Rockland Synergy

My favorite modern library incarnation is like a tootsie pop with history at the core and sugary convenience wrapped around the outside.  I relish it backwards, first exploring the history, reading each plaque, touching the wood and wrought iron, meditating in the reading room, gazing at the ceiling and examining all the portraits.  After satisfying my need for context and meaning I return to the present and head to the audio books on DVD.

Typically, the old libraries are stiff, dark, formal and imposing while the new libraries are the opposite, bright, light, airy and open.  The juxtaposition is complimentary, offering a taste of a the past with a heaping portion of the future on the side.  

The Rockland Library in Maine has balanced the arrangement gracefully.  The original Carnegie building remains in tact, complete with circulation desk, decorative iron dividers and Carnegie oil portrait.  But the back wall of the library is blown out to accommodate a new sunny addition.  The seam, where the two buildings meet is a glass structure that delicately balances on the original stone.  It allows you to stand back and see the back of the original library from inside the new library. 

The old library is divided between a stately, peaceful reading room and book stacks.  Peace and quiet prevail under Carnegie’s watchful eye.  The children’s room, in the addition, is as far away from the reading room as physically possible.  A perfect arrangement for families who want to read out loud, build block towers and work on puzzles together.  At the turn of the century, architects couldn’t have even imagined needing this space.  Children were not part of the library equation and when they were let out in public they not encouraged to be heard.  

Surprisingly there are only 18 Carnegie libraries in Maine.  Rockland’s was built in 1904 thanks to a $20,000 donation from Carnegie and the addition was added in 2001.  I am confident that the synergy they have accomplished will keep Carnegie smiling for another 100 years.  Who knows what we will build after that.

A Diamond in the Rough

Niagara Falls Carnegie Library

There are a few blocks in downtown Niagara Falls that are scary enough to make you check to see if your car doors are locked even if you’re not planning to stop.  The streets are lined with boarded storefronts, abandoned houses and weed strewn lots.  

Groups of kids (big, scary looking kids) hang out on street corners near burned out buildings and signs for the Dollar Store and Check Cashing abound.  It’s not my favorite place to visit but when I discovered that a century old Carnegie Library still stood on the corner of  Main Street and Ashland, I started my ignition.

The perfectly symmetrical neo-classical building stuck out like a rose among the poison ivy.  Towering columns in the ornate facade bordered the glass paneled front doors and window.  I parked at the curb and climbed the steps to gaze up at the words “Public Library”, carved into the marble above the door and when I turned back I was assaulted by the garish red awning of the Chinese Buffet and Lounge.

A hand painted sign, hammered into the grass on the front lawn, had Carnegie’s picture and a very brief history of his library philanthropy in America.  Although the sign said the building had been renovated in 1995 it was hard to tell by the stained yellow stone exterior.  Although the outside seemed a little down on its luck, I was thrilled that the building had been saved from the wrecking ball that swings so freely in many of our upstate cities.  The library had been re-purposed as the Community Development and Leased Housing Department of Niagara Falls and, even better, the front doors were wide open.

Stepping over the threshold on that warm summer day was like travelling back in time to 1902, the year the library opened.  What I saw on the inside the building literally took my breath away.  The foyer and two flanking rooms had huge, intricate stained glass skylights set into carved cove ceilings.  Each skylight was made of 16 individual panes of glass that filtered the sunlight as it poured onto the marble steps beneath my feet.  People moved around me and into the building, oblivious to its beauty, while I stood, rooted in my spot, head tilted back and mouth open, gazing at the ornate ceiling.

Ready for more, I pushed through the next set of doors to find a waiting room that was obviously the spot of the original circulation desk.  Above the desk, carved into the wall were large gold letters that read “Erected by Andrew Carnegie”.  The walls throughout were covered in ornate plaster work that wound its way up to the crowing skylights..

A woman came out from the partitions to see if she could help me with my lease and was thrilled that I was there to admire the building.  She showed me some old photographs that had been enlarged and were hanging from the cheesy maroon office cubicles.  

