Most on Council Can’t ‘Check Out’ Library Facts

Roll call:

OK, Judy McCarty has one.

But Abbe Wolfsheimer, Ron Roberts, Gloria McColl, Wes Pratt, Ed Struiksma, Bob Filner and Mayor Maureen O’Connor clearly do not have one.

Bruce Henderson argued heatedly that he does have one, but clerks at the central library downtown have no record of a James Bruce Henderson, or a J. Bruce Henderson, owning a library card.

Why is this significant?

Emotional Issue

These are members of the San Diego City Council, which for months has debated the question of where to put a new central library. It’s a question whose answer involves millions of dollars and lots of hard feelings. It’s an emotional issue, and each council member has a visceral opinion.

The council voted to purchase the Hillcrest Sears site for more than $8 million, then found the site unacceptable. Now they’ve agreed to put a new central library somewhere downtown, with the operative word being somewhere.

Perhaps a more basic question is this:

If and when the new central library is built somewhere, would council members bother to use it? How many would get a library card?

Who Are Cardholders?

How many have one now?

“Wow, I’m the only one,” said McCarty, who, according to record keepers at the central library, is the only current or immediate past council member to hold a San Diego library card.

Henderson, the newly elected District 6 representative, disputed that finding when interviewed Thursday.

“I have the card right here in front of me,” he said. “I just renewed it. They (library personnel) don’t realize they have a James Bruce Henderson who does have a card and uses it.”

Alan Nevitt, who oversees circulation for the central library, made a thorough check of in-house records to see what council members actually hold library cards. He found only a Bruce Alan Henderson and a Bruce Bradshaw Henderson.

He found no Wolfsheimers, no McColls, no Wes Pratts, no Ed Struiksmas, no Ron Roberts, no Bob Filners, and all of those people admitted Thursday that, no, they don’t have library cards.

‘Love to Read’

“I’ve had one since I was a kid,” said McCarty, who represents District 7. “I can’t afford to buy books on everything I’m interested in, so I take books out.

“I just love to read. I haven’t read a lot lately, but I like histories of the United States and philosophies of how governments ought to work. Before I came to the council, I thought of starting a community newspaper in San Carlos. So, I researched that at the library. I wanted to decorate my house, so I went to the library. There are tons of books at the library. I also like biographies of successful women and books on people in politics.”

Card Expired

District 1 representative Abbe Wolfsheimer, who initially favored Balboa Park as the central library location, said her card had expired.

“I don’t go down there anymore,” she said. “I can’t even do the reading on my desk. I used the library quite a bit before I came on the council--why, I spent most of my life in the library, I would say. Books happen to be my passion.

“For pleasure, I enjoy reading John Irving, John Barth and historical and sociological fiction. I read biographies of people I happen to admire enormously, such as Earl Warren. The presidents, historical figures, you know, people like that.”

Newly elected District 2 representative Ron Roberts was caught off-guard by the question of the card.

“No, uh, I guess I don’t have one,” he said. “I suspect mine is long-expired. My kids have one, though. They’re probably the principal users of the library. I tend to buy books rather than just check them out.”

Roberts, who favors a downtown site with “maximum access to rapid transit,” likes adventure novels and biographies of such daredevils as Chuck Yeager. He loved Tom Clancy’s “The Hunt for Red October” and said after several months he’s almost finished with Larry McMurtry’s novel of the Old West, “Lonesome Dove.”

“Usually, I finish about a book a month,” he said.

Curiously, William Cleator, the man Roberts replaced and the one who first raised the notion of the Sears site, does not, according to library records, have a card. Nor do immediate past members Mike Gotch (District 6) or Celia Ballesteros (District 8).

Library spokesman Nevitt said it was “impossible to establish” whether William Jones, the outgoing District 4 representative, had a card, since “about 75 William Joneses pop up” in library records. Jones, who has since moved back East, was unavailable for comment.

Deputy Mayor Gloria McColl, who represents District 3 and who strongly preferred the Sears site, let her card lapse.

“I don’t have time to go to the library anymore,” she said. “There’s no reason to take up the poor librarians’ time, if you have no opportunity to go in. Why check out books you won’t read?

“I just don’t have time to do recreational reading, which, of course, I really enjoy. I like to read historical novels, either true stories or ones based on historical settings. I buy books from bookstores, but of course, my children still carry (library) cards.”

District 4 representative Wes Pratt, who prefers a new library downtown, said he, too, let his card lapse.

“Most research I might do, I do at a law library,” Pratt said. “I just don’t have a library card and haven’t been able to read much of anything lately. One of the things I want to do over Christmas is buy a bunch of books I can read. I like to read political biographies and poetry.”

Who’s his favorite poet?

“Oh, no favorite, really,” he said. “I like a lot of ‘em. I’m pretty flexible. You might want to know I recently finished both of Bill Cosby’s books.”

District 5 representative Ed Struiksma, who favors a new downtown library, said he doesn’t have a library card but that his staff does. He said he could actually take out books without a card, since library clerks know him as a city councilman.

Newly elected District 8 representative Bob Filner prefers a new library downtown.

Asked if he had a card, Filner said: “I think so--I’ll have to check on it.” He checked, and didn’t have one.

“Well, I thought I had one,” he said. “Wait a minute, now, I’m a professor of history at San Diego State. I have library privileges at SDSU and at UC San Diego. I spend half my working life in a library. I use it with my children as well. But I don’t have a San Diego library card.”