Millionth Library Card Is One for the Books : Reading: County system, the largest in the world, honors 5-year-old Bobby Miller.

When Bobby Miller, age 5, dropped by the library with his mother, Robin, on their way home from traffic court in November, he took part in a ritual known to generations of American children: getting a library card.

But the experience earned the 3 1/2-foot, 45-pound, towheaded kindergartner a small footnote in local history: The boy from Bellflower, known to librarians as “a handful,” became the one-millionth cardholder at the Los Angeles County Public Library.

In one regard, it was a telling honor. With 91 branches--soon to be 92--the county library system is the largest in the world--and growing. So far this fiscal year, circulation is up nearly 30%, said Philip S. Fleming, director of marketing for the library.

“Part of it is that we now have a computerized system that can accurately count the number of cardholders we have . . . to know exactly when the one-millionth person walked through the door,” he said. “Part of it is the recession. People are rediscovering the library, looking for free entertainment.”

And entertainment is what libraries offer, as Bobby discovered Saturday when the librarians at the branch library in Bellflower invited him to the gala event being held in his honor. On hand were a magician who made pigeons appear from nowhere, and enough cake and punch to serve the nearly 250 celebrants, including Bellflower’s mayor, several City Council members and other dignitaries.

“I can’t believe it,” said Miller, as he used his finger to wipe a hunk of icing from the cake platter. Although normally “a rambunctious boy,” according to his mother, Bobby was stunned into near silence by the endless, mostly incomprehensible speeches of adults about the importance of reading, handing him lots of plaques for reasons he and most of the squirming youngsters in the audience did not entirely understand.

“What did he do anyway?” asked one boy who had obviously come for the magic show rather than the civic ceremony.

“He was in the right place at the right time,” his father said. “You’ll find that often helps in life.”

And what helps libraries is to provide the right materials for the right age groups.

“If you haven’t been to one recently, you’ll find that libraries have changed,” Fleming said. “They now have audiotapes, videos, first-run movies.”

Given most children’s preferences, it is likely that the more unconventional holdings are what draws them to libraries. A recent survey found that the vast majority of youngsters, 90%, think television is more fun than reading and 82% prefer video games to books.

To the extent that he could find words to express himself in the midst of all the fanfare, Bobby agreed.

His favorite video, he said, his “Charlotte’s Web.” His favorite TV show is “Inspector Gadget.”

His favorite book? Well, he is not sure, maybe “Charlotte’s Web” in book form.

Like many 5-year-olds, Bobby only “sort of” reads. And, like most people, young or old, he has little sense of what 1 million of anything means--although the one thing he can read “are the million numbers on his Nintendo screen,” his mother said.

Whether he will grow up to be a “big reader” of words, as adults all around were admonishing him to do, Bobby could not say, preferring instead to eat the cake the Library Foundation had provided for him.