In the pictures I could see that the original center room was once an elegant foyer,  perfectly balanced and proportioned.  The back wall of the library was actually hexagonal and the original second floor balcony was enclosed by a wrought iron railing.  The book stacks on the second floor fanned out evenly across a glass block floor like identical segments in an orange.

I peered into the “offices” on either side of the entry.  Built in bookshelves lined the walls and were capped with ornamental plaster work.  Although the cubicles and office equipment was jarring it wasn’t enough to prevent imagining the original beauty of the space.

In the lobby I met a women who told me that she remembered when the building used to be the library. She said she came in with her sister just to look around at all the pretty stuff and sit at the big tables.  

Even 100 years later, somewhat diminished by the office conversion and neglect, the building inspired wonder and awe.  Its dignity and meticulous construction reminded me, and all those who had passed through its doors during its 70 years as a library, that this was a special place, where amazing personal transformations could be made.  It was a place to be honored and valued because it offered a chance to learn about anything and become anyone...it was a library.

Library Disciple

Reading history reminds me how impermanent things are.  People, buildings, businesses, countries and, alas, even books can make a huge impact on the world but eventually they die, decay or change and are very often forgotten.  Depressing, but also a reason why history is so important.  

Within a century the landscape of our community, state or country may be radically altered, all it takes is a little invention, like the train or airplane or Internet to create a new paradigm and send everyone and everything scrambling.

Sometimes I think about the men, they were mostly men, who worked so hard to create things; monuments, businesses, museums, that are now gone, or swallowed up by something bigger.  I wonder if they worked so hard because they though their creations would last forever or because they enjoyed the work.

Andrew Carnegie’s mission is a great example of a lasting legacy.  He wanted to help communities build libraries ONLY if they were willing to make a long term financial commitment for continued support.  That one little rule is why town and cities all across the country still have libraries.  The books are no longer in the great stone monuments that Carnegie originally funded but in new library buildings that the community continues to support.  Each town made a  promise that led to the continuation of the Carnegie idea:  help people help themselves and create institutions that would give back to the community.  

Carnegie was looking for a way to create lasting good that would span generations.  His vision became reality.  Practically any 21st century teenager can begin their journey to self-improvement and discovery at the library, or bookmobile,  just like they did 100 years ago.

Compare that to the sad ending of the Arkell’s story in Canojoharie, N.Y. (see June entry).  Both father and son’s great companies are gone, the Beech Nut plant now a decaying memory of what used to be.  But what is left is their collection of art and books, which, thanks to the library and museum, will continue to inspire and delight and remind New Yorkers of their past.

My take away is two-fold:  

• Enjoy the work, or don’t do it.  Life’s too short to spend your days drudging through paperwork or nodding off in meetings.  It’s also to short to try to squirrel away money that you can enjoy ‘someday’. Check in with yourself to find out why you are doing what you are doing. Do you know?

• Spend time on lasting legacies, things that matter and make a permanent difference for the future. This does not include vacuuming, weed whacking or cleaning the garage. If you haven’t noticed, the grass keeps growing and the garage is always full of junk.  It does include connecting, helping and caring for the people you love, creating beauty and doing something that is meaningful to you everyday.

I don’t usually go to Billy Graham for inspiration, but I couldn’t resist,

“Our days are numbered. One of the primary goals in our lives should be to prepare for our last day. The legacy we leave is not just in our possessions, but in the quality of our lives. What preparations should we be making now? The greatest waste in all of our earth, which cannot be recycled or reclaimed, is our waste of the time that God has given us each day.”

Making Rejection Work

Carnegie Library in Moline

I decided to delve into the history of the Moline Public Library (in Illinois) since I was already enjoying their slide show of patrons with their favorite books.  But first I had to find out where it was.  Moline is dramatically perched on a bluff between the Mississippi River and the Rock River 165 miles west of Chicago.  It’s part of the Quad-Cities that span the border to Iowa and 13% of the entire Nation’s Population live within 300 miles.

