Fresno County's 34 libraries scrambled to open their doors during last month's labor strike.

Library managers worked the counters and volunteers pitched in to make up for missing staff. But no evening hours were offered, no seniors' or children's programs were held, and little individual attention was given to visitors.

Even so, 14 libraries didn't open at all.

That scenario, library officials say, is a preview of what lies ahead if the library system loses funding from a countywide sales tax, due to expire next year.

"It's definitely a good forecaster of what things would look like," county Librarian Laurel Prysiazny said. "Actually, it might be worse."

A county report released last week suggests that without the sales tax, which represents about half the library system's budget, 154 of 292 employees would be let go, about half of the branches would close and hours at the remaining branches would shorten. The report did not say which branches would be affected.

Library supporters, meanwhile, are stepping up their efforts this month, kicking off the campaign to extend the 13-year-old, one-eighth-cent Measure B sales tax. Passage of the measure, which county supervisors have committed to putting on the Nov. 6 ballot, is anything but certain.

Four years ago, the last library measure came up short of the needed two-thirds vote. And today's struggling economy, on top of what is expected to be a long list of competing ballot measures in November, is likely to handicap the initiative -- even as library supporters begin early to deliver a message of potential havoc.

"Everybody values the library, but these are times where we have to be frugal about the dollars we do have," said Al Smith, president and CEO of the Fresno Chamber of Commerce. "Do we pay more for libraries than we do for public safety? Do we pay more for state government services? All of these things have to be on the table."

The Fresno chamber has not taken a position on the library measure. But the group opposed the library's 2008 initiative, which called not only for extending Measure B -- then halfway through its second seven-year term -- but doubling it. The chamber argued that higher taxes weren't justified.

Key to library operations

Last year, Measure B made up 45% of the Fresno County Public Library System's $26 million budget.

The tax money paid for everything from new books to librarian salaries to branch upgrades. Since the measure's passage in 1998, the nearly $150 million raised also has helped build several new libraries, including the crown-jewel Woodward Park Regional Branch in 2004.

The investment, library officials say, has paid off in increased library use. The number of materials checked out, for example, has increased 21/2 times since Measure B's passage -- to 3.9 million items last budget year.

Richard Bernard, a senior vice president with the Santa Monica-based political consulting firm FM3, said upticks in library use generally bode well for library taxes. Much of the increase, he explained, has been driven by the embrace of technology by local libraries.

"We've become a computer-dependent society, yet not everyone has a computer," he said

Bernard's firm is being sought by Fresno County for polling.

The county library system has 289,665 card-holders.

The system already has seen cuts in recent years as the economy has dipped into recession. Both Measure B collections and property taxes, which together make up nearly 90% of the library budget, have fallen.