Email Story | Print Story Published April 22, 2006 Modified April 21, 2006
Email Story | Print Story Published April 22, 2006 Steve Smith, Daily Pilot
At Bancroft Junior High School in Los Angeles about 35 years ago, students were taken to the school's library once a week to learn how to use the resources, check out books and, most important, to just sit and read for an hour.
Most of the kids in the classes looked forward to "library day," not because it presented an opportunity to get out of class, although that was a benefit, but because we liked being in the library. We liked to read, and we liked to discover.
If you are conducting any type of research -- for school, work or personal reasons -- you know the joy of finding that one source that supports your point or gives you the next step in your journey. It's like finding buried treasure.
I felt that way a few weeks ago when I found a reliable study that showed that the illegal immigration population is actually contributing more to our economy than it is costing. But that's a different topic.
advertisement
A good librarian is worth his or her weight in gold. A good librarian is a tour guide, someone who can show you what you are interested in and get you there the most efficient way.
Over the past few weeks, there have been some discussions across the country about whether libraries are dinosaurs, whether the Internet has made them obsolete.
I don't know whether library attendance is up or down or whether the number of books being checked out is higher or lower than in past years. To me, it's irrelevant.
Libraries never were a place to read or check out books. Oh, sure, you could do both at a library, but the real purpose was and still is to act as a portal; as a place to start looking for whatever it is you seek.
If anything, the Internet makes libraries more important than ever. That's because the Internet has deluged us with information, massive amounts that can overwhelm anyone trying to find something specific.
Rather than considering the trip to the library a waste of time, going there can actually save time because it will help narrow the focus of whatever it is you seek.
That's just one reason. Another is to help kids learn.
The best way for a human being to learn any subject matter is to read it on a printed page. That's not just me talking, it's a fact.
Ask proofreaders, for example, about their choice of proofing something on a computer monitor or on a printed page, and nearly all will tell you that they rely on paper.
The process is called imprinting, and it's something that no film or lecture can replace, although a lecture is good if you can stay awake.
I'm bringing up the subject of libraries to honor the grand opening of the Donna and John Crean Mariners Branch Library in Newport Beach.
This is a welcome addition, and I hope that adults and children will use this great gift.
The timing could not be better, for the library has opened just days before Monday's start of the national TV-Turnoff Week.
Since I know that most readers are planning to experience the joys of a home without the noise of television for a week, the library represents a good place to spend your time. And you don't even have to know how to use the Dewey Decimal System.
* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.