The Secret Key to Harry Potter: a Library Card

The dreaded Dursleys, the mean aunt and uncle Harry Potter lives with in J.K. Rowling’s popular series of books, surely wouldn’t buy their nephew the most popular new novel for kids.

The public library might have been Harry’s only option for getting a copy of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”

But if the Dursleys lived in Orange County, Harry would have to get in line behind the 245 Muggles already on a waiting list for 88 copies of the book circulating in the county’s public library system.

Muggles--or non-wizards--aren’t living with evil guardians like the Dursleys. Most are trying to avoid the cost of the hefty 752-page hardback, which is selling at a discounted $16 in many stores.

Two months before the fourth book had even arrived at the Orange County Public Library’s 27 branches, when readers thought it would be called “Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament,” more than 100 people had put themselves on a computerized waiting list.

By Tuesday morning, the list had grown to 245, said spokeswoman Dani Porter. With a three-week loan period, it could be a couple of months before some of those readers get a crack at the book.

In the meantime, librarians around the county are devising their own methods for handling the Harry Potter fever. Several reported picking up copies at local retailers instead of relying on shipments through their usual suppliers.

Lorna Adkins, who supervises the Taft Branch Library in Orange, brought in her own copies that can be used in the library but can’t be checked out. Last Friday, staffers at the Yorba Linda library personally called readers who had reserved the book to announce its arrival, speeding up the usual mail notification process.

Possibly the first kid to get his hands on the book in all of Orange County--including avid purchasers--was 10-year-old Zachary Breig of Yorba Linda, a frequent library user who got himself the 13th spot on a waiting list of about 130 readers six weeks before the book came out.

The Yorba Linda library checked out copies of the book Friday afternoon, many good reading hours before bookstores started selling their stock at midnight.

Zachary’s mother, Marilyn Breig, got a call from the library around 12:30 Friday afternoon while he was at a friend’s house. When he got home a couple of hours later and heard the news, “I was going, ‘Yeeeaaaahhh!’ ” Zachary recalled.

“It was a surprise just to have the library call and ask for Zachary,” his mother said.

Zachary started reading the coveted book in the car on the way home from the library and had finished a couple of chapters by the time he saw the long lines at bookstores on the evening news.

“I got it before them, and I didn’t have to wait in line in the middle of the night,” Zachary said. “I had read like half of it before it hit stores.”

The Yorba Linda, Placentia and Anaheim libraries, which share books, purchased 65 copies of the latest Harry Potter book. After they were handed out, more than 100 readers were still on the waiting list, said Danis Kreimeier, a supervising children’s librarian.

Loudin Beam, 10, recently put himself on a library waiting list for the second book in the series but eventually borrowed the book from a friend.

He was one of 19 children who showed up on Tuesday afternoon for the second meeting of the Harry Potter Club at Orange’s Taft Branch Library. After whispering the correct password (“parcelmouth”) into the ear of the librarian, the kids got to hear parts of the latest book read aloud and drew pictures of their favorite scenes.

“I wasn’t sure it was a book he would read again,” said Loudin’s mother, explaining why she hasn’t purchased any of the Harry Potter installments. “I want to make sure he’ll really enjoy it before I buy it. This may be a keeper.”