Free damage is free damage. If it's safe, why wouldn't you? Yeah, hitting something with your book 3-4 times a minute will give you an extra ~200+ damage, so why not?

I'm not saying they are 'top priority', obviously your typical spells are more important, but you're essentially getting free damage for the simple action of positioning yourself closer. In most fights, with sprint, you're going to take less than 2 seconds at absolute most, positioning in melee range, much less depending on the fight.

And some classes (SMN) have higher base strength than other classes, so how worthwhile it is depends on your class. But, in the end, it is free damage for the minor issues of running into melee range once.