The development of Moline all started with a dam on the Mississippi that powered a mill that brought industry to town.  The river and dam were a powerful combination for manufacturing in the 1800s and they caught the eye of guy name John Deere.  He set up shop in Moline (originally ‘Moulin’, French for city of the mills) in 1848.

By the late 1800’s Moline was hopping.  The new train line brought cars full of Swedish, Belgian and German immigrants, eager to work hard and take care of their families and ‘ John Deere Town’ grew at a fast pace.

At the Moline Preservation Society I learned that it was not Deere but Wheelock Spellman of the Moline Plow Company that helped the town with their first library by renting them space in 1872.  The Ladies Lecture Committee celebrated the opening with their annual Strawberry Festival.  By the turn of the century the library had expanded to several floors in Wheelock’s building but it was clear they needed a building of the own.

W.A. Jones of the Daily News secretly wrote a letter asking Carnegie for a new library grant.  In his letter he described Moline as “comparatively poor” and explained that to get to their current library patrons had to cross several train tracks.  At the library they were plagued by smoke from a nearby library.

Believe it or not, Carnegie said, “No”.  He though there were plenty of wealthy citizens in Moline that could donate funds for a new library.  W.A. Jones must have been crushed and a little embarrassed about his secret mission.

Rejection hurts.  Sometimes it’s a slap in the face and other times its a punch to the gut, but it never feels very good.  The difference between feeling stung and devastation comes from how we handle the feedback.  

• Everyone gets rejected.  Even the ‘beautiful people’ who look like they have it all have dealt with rejection during their life - it just comes with the experience of being alive.  Accept that you will be criticized or dissed, accept that not everyone will like you or admire your work, accept that you will be rejected and it won’t come as such an unpleasant surprise when it happens.  When you do encounter a person who doesn’t like you, remind yourself that their approval doesn’t matter.

• Rejection, or constructive negative feedback, can help you change course and improve yourself.   I remember a principal I had several years ago telling me that my teaching was dry and dull.  She pointed out that my colleagues were much more animated and could hold their student’s attention and interest.  As a quiet introvert I knew my teaching approach wasn’t very exciting but, I thought, I made up for it in the individualized attention I gave the kids.  First I was defensive and made excuses, then I took her rejection and turned it into a challenge; what could I do to be more animated?  Over the years I got more comfortable “putting on a show” during my lessons, my confidence increased and I knew I was a better teacher because of her blunt critique.

• Stop thinking about it.  Analyzing, worrying and obsessing about rejection only makes it worse.  You will drag yourself into the slough of despond if you give the rejection of others so much power.  They are just another person, possibly with different values, beliefs and experiences, their opinion does not have the power to enslave your thoughts.  Force yourself to do something that will divert your attention (reading, going to a movie, working in the garden, cooking) and then move on.

• Try again and again and again.  People who have achieved success today have all overcome rejection in order to get there.  They were not welcomed with open arms on their first, second or tenth attempt - they were rejected but they did not give up.  It took 38 tries for Margaret Mitchell to get Gone With The Wind published - 38!  Here’s a list of author rejections that will remind you to keep trying when someone says no. 

Try again is exactly the advice that W.A. Jones gave himself in 1901.  He wrote back to Carnegie and asked him to rethink his decision.  Carnegie reconsidered and changed his mind, granting Moline $37,000 toward the construction of a new library.  It would be the beginning of the library’s influential role in Moline that continues to teach and inspire its residents today, 110 years later.  

Crumple up life’s rejections, pull out a fresh sheet of paper and move forward.

Educate Yourself

photo from augustwilson.net

100 years after Andrew Carnegie educated himself at the Anderson Library in Pittsburgh, Freddy August Kittel sought refuge and knowledge at Pittsburgh’s  Wylie Avenue Branch.  Kittel’s teacher had accused him of plagiarism when he turned in his term paper about Napoleon.  This insult, heaped upon a mountain of public school disappointments, prompted him to drop out of the 10th grade.  

