The white pages have long provided more than just a way to look up names and numbers. The Senate also wants the number displayed in bold red print inside any business directories the phone companies distribute. Maybe I'm wrong about that, though." The legislation requires phone companies to provide customers with a toll-free number to call to request a phone book delivery, to be included on their websites and at least once a year in customer bills. "I myself would like to keep receiving them," he said. The Baltimore County Democrat, a lawmaker since 1967, said he was relying on his gut. was the only member of the General Assembly to vote against the legislation. "I still do that." Wilson, who has worked at the library for more than three decades, hastened to add that he also has high-speed Internet at home. Another use for telephone books: Looking up telephone numbers. The collection helps researchers understand how families grew and spread their roots over the years, and how particular areas developed over time, said Wesley Wilson, chief of the Enoch Pratt Central Library's resource center. The early directories, published more than 100 years before the invention of the telephone, included people's residences and occupations, making them a primitive Facebook of sorts. The library's Baltimore set of city directories dates back even further - to 1752 - on microfilm. Librarians use the books nearly every day, most often to assist people researching their family history, said Darcell Little, assistant manager of the library's Maryland department. The editions have thickened as the counties have grown. Tucked in a tightly packed shelving area of the downtown library is a collection of residential white pages from every part of Maryland dating to the 1940s. Over the years, though, they have served as an overview of how we live. With more people relying solely on mobile phones, which aren't listed, the white pages aren't as comprehensive as they used to be. National studies show that only about one in 10 people use them. It takes more than 2,000 tons of paper - that's 4 million pounds - each year to produce residential directories in Maryland, a Verizon spokesman said. Advertising-funded business directories, such as the YellowBook, are unaffected by the legislation. Home numbers are also available online at /whitepages. Phone companies would still provide residential directories in print or electronic form upon request, free of charge. Martin O'Malley signs the legislation, there will be one less item to clutter the front steps and yards of Maryland. But it is likely to be the last: Come next year, after Gov. Verizon, which provides telephone service to much of the state, is in the midst of making its annual delivery. Until now, Maryland has insisted that phone companies publish and deliver the books to all customers once a year. This week, the General Assembly approved legislation to end mandatory delivery of the residential white pages, a step already taken by states across the country as fewer people turn to the once-trusty reference. Yet now when they land with a thud at your doorstep, you probably toss them straight into the recycling bin. You might even have used them to look up a telephone number once or twice. In your teens, you scanned for funny-sounding names to prank call. As a kindergartner, you dipped their pages in watery glue to make papier-mache. When you were a tot, they gave you a boost at the dining room table.
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