Library Builds on Children’s Love of Reading : City services: Huntington Beach unveils 43,000-square-foot addition designed to help young patrons discover fun of learning.

As the brass band struck up “When You Wish Upon a Star” on Saturday morning, the sliding glass doors opened and a throng of several hundred children and parents rushed in. Within minutes, the crowd was mesmerized by shooting fountains, a giant aquarium of colorful tropical fish, a 15-foot sailboat filled with toys and lively sessions of storytelling.

This was not the opening of a new Disneyland attraction, but the debut of a 43,000-square-foot wing of the Huntington Beach Central Library, which includes what city officials say is the largest children’s section west of Chicago.

Designers of the $9-million addition said the library’s fanciful features are intended to lure children into the world of reading and learning as early as possible.

But many youngsters in the opening-day crowd, including some who were barely walking, were already avid library fans.

Stan Becker of Huntington Beach said his daughter, Sara, has been coming to the library with him ever since she was born 5 1/2 years ago. For the first few years he checked out library books to read to her and recently, he said proudly, she began to read on her own.

“She wanted to celebrate the new library wing because (the library) is already part of her life,” Becker said.

Three-year-old Noah Obert made a beeline to ‘Oh Say Can You Say’ by Dr. Seuss and sat attentively on the knee of his grandmother, Alice Obert, as she started reading. “When he was born we got him a T-shirt that said ‘Born to Read’ and maybe that was right,” Grandma said with a smile.

Library officials that many parents seem especially anxious to help their children get a head start in the competition of life by encouraging them to read.

Several parents at Saturday’s open house said they were grateful that the city was willing to invest in such an elaborate facility at a time when city and library budgets are tight.

“I think it is fabulous that this city has the interest and resources to do this for the children,” said Lynn Perryman of Huntington Beach, who brought her 6-year-old son, Nick, to sign up for a library card.

Neil Noble, an architect with Anthony & Langford, said he had “a ball” designing the children’s library. He built the wing around a marine theme. Among the special flourishes are a 500-gallon saltwater aquarium with blue and yellow tropical fish, a blue life-sized sailboat filled with “reading readiness” toys where tots can play and a storytelling theater that youngsters enter through a child-size door.

Noble said the 16,000-square-foot children’s library is “not just a place to store books. It is a place where you can get kids intrigued and excited about using a library and hopefully they will stay that way all their lives.”

Library Director Ron Hayden said additional space for the library’s youngest patrons was sorely needed. He said although the library has 30,000 child library cardholders, accounting for a third of the library’s total circulation, it formerly had only 4,000 square feet of its original 75,000-square-foot building dedicated to children.

Moreover, Hayden said, previously there was scant opportunity for youngsters to read or study in the library because the cramped children’s section, tucked in a downstairs corner of the building, contained only two tables and eight chairs.

By contrast, he said, the new children’s section, housed in a wing with large windows overlooking the city’s sprawling Central Park, has 14 tables and about 40 chairs for book reading and research and a separate room where youngsters can use computers to learn mathematics and language skills. The library is at 7111 Talbert Ave.

The children’s section is located on the upper floor of the new two-story wing. Hayden said several meeting rooms and a 319-seat playhouse that were built on the lower level will be rented out to raise money to repay a $5-million loan that the city used for the new wing’s construction. The remaining $4-million cost of construction, he said, was raised by library support groups.

Library officials said the new library wing contains the same 45,000 children’s books that were in the old library. Their next goal, they said, will be to update the collection, replacing dogeared volumes and buying more copies of the most popular books.

Most of the approximately 6,000 visitors to the new wing Saturday seemed pleased. Six-year-old Ryan Wills pronounced it “great.” A highlight, he said, was when he won a coupon for a free soda after completing a treasure hunt game that required children to tour all parts of the library.

Ryan’s father, Mike Wills, said he and his wife are education conscious and have encouraged their children’s love of reading. “We drew the line at reading to them in the womb, although we did talk to them,” he said jokingly.

“This is a great place to look up books,” said Thu Xuan Nguyen, a seventh-grader at Mesa View Middle School in Huntington Beach, who was busy punching at a computer to find sources for a report she is doing on comparative religion.

Natalie Rosso of Huntington Beach was pushing her 9-month-old daughter, Teresa Ghione, around the children’s library in a stroller. She said the infant, who was sucking a pacifier, had a drawer of storybooks at home.

“It was very exciting when recently she learned to turn the pages,” Rosso said. “Soon we will be spending a lot of time here.”

Adding a Library Wing The Huntington Beach Central Library unveiled its new 43,000-square-foot wing Saturday, including a 16,000-square-foot children’s section touted as the largest west of Chicago. A look at the library’s expansion project: *

Fast Facts * Cost: New wing cost $9 million; Huntington Beach funded $5 million and donations the rest. * Size: Entire library, including new wing, is 118,000 square feet. * Contents: New children’s section features 45,000 books, 14 tables, 40 chairs, an aquarium and fountains. * Children: 30,000 card-holders under 18 account for one-third of book circulation. * Book borrowing: With new wing, book circulation among children expected to increase 25%. * Electronic sorter: One-of-a-kind conveyor belt picks up returned books, electronically scans and sorts them for reshelving. * Theater: Huntington Beach Playhouse will lease the new theater for community theatrical productions.

* Library hours: Monday-Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday, Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Sunday *

Sources: Huntington Beach Central Library, Anthony and Langford Architects; Researched by CAROLINE LEMKE / Los Angeles Times