THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 10, 1994 TAG: 9408090439
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Ann Gorwitz runs her practiced eye along neatly arranged rows of books. She spies one stray and reaches up a finger to tap it into place.
``We have so much more room here,'' the librarian says, plainly satisfied.
Since it opened earlier this summer, the new library at Oceana Naval Air Station - a third larger than the old quarters - hasn't exactly been stealing customers from Virginia Beach's public libraries.
But the advantages it offers Oceana personnel keep them coming back, at a rate of about 50 a day - double that on Wednesdays while the summer reading program for children is under way.
For Jeanet H. Wilson, whose two children are enrolled in the program, the advantage is convenience. ``Kempsville has more variety of books,'' Wilson said, ``But it's more convenient for me to go to Oceana while I'm going to shop. It's one stop.''
For commuters who squeeze through the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel twice a day, the base's audio library offers tapes to help relieve the traffic grind.
And bringing in more and more people as the Navy shrinks is information the library offers on the military and civilian job market. ``Helping active duty separate has been a real big push right now,'' Gorwitz said. She has stocked a career corner with books and videos on topics such as job hunting, resume writing, career options and interviewing skills.
With a microfiche reader, patrons can also tap into the want ads from 64 Sunday newspapers across the United States. The service is supplied by CNET, Commander Naval Education and Training.
The new library in the old Navy Exchange caters to military patrons and their dependents. Books can be checked out by retirees and civilian employees of Oceana, too. There are no overdue-book fines. Careless patrons who lose books sometimes don't confess until they're caught, often when they transfer to another duty station or leave the service.
The Oceana library also boasts a computerized interlibrary loan system that can fetch books from 10 nearby states, often in just two or three days. ``I have a pretty high rate of getting books,'' Gorwitz said. ``I can get about 95 percent of what I ask for.''
The new library is as tidy as a well-kept card catalog. And seating - tables, chairs, and sofas - is scattered throughout the fiction and nonfiction stacks. Separate study areas provide quiet places to look through the 19,000 items available. There is a magazine library and a paperback swap.
Patrons also stop in to use an in-house typewriter, copy machine and two computer terminals that hook up to educational materials on file.
A spacious nook houses both children's books and plenty of child-sized seating. The summer reading program for preschoolers and 6- to 11-year-olds is just winding down. It features guest speakers, crafts and a reading incentive program. A 50-member Friends of the Library group supports it with used-book and bake sales.
The new library is easier on patrons in many ways: It's in the same building as Navy Family Services, where some separation counseling is done, and the Navy Campus Education Center, where service members can take college courses.
And not least among the improvements is parking. Patrons used to circle like jets in a landing pattern seeking one of the eight spaces at the old library. Now, just outside the new library's side entrance, there's a mini-mart with a roomy lot. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CHARLIE MEADS
Oceana librarian Ann Gorwitz gives Mason and Michell Hanft a hand in
assembling pieces of paper into a crab - the subject of the
library's weekly storytime last Wednesday.
by CNB