San Pedro library is just an example of one library that just can't meet the demand anymore," Heinrich said. "They've done everything they can to get as much use out of that library as possible. There are shelves and shelves stacked on top of each other, but the needs of the community are not being met."

San Pedro, at the corner of Trumbull Avenue and San Pedro Drive, is a modern building with geometric architecture and a Southwestern flair. The 7,000 square feet of space holds 57,000 volumes.

San Pedro has 10 public access computers. In September 2007 alone, San Pedro saw a monthly average of 2,000 computer sessions.

San Pedro library patrons say it is not uncommon to wait half an hour to an hour for a computer, especially during after-school hours.

The Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System's 17 libraries have a combined circulation of 4.3 million. The system is focused on improving library services throughout Albuquerque, said Toni Martorelli, director of the city Department of Cultural Services, which includes the library system.

"We try to offer a uniformity of services. We want people to get the same quality of service and the same opportunities for services at each library," O'Connell said. "That said, we're different sizes, so we can hold different numbers of books and computers and those kind of things."

Martorelli said the library system is currently developing a master plan that will help it meet long-term goals for keeping up with the needs of its 350,000 patrons.

"We look at how the city is growing and where we are providing various services and where we need to build new facilities," Martorelli said.

Martorelli said what a library looks like and where new ones are placed is important, but keeping existing facilities up-to-date is just as important.

"Libraries are changing," Martorelli said. "Internet access has changed libraries and the issue becomes, 'What kinds of libraries should we have?' "

Needs outnumber finances

Julia Clarke, director of the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System, said although new libraries are built larger to meet growing demands, the size of a library is still driven by budget.

"It is a significant capitol investment," Clarke said.

The Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System has a budget of $11,915,000 for fiscal year 2008, up from $11,261,000 in 2007.

One recent change beginning to take place throughout the city is the expansion of library hours to seven days a week. However, more hours also means a need for more staff.

Heinrich said every improvement to library services always hits a roadblock: funding.

"I've been frustrated with the level of funding at libraries," Heinrich said. "I feel like libraries are something that everybody uses."

Some ideas tossed around for improving library services are limited-service libraries in storefronts or kiosks, 21st century bookmobiles and audio books on iPods.

Already, people don't even have to leave their homes to take advantage of the technology that libraries offer, Martorelli said. Anyone with a library card can now download electronic books onto their iPods or access databases of information that would otherwise be too costly for most individuals to afford.

The library system determines what the needs of the community are by closely monitoring the usage if its resources and listening to advisory boards, Heinrich said.

"The Cultural Services Department has been very responsive to me," Heinrich said. "The question is, 'Are we doing enough as a city?' "

Heinrich said city officials also need to hear citizens' concerns about their libraries.

Martorelli said conversations that patrons have with their librarians get back to library officials.

For now, the library system's highest priority will be to maintain existing service in all the libraries, Martorelli said.

"There aren't any easy answers because any answer that we come up with - whether it's for the District 6 area or for the city as a whole - the human, the financial and the political capital that need to come together is going to be a very big undertaking," O'Connell said. "What I love is that there's already been a commitment to make this better."