Luckily, Kittel was a voracious reader, he got his first library card at the age of 5, a year after his mother taught him to read.  He was reading the work of black writers like Ellison and Hughes before he was a teenager and, once school was out of the way, the library offered him the chance for unbridled reading and learning.  Kittel was particularly interested in understanding the place and history of African Americans in our country.  

At the age of 20, Kittel changed his name to one that is now familiar to readers and theater goers around the world:  August Wilson.  His insatiable thirst for reading paired with a desire to write, in order to find his place in the world, led him to a career as a two time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright.  Wilson is most famous for The Pittsburgh Cycle, a series of 10 plays set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh where Wilson grew up with his six siblings.  Each play unravels part of the black experience in Pittsburgh from 1900-1990.

He did eventually get a degree but it wasn’t from the school system (think they feel a little chagrined?) it was from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.  And now there is a new library in Wilson’s old neighborhood, The Hill District Branch, with its own “August Wilson Room” and a stool from Eddies, a nearby coffee shop, demolished in 2006, where Wilson used to hang out.

August Wilson didn’t remind me of Andrew Carnegie at first glance - their centuries and backgrounds are worlds apart - but they were kindred spirits when it came to educating themselves.  Carnegie, an elementary school dropout,  was working at the telegraph company in Pittsburgh when he discovered Colonel James Anderson’s library.  His love of reading and desire to learn made him a frequent customer.  He also read everything time would allow and believed that books were “treasures of knowledge”.  Carnegie would always credited the library with his success, believing that his ‘education’ though books allowed him to elevate himself.

Carnegie, like Wilson, achieved great success in his life, not because of anyone (certainly not thanks to a teacher), but because of a safe place that allowed him to read, think, learn and grow on his own.  Carnegie probably couldn’t even imagine a world where someone like August Wilson would be lauded as a gifted artist, but, thank goodness, he could imagine a place for people to discover their talents and rise to their potential.  Without his vision and his deep pockets, Freddy Kittel may have been left out in the cold.

Poof! Instant City

Carnegie Library, Guthrie, Oklahoma

So today I’m back in Oklahoma, racing along the plain, scoping out the ‘available’ land and finally pitching my tent and staking a lot near the railroad tracks in Guthrie, Oklahoma.  It is April 11, 1889.  According to Benjamin Harrison’s land run plan, otherwise know as finders keepers, or first come, first serve, I am now a landowner and in Guthrie.  9,999 other adventurous settlers also arrived on that same afternoon.  A reporter for Harper’s Weekly wrote, “Unlike Rome, the city of Guthrie was built in a day.”

Before long the ambitious settlers moved out of their tents and started building a model city.  Within months Guthrie was know as the “queen of the prairie” and began the work that would result in a picture perfect Victorian downtown made up of smart stone and brick buildings and offered city water, electricity and even underground carriage parking - fancy.  Two years after the land run and tent city, Guthrie opened their own, rather elaborate, Carnegie Library.

The Old Carnegie Library still stands in Guthrie but has been re-purposed as the Oklahoma Territorial Museum.  The Carnegie Foundation was not all that impressed by the building’s fancy dome or ornamental fireplace - a little high and mighty, in their opinion, but Guthrie had an image to uphold and stuck to their fancy vision.  The legacy is a classically beautiful building that houses artifacts, paitings and photographs from Oklahoma’s wild and crazy past.

A year later Oklahoma became an official territory of the United States and Guthrie became the capital.  Guthrie grew and prospered for the next 16 years when Oklahoma became the 46th state and Guthrie served as its capital.  The first state governor was sworn in on the steps of the stately Carnegie Library.  Guthrie is now the largest urban historic district in the country and a National Historic Landmark, but only thanks to Oklahoma City.  

