By Jorge Casuso

February 14 -- Subscribing to the notion that books can change lives, Santa Monica’s biggest landlord took steps to expand the horizons of hundreds of middle school students Monday.

Equity Office donated 137 books and some $1,200 -- the total could reach more than $2,000 -- to purchase reading material for the John Adams Middle School library.

“Books are how you change the world,” said Susan Shepard, Equity Office’s general manager and an avid reader. “Kids have to read. It helps you dream.”

Company officials hope the book drive -- which they expect to continue promoting for a different school each year -- will encourage other local businesses to follow suit.

“It’s so easy to get people,” said Tom Clarke, Equity Office’s managing director of property management for West Los Angeles. “They want to give back to the community, but they don’t know how.”

The donations -- which came from the business park that houses the Equity Office headquarters at 3200 Ocean Park Boulevard -- will likely grow next year, Clarke said.

“Our goal next year is to double the cash and double the books,” he said. “We could expand the drive to other business parks.”

JAMS librarian Jasper Bui called the donations “phenomenal.”

“It feels so great to see people in the community doing something for our schools,” Bui said.

With an average of ten books for every one of the middle school’s 1,200 students, JAMS’ library falls short of the state goal of 20 books per student, Bui said.

The average copyright date for books at the library is 1993, and there is a shortage of science and social studies books, he said. Once the new books come in, the old books will be put to good use.

“Old books go to non-profits or oversees” to poor schools, Bui said.

Kim Karie, a parent who helped organize the book drive, said the effort was a success that can be easily replicated.

“This is a great example of the public schools and private businesses working together in a very simple manner to provide our kids with the material they need to further their education,” said Karie, who heads the Karie Group, a local consulting firm.

The final test will come next year, said Mayor Richard Bloom.

“I’m coming back to make sure they’ve read all the books,” he said.