The nonprofit group Save Our Library is pursuing a temporary restraining order hoping to stall the City of Santa Clarita from fully executing a contract with Library Systems and Services, the company primed to operate the city’s three libraries come July 1 of next year.  

According to Don Ricketts, the attorney representing Save Our Library, the motion will be heard sometime this week at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Chatsworth.  

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A draft of the motion, obtained Sunday, asks the court for an order preventing LSSI from accessing Santa Clarita patrons’ information from the County Library system.  

According to Ricketts, the motion will eventually be consolidated with the prior lawsuit, both of which attempt to hinder the City and the LSSI from contracting with one another because of the alleged privacy violation.  

“It all seeks the same relief,” said Ricketts. “The argument is that LSSI can’t have the data.”  

Although effective October 1, the City and LSSI officially agreed to a five-year, $19.1 contract on October 18.  

As stated in the contract, available here, LSSI will receive $135,000 from October 1 through June 30, for the creation of a “Transition Team” that will handle the acquisition of the relevant data from the County Library system.  

“That’s the danger. I think it does provide for immediate payments, including this $15,000 to an LSSI officer to conduct this citizen’s evaluation,” said Ricketts. “I mean, that’s crazy.”  

Ricketts said he doesn’t know how much – if any – data LSSI has acquired from the County.  

“The purpose of a (temporary restraining order) is to preserve the status quo. Nobody can do anything until the court says, ‘OK.’”