Oklahoma City usurped Guthrie as the state capital in 1910 in a stealthy midnight operation conducted by the governor. He actually grabbed the state seal and rode off in the night to Oklahoma City - when everyone woke up in the morning, presto - a new capital.  But here is the very cool thing about this unconventional change of government...because everyone started going to Oklahoma City, Guthrie was preserved, as a living time capsule.  It is probably because of the exodus to Oklahoma City that the Carnegie Library and the downtown center have not been demolished.  They left behind a lovely Victorian enclave that welcomes tourists and historians.

The dark underbelly of the story was the effect of settlement on the Native American Tribes in Oklahoma.   The National Park Service explains,  “In the tents and shanties that sheltered all the new citizens of Oklahoma,
that first night on their new lands must have been simply divine. For the American Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes - who thought they had a permanent home in Oklahoma - that same night must have been full of sadness, anger, and despair.”  A perfect example of win-lose thinking.

Watch Out!

I knew there was a watch list for endangered animals but I was shocked to find out that someone was looking out for endangered libraries as well.  The World Monuments Fund is a non-profit organization based in New York that advocates for the protection of all “significant” buildings, monuments and sites around the world (not just libraries).  Their goal is to save and preserve places that have cultural or historical importance in order to protect our society's heritage for future generations.  To raise awareness, the Fund announces a “Watch List of Endangered Sites” every two years.  The list sends a wake up call to the world that a place is in danger due to war, disaster, neglect or vandalism.  The sites can be nominated by any concerned group or individual and then 100 are selected by an international panel of smart people.   

While a site is on the watch list it is eligible for WMF grants and funding but, just as importantly, the site can use the list to highlight their plight and attract donors.  A frightening slide show on the WMF website offers beautiful photographs of places in peril and with a click you can read the whole story for each location - a great history and architectural lesson.  

There were nine places in the United States chosen for the current list, including the 30 year old Atlanta Fulton Central Library.  As you may recall from yesterday, the original Atlanta Central Library was an ornate classical building, funded by Andrew Carnegie, and built out of white marble in 1902.  The library that replaced it in 1980 was the exact architectural opposite.    After The Carnegie Library was renovated twice,  the citizens of Atlanta approved a bond to build a new library in the 1970s and the Carnegie. 

Isabelle Hyman, a professor at NYU, explains that Carlton Rochell, the Director of the Library at the time, convinced the library board that Atlanta should construct a  “world class building” and proceeded to interview world renowned architects for the job. At the time Marcel Breuer was famous for his design of ‘The Whitney Museum’ in NY and his contributions to modern architecture.  Although Breuer’s steel frame and concrete panel design,  massed in a heavy geometric form was acknowledged as masterpiece, its brutalist design (remember the Geisel Library) was and is not very popular in Atlanta.  Since it was opened in 1980, the building’s theater roof has collapsed, the restaurant has been closed and $5 million was spent to make the building more ‘cheerful’.  Now it risks being demolished for a more ‘contemporary space’.  In 2008 legislation was passed to use public funds for yet another Atlanta Public Library.  Flushing $25 million down the drain during a economic downturn is a crime that can be prevented.  The citizens of Atlanta should not turn their back on this architectural treasure - they should appreciate it, and Breuer, for the modern monument that it is.       

Certainly not every building is worth saving but there are some that represent a time in our history, an architect, or a belief system that is crucial to our understanding of our heritage as people on this planet...we need to be careful that we are balancing our desire to make progress with our respect and appreciation of our past.  If we don’t, the reminders of who we are and where we came from will be bulldozed away forever.    

Hello Agnes!

photo from Campus Architecture Project

Ten miles into my marathon I ran onto the picture perfect campus of Agnes Scott College.  The college is actually in Decatur, a peaceful, leafy suburb of Atlanta (with an active Preservation Alliance).  The town had set up little rhyming placards all along the marathon route that encouraged runners to keep going and then come back and have fun (and spend $) in Decatur - it was easy to see that it was a town with a sense of humor and an active intellect. 

