Libraries : Countywide : Library Collections Jibe With Clientele

Alongside bestsellers and classics, most branches in the county library system have a little something extra.

The collections range from books in Iran’s Farsi language to boat-building to ethnic cooking, with subjects shaped by interests of librarians, patrons and the surrounding communities.

Dorothy Wood, branch manager of the Garden Grove Chapman library and a singer and musician, has helped to build a collection of music books and scores used throughout the 27-branch system.

“We have two five-foot shelves that are nothing but music books, and some things have been donated by people who know that we specialize in music,” said Carol Ann Helsel, children’s librarian at the Chapman branch.

One of the Tustin branch’s collections was also spurred by personal knowledge and interest. Tustin librarian Rae Beverage’s husband, Richard Beverage, is the author of two books about the Pacific Coast League and a baseball expert. A member of the Society for Baseball Research, he has helped her choose books on baseball.

“We have biographies, baseball fiction, baseball history, all the statistical sources like the Baseball Encyclopedia,” she said. “Then we have some books on collecting baseball cards, histories of the leagues. Just about anything that comes out on baseball, we buy.”

At the branch library in Leisure World in Seal Beach, clientele was the determining factor in creating the large-print book collection.

“We are a little bit unusual,” branch manager George Tait said, “in that we are adjacent to a special population, being Leisure World; 94.5% of the circulation is with Leisure World residents.”

Recreational reading and financial materials top the list of branch favorites, Tait said.

“We have two subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal, even though we’re a small library,” he said. “What is it Jack Benny used to say? He’d go to the bank to visit his money. People here read the Wall Street Journal to visit their investments.”

The ethnic makeup of the surrounding community can also play a role in its special collection. The Westminster branch, for example, has an extensive collection of books in Vietnamese.

Other specialties, such as the Afro-American collection at Tustin or the Icelandic collection in Mission Viejo, were assigned by library officials.