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Librarian Held leaves hopeful, says children reading more
by Jerry Roberts
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After four decades of answer questions large and small, Lila Held is leaving Manhattan’s library. Photo by Jerry Roberts |
Twice, Lila Held was called on for omnipotent intervention. They never taught that at the University of Southern California Library Science Masters Program, which graduated the Manhattan Beach community library manager in 1960.
"One woman came in and asked me to tell her which book was the one book that had all the answers in it," Held remembered. "I told her there wasn’t one like that. Another time, a man came in and wanted me to find the one book that would tell him the meaning of life. I told him that that was one thing that I just couldn’t handle."
But Held has handled the answers to the great majority of questions that have been posed on the telephone and in person through 32 years with Manhattan’s libraries, a year in the Carson system and eight years as a Torrance librarian. "They would often call from a bar to win — hopefully -- a bet, prove they were right, and we’d find the answer for them. Manhattan Beach was quite a different place 30 years ago, much less sophisticated than it is today. You would hear everybody in the background. But the job is getting information to people."
Another change in the city will be her. And the intervention she could use might be referred to as divine. Nov. 5 will be her final official day at the Manhattan Beach Public Library, which she’ll use as a sick day in her ongoing battle with neck cancer. It was detected in 2000. "As I get nearer to 70, I think that it’s time to move on," she said. She and her husband, retired aerospace engineer Richard Held, plan to move to Fort Myers, Fla., to be near relatives.
"Lila’s done a wonderful job," said Joyce Karlin Fahey, city mayor pro tempore and a library commissioner for six years. "It’s hard to imagine the library without her being a part of it. We certainly wish her the best. She’s been such a valuable asset all these years. The older residents of Manhattan Beach know her well. They and their children have been helped by her."
Initially a children’s librarian, Held joined the city in June of 1969 when the library was located in what is now the post office at 15th Street and North Valley Drive. In 1973 she became the senior librarian in charge, a post later renamed community library manager. A native of Milwaukee, she earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, married Held in 1958 and the couple moved to California in 1959.
"I’m going to miss the people the most," said the librarian. "Most of all, I’ll miss the patrons and the staff. I want to thank everybody for a very enjoyable 32 years here. The people have always been very supportive of the library here."
Among this bibliophile’s memories were of the adults who used to browse the children’s stacks for succinct information. "One woman used to go on a lot of tours as a tour guide, and she used to come in and use the children’s books about the state or place she was going and absorb them much like Cliff Notes. That method worked for her."
As for the kids, Held does not hold to the perhaps prevailing notion that kids are reading less than they ever have in the television, video and Internet ages. "The kids read a lot more," she said. "School libraries are open longer than they used to be. They use the Internet, and are a lot more informed. They are reading. All that about them not reading is simply not true."
Last year, Manhattan Beach circulated 331,000 pieces of material, and Held said that 35 percent of that was comprised of children’s books, up from 25 percent in the 1970s.
The big hurdles in her career were accumulating workloads due to computer crashes when the library first went online. Other than that, she said, the job has been uneventful, except for that occasionally unanswerable question.
Held belonged to the Manhattan Beach chapter of Soroptimists International for more than 25 years and also had been a member of the Manhattan Beach Coordination Council. ER