Happy Birthday!

Martin Luther King Jr.  week arrived in 4th grade and  I started wondering about King’s papers and documents  - could there be a new library to explore?  Actually, there are many MLK  libraries to explore but let’s start with ‘The King Library and Archives’ located at The King Center in Atlanta.  The library has preserved King’s papers and is home to records, interviews and documents of people and organizations that are crucial to understanding the Civil Rights Movement in America.
The center is located at 449 Auburn Ave, SE in Atlanta and was built by Coretta Scott King in 1968 - it features exhibits to teach the public about MLK Jr., Coretta Scott King and Mahatma Gandhi, and it’s the site of MLK Jr. and Coretta Scott King’s graves.  The website has lots of goodies, including a beautiful introduction with  King’s  ‘The Drum Major Instinct’, a video clip of King receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, a link to Martin Luther King III’s article about his dad’s speech and an online gift shop!

Sixteen libraries are listed as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. libraries in Wikipedia - way too many to visit in one night … so I headed  to San Jose, CA to a particularly interesting venture between San Jose State University and the City of San Jose.  This Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. library, finished in 2003, was the first in America to combine a major university and a city library - a simple, powerful concept - more books, less overhead.

Check out the eight story glass atrium pouring sunlight over 475,000 square feet of library - home to over 1.3 million volumes (don’t worry, the books aren’t left out in the sunlight).   The city and university worked together to create spaces for everyone and everything, from contemplation to connection - more resort than library by New England standards.  Stop on the first four floors to hang out with friends and have a coffee, or drop by the teen or children’s  room.  Take an elevator ride straight to the top and enjoy a quiet space for reading, thinking and learning, the 8th floor reading room.  

This is a collaborative community project to celebrate.  But what about the historic libraries that would have to come down in order to create these new, improved spaces.  Is it possible to preserve our history while moving forward?  Of course it’s possible, it’ll just cost you.
 New York Times Editorial (on the destruction of Penn Station)- "We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."