Some 75 die-hard library supporters turned out on a cold morning late last week to show their continued support for the city's libraries.

"We were one voice, and it worked," said Aitan Mizrahi, a rally organizer. "No branches were closed. We must continue to put up a good fight."

City officials recently pledged to keep all 15 branch libraries open. Also, in response to the public outcry against some planned cuts, the City Council voted Friday to put $96,000 back into the department's books and materials budget.

The library budget for materials, though, will still be cut $534,000, and 16 employees are set to be laid off.

These cuts are part of the city's effort to balance the 2002-03 fiscal budget, which ends in June. Before Friday's special council session, the budget faced a $19.5 million deficit.

The council voted 5-1 for the revised budget cuts, with Jean Quan of District 4 voting against it. Councilwoman Nancy Nadel, District 3, and councilman Larry Reid, District 7, abstained. Plans to raise revenue through higher parking fines and towing fees and stepped up parking enforcement will be discussed by the council Tuesday, Feb. 18.

"The rally is part of the celebration," said organizer Victoria Kelly. "However, the city is still looking at financial woes at the end of this fiscal year. The coordinators of this movement feel that it is time to shift gears into stage two. We can't afford to lose momentum. We need watchdogs. We need savvy people to analyze budgets. We need teeth on the Library Advisory Commission."

Some supporters held signs with slogans like "Open Libraries, Open Minds," "I'd Rather Be Reading" and "Libraries are Weapons of Mass Instruction." Local artists, including poets and dancers, also performed for the crowd.

"Oakland's collection compared to other collections in the area is catastrophic," said library supporter Matthew Hirsch. "We need government accountability for the budget, not just the location of the branches."

A group of students from Calvin Simmons Middle School brought a huge banner to share with the crowd. It read "We Need Books."

In addition to supporting the libraries, the group that assembled before Friday's special council session aimed to drum up general support for the city's social and cultural programs.

"There were over 100 homicides last year," said jazz poet Raymond Nat Turner. "Before you have homicide, you have the homicide of the mind and spirit. It is unconscionable to close libraries. It leads to ignorance."

"Since when are prisoners more important than students?" asked Adam Kay, a student at an alternative school and environmental studies program at Merritt College, referring to the construction of more facilities at San Quentin State Prison. "We need to show the new generation that reading is cool. (The budget cutting) is slicing Oakland deep, and we won't let them!"

"Shame on Oakland," said Paul Bloom, who works part-time at the Temescal Branch Library's tool-lending lab. "This is a false victory. We will be cutting library hours. Resources are sitting there in locked buildings. We have a high immigrant population that needs to learn to read."

"We need 100 aggressive librarians, not police officers, that will go out into the community and recruit (readers)." Turner stressed. "Truth is the weapon of mass instruction."

The rally closed with a dance performance by a local troop from Destiny Arts Center, which included tributes to children's literature and dances to a few eclectic tunes. "Thanks for keeping our libraries open to feed our minds and to feed our souls," the troupe told the crowd.