 I wasn’t surprised to learn that Agnes Scott was voted the 2nd most beautiful campus in the country by The Princeton Review in 2006 - the 100 acre campus is the epitome of southern charm and apparently boasts some of Georgia’s oldest trees.  The school was founded in 1889 as the Decatur Women’s Seminary by Presbyterian minister Frank Gaines (I was surprised that women were even allowed to go to seminary in the 1800s, must investigate that situation).  A year later the name was changed to honor Colonel George Washington Scott’s mother.  George Scott was a Civil War veteran who gained notoriety by developed a revolutionary fertilizer - but he wasn’t the famous Scott from Scotts Miracle Grow (that was Orlando Scott way back in 1868).
G.W. Scott owned a plantation in Florida where he invented a fertilizer made from cottonseed, bonemeal and sulfuric acid.  He was also one of the first to understand the role of phosphates in fertilizer and purchased large tracts of phosphate rich land in Florida.  Scott moved to Georgia in the 1870s and expanded his business while buying more real estate.  
In 1890 Scott gave $112,000 to the Seminary which was then renamed to honor his mother.  The school’s original goal was to “educate women for the betterment of their families and the elevation of their region”. Thankfully the mission has evolved and now strives to “educates women to think deeply, live honorably and engage in the intellectual and social challenges of their times.”  We’ve come a long way baby.
When Scott died in 1903 his friend and fellow Presbyterian, Sam Inman stepped in as a member of the Board of Trustees.  Inman also invested in real estate and was responsible for creating the first ‘planned’ community outside of Atlanta called, Inman Park (and another gorgeous segment of the marathon).    During Inman’s decade of work on the board he contacted Andrew Carnegie about a library for the new school.  The funding was granted, as a gift, and The Carnegie Library was constructed in 1910.  Sadly, by the 1930s a new larger library was needed (why did they make these buildings so small!) and the college built a new structure, also beautiful, and kept the name of The Carnegie Library. The original library building was re-purposed as a student center.  
I was disappointed to learn that the original library was eventually demolished in 1986 (no reason was given).  However, the 1930s library has been completely renovated, updated and renamed.  It is now the James Ross McCain Library (named after the College’s 2nd President).  While I hate to see history erased, I understand the need for new libraries, especially at the college level and this one is historic, handsome and state of the art.  Logic aside, I really would have liked to run by Mr. Carnegie’s library gift from back in the day.  

Morgan's Monument

Our hero, Andrew Carnegie, lived by the adage, “the man who dies rich dies disgraced”.  The final twenty years of his life were dedicated to giving away his vast fortune and we reap the benefits of his generosity daily in thousands of communities around the world that used his great fortunes to build libraries (see entries: Mr. Library and Hometown Hero).  At the time of his death he had given away $350 million.  The foundations and organizations he set up 100 years ago continue to ‘do good’ in the world.
J.P. Morgan lived by a different philosophy altogether.  He was all in favor of conspicuous consumption and seemed to be living by the motto “he who dies with the most toys wins”.  In a New York Times article from 1907 he makes it clear that retirement from business at the age of 70 would equate to a death sentence.  And although he did make some sizable donations to organization he felt were deserving, he was quite happy to spend his fortune feeding his own passions.  
When he died in 1913 he left his estate, worth $68 million (about a billion and half in today’s dollars), to his son.  His art collection alone was estimated at $50 million.  But, as fate would have it, he ended up creating a fantastic library legacy of his own; the Morgan Library in NYC.  
Mr. Morgan had his library built by the famous architect Charles McKim in 1902, next door to his brownstone on Madison Avenue and 36th Street.  Essentially it was a place for him to bring all the books, artwork, sculptures and object d’art that he had collected throughout Europe to one central location.  He wanted to create a majestic space that would highlight the great masterpieces he had accumulated but he insisted that the interior be intimate so he could enjoy the splendor and glory of his collections.  Let me just say that while I’m sure there were millions of things J.P. Morgan could have done with his money in 1902, this library is truly a temple that will take your breath away.  
If life is preventing you from visiting in person, check out the slide show and guided tour at the New York Times and prepare to drool, a lot.    Christoper Gray takes us inside Mr. Morgan’s Renaissance Library and explains that in these lavish rooms J.P. Morgan enjoyed his treasures as well as daily cigars and games of solitaire.  He tells the amazing story of the near financial disaster of 1907 when Morgan locked a room full of prominent men in the library until they pledged to participate in a bail out (where was he a few years back?)
The current library and museum, a city block of interconnected buildings, courtyards and pavilions, has just gone through a $4.5 million restoration that cleaned away a century of grime and replaced the red damask wall covering in the study.  It’s hard to decide which room is more perfect, they are all serene, beautiful and intimate.  If it were my library I don’t think I would have ever come out.  It is a shame that Morgan was only able to enjoy his oasis for 7 years but I, for one, am so thankful that his son, J.P. Morgan Jr., had the foresight to preserve and share (for the admission fee of $15) this fitting temple with the world.

