Libraries Shelve Old Image

The movie was about to begin. The kids had settled into their seats, the pizza was ordered.

Rita Buckley stood at the front of the multipurpose room, adjusting the sound of “Independence Day” on the big-screen TV. “Loud enough?” she asked the group.

“Louder!” they said.

“Louder?” she asked again. “LOUDER!” they called back.

That’s enough, she decided. “This is a library after all,” the librarian said, with mock concern.

But all night long, nobody said “shhh.”

Across the country, the public library is shaking off its dusty image as a hushed and intimidating place. With programs ranging from pajama parties with hot chocolate and story-telling to Friday night videos--such as the recent “Independence Day” screening at the Platt Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library in Woodland Hills--libraries are redefining their role in the lives of youngsters.

“We entice kids who might not otherwise know about the library,” said Mary Somerville, president of the American Library Assn. and director of the Miami-Dade Public Library System. “We really have to market our services.”

The library’s less stodgy persona is no overnight metamorphosis. Pressed into action by competition from TV and personal computers, libraries have long been moving in the direction of the creative.

Now the trend is accelerating, pushed by twin concerns: the need to rescue reading as a habit by American youngsters, and libraries’ recognition that their future hinges on a reassertion of their role as a center of community.

Today’s marketing-minded librarians are trying to show that the worlds of recreation, education and information can intersect at their doors.

And in neighborhoods where recreational outlets are few, libraries are filling a bigger void than ever.

“The library is often the one place where kids feel secure and where they can dream,” Somerville said. “It’s a wonderful oasis for them. Libraries are often, in the lives of many children, the only place where they have access to a computer.”

Or someone who can read them a story.

In recent years, libraries have stepped up the number of special reading programs offered to their youngest patrons. In 1989, 29% of public libraries surveyed by the National Center for Education Statistics offered group programs for infants through 2-year-olds. Now, 40% provide programs for this age group.

At branches of the Los Angeles Public library, “grandparents” read to kids who visit the library alone. Many of the children are “latchkeys” who have no other place to go after school, said Ann Connor, manager of children’s services. The presence of the “grandparents”--trained volunteers--makes the library a more inviting place for kids and offers an intergenerational experience.

At Orangewood Children’s Home, a facility for abused and abandoned children in Orange County, the library helps kids see the fun that comes with reading and offers ways for them to cope with their situation, said Lynn Eisenhut, coordinator of children’s services for the Orange County Public Library.

During a “mystery meal,” librarian Pam Carlson hands teen participants a special “menu” that lists the names of young adult authors she has discussed. The diners select an author and only when the dish arrives do they learn what they’ve ordered. Katherine Paterson might be a biscuit, Judith Vorhees, a piece of cake.

Eventually they receive a full meal, albeit, somewhat out of order.

More than a game of mystery, the meal is a way of looking at life.

“There are just some things you can’t control--it’s not your fault,” Eisenhut said. “They’re at Orangewood through no fault of their own. Kids will often blame themselves. It’s just another way of letting them know.”

In one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods, libraries offer a mentoring program that has received national recognition for its success with young boys. In RAP, or the Read Aloud Program, elementary school children from the Robert Taylor housing project are paired with high school teenagers. The boys and their big brothers meet weekly and read together.

But the program offers much more. In sessions organized by the teen mentors, the boys learn life skills: etiquette, proper conduct when in public, how to tie a tie. They discuss current events. Together with their big brothers, the boys have enjoyed their first evening on the town: a seven-course dinner at a fine restaurant and then a visit to the theater.

“It has done wonders,” librarian Vernell Madden said. “A lot of the little guys have improved in their academic subjects. Some behavior problems have been countered and they had a good time. . . . This was something really needed in this community.”

Like their counterparts in Chicago, librarians in suburban Los Angeles have learned that just as books can open new horizons, new experiences can also lead to books.

A recent visit from a live shark left young readers in Agoura searching for books about sea creatures.

More than 120 kids packed the tiny Las Virgenes county library--so many that the librarians cleared the parking lot and split the group in two. Half remained inside looking at books, while half stayed outside viewing fossils and the shark.

The shark’s visit was free, courtesy of the state Department of Fish and Game, said librarian Azar Hazrati who organized the event.

“We try to know the resources in our community and find out what is available to us,” she said. Like the shark or a high school drama class willing to perform a play for younger children.

Making Most of Resources

Such resourcefulness is necessary in light of the budget constraints faced by most municipalities. Some library programs are paid for with funding raised by Friends of the Library groups at each branch. Others are staged by the librarians themselves, using their own talent and skills.

More costly performances and programs are often funded by donations and grants, said Connor of the Los Angeles Public Library.

This year, a “substantial” grant from the Ahmanson Foundation paid for two professional performances at each branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. A gift from United Airlines paid for a third performance, Connor said. A fund-raising effort by the Department of Water and Power helped pay for young adult programs.

“Nontraditional” is the word Albert Johnson, manager of Young Adult Services for the L.A. Public Library, uses to describe these programs. Workshops on Japanese animation, makeup and even a comic book festival have pulled kids into the city library system.

Librarians hope an upcoming Festival on Wheels, part of the city library’s 125th anniversary celebration, will be a magnet for teenage boys. The May 17 event at the Central Library will include displays of classic and customized cars--including lowriders--as well as bicycles and motorcycles. There will also be workshops on auto design and customizing, career seminars and a Cars of the Future design competition.

