CHECK IT OUT

It’s a milestone when many individuals are well into retirement. Yet

at 80 years old, retirement of the Newport Beach Public Library is far

from the minds of those who use and guide it.

To celebrate the accomplishments of its past and the promise of its

future, library customers and trustees presented giant birthday cards to

the City Council and feted council members with birthday cake this week.

Inscribed with hundreds of signatures and messages from well-wishers, the

cards are ample testimony that the days of libraries as physical

repositories of knowledge are not dead.

The electronic tsunami notwithstanding, items in the Newport Beach

Public Library collection circulate some 1.3 million times annually. From

the 54,000-square-foot Central Library and three branches, it provides

225 hours of service each week, in addition to online accessibility 24

hours a day, seven days a week.

What was once a 300-book collection available three hours a week from

a single room in the Ebell Club has evolved into a state-of-the-art

resource with 418,598 circulating and reference items.

Since June 1920, when the City Council formally established the

Newport Beach Public Library with a five-member board, 88 city residents

have provided diligent guidance as trustees. Those now on the board

support a resource that was designated a satellite “Center for the Book”

this year by the Library of Congress division dedicated to promoting

reading, libraries and books.

Other recent honors include a listing among America’s best libraries,

published in the November issue of American Libraries. Among libraries

serving populations between 50,000 and 99,000, the Newport Beach Public

Library ranked third in the nation in Hennen’s American Public Library

Rating, which used data provided by 9,000 public libraries across the

United States.

The latest applause has come from children in local elementary

schools, who contributed text and pictures for nine handcrafted “Why I

Love My Library” books that are now part of the Central Library’s Local

History collection. Ranging from picture books by kindergarten classes to

more sophisticated volumes by fifth- and sixth-graders, the books

underscore the enduring importance of libraries as both a place and a

resource in the digital age.

At a robust 80, the library “has lots of things, such as videos,

computers, CDs and magazines” for Harbor View Elementary School

third-grader Jack Mulcaire.

For Mariners Elementary School fifth-grader Brandy Ann Ringler, it

offers “a peaceful environment.”

For Newport Coast Elementary School first-grader Nica Sabouni, it’s a

place to “learn more words.”

For all who celebrated its 80th birthday this week, it was a venue to

have cake and read. For customers who check out materials, tap into

databases, attend programs and turn to librarians, it will continue as a

viable resource in an age when access to information is of critical

importance that will incorporate new technology, rather than being

eclipsed by it.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams.