The Library District

Photo from eventective.com

Kansas City, Mo doesn’t just have a library, it has a “Downtown Library District”.  

For decades, what is now called The Library District, was a collection of land and building belonging to the First National Bank.

The centerpiece of the complex, on Baltimore and Tenth Street, was the bank’s headquarters.  

In 1999 First National Bank morphed for the umpteenth time and became the Bank of America.  Unflinchingly, the corporate powers decided to consolidate offices and move into Kansas City Place, a towering modern skyscraper in downtown Kansas City.

They felt that the historic neo-classical building on Baltimore Street required too much work to renovate and the building was abandoned.

In 2000 the library took up the challenge.  They raised $50 million to renovate and restore the building to its original beauty, including work on the marble interior, giant Ionic columns and double leaf bronze doors.  In 2004 the library opened its doors to the public to reveal a modern library in First National’s elegant skeleton.     

They were awarded a National Preservation Award for their incredible work and monumental effort.  I shudder to think of what might have happened without their commitment to the history and architecture of their city and am reminded, again, why libraries are considered the soul of our communities.

Most Challenged Classics

As promised, here is the list of most challenged classics.

1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway  

I am happy to report that three of the books are included on my daughters required reading list for Catholic High School this year, so I guess its safe to say that intellectual freedom is still alive and well, even in middle America.  Happy Reading!

Want to wear your outrage on your sleeve?  Buy banned book week merch at the ALA website.

Banned Books are Beautiful

Another official week is fast approaching....Banned Book Week!  If that doesn’t make you want to start reading, nothing will.

According to the ALA, the last week in September is reserved for “celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment”, which sounds a lot better than “reading books that your mother wishes you didn’t”.  

BBW is all about intellectual freedom and the right to read or express any idea, even if others hate it (see Terrible Tango post).  The week is sponsored by all sorts of groups and companies that love and sell books.  It is a week to be thankful for outspoken librarians, teachers, booksellers and passionate readers who stand up for controversial books - without their vigilance, many books would be off the shelf and in the dustbin.  

The top three reasons books are challenged, according to the Office of Intellectual Freedom at the ALA are because they are sexually explicit, contain offensive language and are considered inappropriate for specific age groups.  

But according to the Library Bill of Rights, “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources.”

In fact, if librarians do remove material for “protection or for any other reason” they are actually violating the First Amendment.

In 1953 Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas stated the issue clearly, “Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”

So by now are you dieing to know the most challenged books in America?  

I am.  

Here is the list from 2010:

And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson (see my blog post, Terrible Tango)
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit

Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, and religious viewpoint

Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons:  homosexuality and sexually explicit

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: religious viewpoint and violence

Happy reading and if you didn’t find anything to suit you in this list, stay tuned for the list of challenged classics coming tomorrow!

Who Moved My Cheese?

I usually feel pretty cool at the library.  I know how it works; where to find books, how to use the catalog, where the bathrooms are, how to log onto the network, you know, all the important stuff.  But today I felt like a total newbie.  

Disclaimer:  I was at a new-to-me branch, The Audubon Library in Amherst, NY, part of the Buffalo-Erie System.

First, I stood in line for at least 5 minutes waiting  to check out my books and didn’t notice that there was an open self check out station right next to the librarian manned spot.  To be fair, the signage was poor and the computer blended in with the rest of circulation desk equipment.  Red faced I stepped up, scanned my card and was informed I had a .75 cent fine.
Moving on I placed my books on an electronic mat in front of the computer and tried to scan the bar code.  

But where was the bar code?  
All I could find was the ISBN bar code, not the usual library one.
What was happening?
Who moved my cheese?

I glanced at the librarian helplessly.  She took one look at what I was attempting and sighed deeply before leaving her post and walking all the way around the desk to my side, the dummy side.
We started from scratch but this time she told me to leave my books on the mat and be patient.  Magically I saw the titles flash up on the screen, even though the books were stacked 4 deep.

“What is this?”  I asked incredulously.
“It’s a new system,” she said, pointing out the obvious.
“Yes, I can see that.  But what happened to the bar code system?” I wondered.
“Oh, that’s long gone.  The books all have microchips in them now.”
“The books have MICROCHIPS?”  I gaped at her and my obnoxious inside voice said,  “library are being shuttered, children can’t go to storytimes, librarians are on the street and this struggling county is putting microchips in books?”

“Really?  Why did they do that?” My daughter shot me a settle-down-and-don’t-be-rude look.
“Don’t know,” she answered nonchalantly, as if it were the most normal thing in the world for a book to have a microchip, “we just do what they tell us.”
“That is going to cost a fortune!” I marvelled.
“Yup,” she said, “have a great day!”

I went straight home to investigate the madness.
The technology is called RFID:  radio frequency identification device and its ancestors date back to World War II when radio waves were used to identify aircraft.  It hit the big time in the 1970s when it was introduced as an electronic toll collector - or what my family refers to as “EZ Pass Go!” - the little tag that you velcro to your car windshield.

Currently the largest RFID customers are the United States Department of Defense, they use tags on all shipping containers leaving the U.S., and Walmart, with 25,000 systems in 2,800 stores.  RFID is popping up everywhere to help us survive the difficult days in the rat race...Dairy queen can send coupons to your smart phones, zipcars can unlock the car door, 7-Eleven can charge you for that slurpee right through your phone and Wynn Casino has chips in their high value chips - Wierd.

But beside the cool factor why are libraries spending millions of dollars to track their books?  
I uncovered a few reasons, none of which seemed very convincing (according to me, who is neither a librarian nor a picky consumer).

1.  RFID chips provide a “superior check out process” for the consumer, several books can be checked out at once.
2.  RFID is the technology of the future and bar code scanners will go the way of the VCR.
3.  RFID drastically reduces the cost of doing inventory because the books can remain on the shelf.
4.  Chip checkout reduces the repetitive strain injuries of circulation desk staff  

Because the RFID tag can store information, some libraries and patrons are concerned about privacy issues.  Not only can the library track what you read and keep all that information in a database, but now they can track where you go with your book (would the librarian find out that my paperback went with me on vacation to Italy?), and the book itself can track who has read it in it’s tiny, little brain.

RFID use at the library is a complex topic with many pros and cons.  Here is all I’m saying, if we (library lovers) want the public on our side we have to demonstrate that we’re willing to tighten our belt and make do, just like everyone else (except Wall Street)...I’m not sure that spending the money to create the Jetson Library of the future sends that message.

The King Commitment

The Bangor library proved its service to the community over decades of use and constant growth.  But by 1993 the stacks were so overcrowded that they had to be closed to the public and half of the front steps were such a wreck that the city building inspector insisted they be closed.

The library had an $11 million endowment was but it was reserved to buy new books.  What they needed was $8.5 million for a renovation and expansion.  Fortunately Bangor had a fairy godauthor to turn to...Stephen King.  King, and his wife, Tabitha had already paid for a detailed inspection of the library that reveal copious problems.  Now they came forward with a $2.5 million donation to kick off a capital campaign and the City Council matched the gift.  
But King did more than write a check, he appeared on Jeopardy (and won $10,000) and made a rare and profitable public appearance at the Bangor Auditorium for a book reading. He stood up, spoke out and rallied Bangor residents around a cause they could all benefit from.

His plan worked.  By 1996 the library had the money they needed and the work got underway for an addition and renovation.

The library actually moved into a warehouse across town and the bus system was re-routed temporarily to make sure everyone could still get their books.  One year later the 27,000 sq. ft. addition and 40,000 sq. ft renovation was ready for action with the following improvements (see the slide show at Robert A.M. Stern Architects):

• A new entrance bridging the old and new spaces

• Bright open book stacks, almost doubling the capacity
• Computerized catalogue system
• A new children’s library
• ‘The Bangor Room’ featuring books on the city’s early history and genealogy
• A lecture hall
• Gallery space along the front stairwell
• Accessible entry at the back of the building

Like many of the libraries I visited in Maine, the historic space is buffed out to its original glory and the new space is complimentary, inspiring and modern.

Stephen King has lived in Maine his entire life.  His occasional forays to other states, and once to England, always resulted in his return home.  After graduating from the University of Maine he worked as a teacher and a began writing short stories to bring in extra money.  His first blockbuster book was Carrie, published in 1973 after his wife retrieved it from the garbage.
King has called himself a “salami writer” saying his work is “good salami, but salami is salami”.
The facts is he is one of the most successful American writers of all time, loved and read by millions of fans around the world.  But you don’t even need to leave the city limits of Bangor to see what he has done for generations of residents.

I told you so

If anyone ever had a reason to say, “I told you so” it was the woman in Bangor, Maine  who, in April of 1911, wrote a poem warning the city of Bangor that their indecision over building a new library, not made of wood, was putting the collection of 70,000 books at risk.

Thanks to Ryan R. Robbins’ detailed history in Bangor in Focus we can feel her pain and frustration...

We oft have dreamed of a library fair
That with other cities would well compare,
But our dreams alas! are but castles in air.
And our Bangor library is where -- Oh! Where?
Fair spring is come, 'twill soon be May,
The workingmen -- they need the pay --
The public wait from day to day
Still the trustees dally and delay.
And yet we wait tho' a year's gone by
And Bangoreans still for their library sigh.
Oh! Will the time then ne'er draw nigh?
And the question asked is, "Why, oh, why?"
Why should our books be allowed to burn?
Why should the trustees our wishes spurn?
The answer, alas! We have yet to learn
But the frailest worm will sometimes turn
Let the people then rally and no longer wait
Let them honor themselves and the Pine Tree state
With a building that's fair both for lowly and great
A blessing to all, free from discord and hate

- April 13, 1911

Can you imagine finding such eloquence in a letter to the editor in your morning paper?  

A photo of the fire from the Maine Memory Network

Three weeks later, on April 20, 1911, the library was engulfed in flames.  Only 29 volumes were rescued.   The entire collection was reduced to ashes, a complete and absolute loss.  My guess is that the poem’s author took no satisfaction in her accurate prediction or the loss of $300,000 worth of books.

The crushing blow might have discouraged other cities but in Bangor they packed up their one box of books, picked up 49 that were out getting bound and three weeks later were doing business in the basement of the Penobscot Court House.  The Portland Library, Maine State Library, Bowdoin College Library and a library in Medford, MA generously sent books to begin the collection once again.  

By January they already had 7,000 books (1,000 books had been checked out at the time of the fire).   Not surprisingly, the trustees decided to stop procrastinating and hired Peabody and Stearns to design a new brick and stone building.

Perhaps guilt was responsible for the decision to make the new library an “architectural showcase”.  Ryan Robbins describes the space that opened to the public on December 20, 1913 as “a copper-framed dome and rotunda, glass ceilings and floors for the second floor, and large fireplaces on the first floor. The trustees also voted to inscribe the names of 12 distinguished, New England-born writers on the rotunda: Aldrich, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fiske, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Longfellow, Lowell, Palfrey, Parkman, Prescott, Whittier and Bryant.”  

Librarians used the occasion to update their catalogue system to the new Dewey Decimal card catalog.  By 1920 the collection had returned to pre-fire size and six years later, at 120,000 volumes it would be the largest in the state of Maine.

The library was at full capacity by 1927 but there was no money to expand, it wasn’t until 1959 that a 30’ x 100’ addition relieved some of the pressure.  But that didn’t last long, as the library continued to grow the stacks became unsafe for patrons to walk through and librarians had to fill requests on demand.  It was clear that something had to be done about the library, but who would do it?  

None other than the most famous resident of Maine (and I don’t mean Andre the Seal)

Crying over...the library?

Have you seen the youtube video of the man crying over the library closing?  

Turn on the news, any day of the week, and you’ll find something to cry over; war casualties, famine, lost jobs, foreclosed houses.  Just yesterday my daughter and I got teary over a story of a 71 yr. old man fighting with a coal mining company to save the property his father and grandfather grew up on.

Sure there are plenty of things to cheer about as well but the news is determined to point out despair and desperation, just in case we start feeling too hopeful.

With so much misery at our fingertips why cry over a lousy library closing?

• libraries are physical reminders of our community’s past and the commitment our ancestors had to learning and improving themselves.
• libraries teach kids to read.
• libraries are free public spaces were everyone is welcomed equally despite their life circumstances.
• libraries are places to gather, talk and learn from each other.
• libraries are beautiful.
• librarians help people get jobs, find a recipe, go to college, learn to knit or learn languages.
• libraries offer books that teach skills, provide hope, offer escape and inspire.
• libraries are free.
• library programs introduce us to people, places and experiences we have never imagined.
• libraries are safe, warm and welcoming.
• libraries are in no hurry to rush you out the door.

A town without a library is like a person without a soul.
 
Sure you can look up the weather on the Internet, print out coupons, read the paper and waste hours of your life on Facebook and I Tunes - IF you have a computer, but don’t confuse that with the soul of a community.  And don’t imagine that we can eliminate libraries and books from our society without destroying our democracy and the people in it.

That thought is enough to make anyone cry, I hope.