“Reading can be a [labor-intensive] activity in a kid’s life,” said Penny Markey, coordinator of youth services for the County on Los Angeles Public Library. “It’s more work than sitting in front of a television set. It doesn’t have the built-in attraction of computer games. [Libraries] are in competition with those things.”

But libraries are finding new allies. The juvenile literature market has reached $2.47 billion in sales, which means youngsters today have more books written specifically for them than any other generation. Celebrities are participating in library story times and penning their own children’s tales. Actress Debbie Allen has hosted a massive festival of reading in Los Angeles, reading her favorite stories to a packed audience. The next year, Martin Landau read “Pinocchio.” And each year in April, celebrities and politicians read stories at local libraries as part of the Los Angeles library’s “Night and Day of a Thousand Stars.”

Nationally there’s even a campaign endorsed by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton encouraging pediatricians to prescribe that mothers read to their children.

The Los Angeles Public Library will kick off its Summer Reading Program in June with L.A. Kids Read, a festival of storytellers, puppeteers, face painting, music, dance groups and free refreshments.

With a 200-seat children’s theater and a 60-seat puppet theater, the Central Library has changed from a research-oriented facility to one that is user friendly for kids and their families, Connor said.

“The vision of this department has really changed a lot,” Connor said. As a result of all the new programs, “the usage of this department has skyrocketed,” she said. At the branches, librarians have found one sure way to appeal to young children: invite them to visit in their pajamas for an evening of stories and related arts and crafts.

Even the grown-ups wear pajamas.

“Certainly, I’m not that gorgeous in my pajamas, but the kids seem to enjoy the fact that I come in them,” said Sheila Hein, library manager of the Calabasas branch of the Los Angeles County library, who dons a purple nightgown and matching slippers once a week.

Signs That Approach Is Working

The children and teenagers also seem to appreciate the youth councils created by the Los Angeles Public Library seven years ago to give them a say in the programs offered.

Video night at the Platt Branch was the idea of 13-year-old Grace Giles and 12-year-olds Georgina Ferrera, Amy Downing and Pamela Kohanchi. Members of the branch’s recently formed Teen Council, they picked the movie--with Buckley’s approval--and they chose the snacks.

While there is no way to quantify the usefulness of such programs, at the very least they are attracting kids to the library--and getting them inside where the books are is the first step, Buckley said.

After one visit, they might see that “librarians here are really nice. You get to know them by name and they try to help you,” said Gregg Fuller, 12.

They might also realize the interesting things in books and the other benefits the library offers, Buckley said.

“They can do [other] stuff at the library, not just read books,” said Grace, herself a dedicated reader.

“We come here every Saturday, just to hang,” Jennifer Samuel, 13, said during a video intermission. “It’s cool.”

At Mid-Valley Regional Library in North Hills, teens have their own reading area stocked with the compact discs they like to hear, popular novels, useful materials for school projects and fun stuff.

“We go from the serious to ‘Real World Diary’ and ‘Everything You Need to Know About Friends,’ ” said librarian Catherine Ortiz, a recent library school graduate. “I try to give the students what they want.”

In cities like Los Angeles and Miami, huge demographic shifts have also mandated change in response to new communities of people from countries where public libraries are not a tradition.

Not only are children in need of an introduction to the library, but so are their parents. The Los Angeles Public Library is working with Spanish-language media to encourage kids and their parents to use the library.

But the need to establish a pattern of library use in families is not limited to recent arrivals.

According to a 1991 Gallup Study, only 26% of high school dropouts possessed a library card. Only 47% of individuals with incomes under $20,000 are likely to hold a library card, compared to 73% of those with incomes of $50,000 or more.

“In the more than 3,000 square miles that we cover, we have all kinds of communities with huge socioeconomic differences,” said Markey of the Los Angeles library.

Aides Reach Out to Community

Librarians are even venturing into the waiting rooms of clinics where low-income, often poorly educated women receive prenatal care.

“We want to motivate the parents to serve as a catalyst for their children,” Markey said.

At the Bellflower County Health clinic recently, books were far from the minds of the pregnant women waiting to be examined--until county library aides Rossana Llamas and Esther Martinez began to speak.

With missionary zeal, they explained the importance of reading to children--even in the womb. And they described the programs offered at the library, emphasizing to the mostly Spanish-speaking group that the services are free.

“It’s very important that you support your children,” Martinez said. “It’s very important that you have a library card to be able to select books.”

Although the Clifton M. Brakensiek Library was just across the walkway--visible through the glass doors of the clinic--many of the women had never visited, and most did not have a library card.

Before the morning was over, Llamas and Martinez introduced several young mothers to the library, handed out applications for library cards and referred one 23-year-old to a literacy program.

As patients checked in and out at the clinic counter, Llamas read “Salta Ranita, Salta,” “Mi Casa,” and later, “How Many Bugs in a Box” to children.

Afterward, 8-year-old Schronda Robertson--there with her mother, two brothers and baby sister--decided to take over.

She picked up “Spot’s First Words,” held it open so her 1-year-old sister Chantel could see, and began.

“Hat. Mirror. Shoe. Table,” Schronda read, dutifully pointing out the pictures, before turning the page.

“And, that’s the end,” she said like a polished storyteller. “Want to read it again?”

Chantel cooed, looked around, shook her bottle and grabbed for a reporter’s notebook.

“OK,” Schronda said. “I’ll read it again.”