photo of The Morgan from the New York Diary Star

Even thought Carnegie and Morgan didn’t always see eye to eye when it came to ideology, they were both shrewd business men.  When Carnegie was 65 he sold his steel company to J.P. Morgan for $468 million.  The Carnegie Institution reports that Carnegie said, Now, Pierpont, I'm the happiest man in the world. I have unloaded this burden on your back, and I'm off to Europe to play."  And then, instead of playing, he went to work spreading libraries around the world and left Morgan to build one right in his own backyard.

Still Inspired

I am a quote junkie.  It started when I was a teenager, music was my gateway and I found myself filling composition books with song lyrics and posting index cards on my bedroom mirror.  I try to control my habit now, but mostly I just hide it...I tuck quotes into my wallet, slide them under my desk blotter and slide them under my socks - usually I never look at them again, but the act of saving them seems to preserve them somewhere in my memory.  Lately, I have been emailing inspirational quotes to myself, pathetic, I know but, like I said, I have a problem and I’m not proud of it.
By lovely coincidence I came across a book called The Librarian’s Book of Quotes by Tanya Eckstrand.  Perfect, I thought, now I can feed my addiction with an obsession.  Since my sock draw is full, I’m putting some favorites, from the book and elsewhere, to enjoy and maybe I’ll even come back and read them, although I doubt it.  However, I will go back to learn more about the wise souls who offered these words of wisdom on my next rainy dat...

Robert S. Martin:  “America's libraries are the fruits of a great democracy. They exist because we believe that memory and truth are important. They exist because we believe that information and knowledge are not the exclusive domain of a certain type or class of person, but rather the province of all who seek to learn. A democratic society holds these institutions in high regard.”

Peter Golkin:  “My two favorite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. The perfect day: riding a bike to the library.”

William A.E. Axon:  “Every man should have a library....And when we have got our little library we may look proudly at Shakspeare, and Bacon, and Bunyan, as they stand in our bookcase in company with other noble spirits, and one or two of whom the world knows nothing, but whose worth we have often tested. These may cheer and enlighten us, may inspire us with higher aims and aspirations, may make us, if we use them rightly, wiser and better men. “

James Crossley:  “It is impossible to enter a large library... without feeling an inward sensation of reverence, and without catching some sparks of noble emulation, from the mass of mind which is scattered around you.”

“Medicine for the soul” - Inscription over the door of the Library at Thebes
Herbet Samuel:  “A library is thought in cold storage.”
Jan Morris:  “Book lovers will understand me, and they will know too, that part of the pleasure of a library lies in its very existence.”

from Wikipedia

Andrew Carnegie also had a little bit of a problem when it came to quotes, although at the time it was still acceptable to be inspired by quotations.  His libraries often had quotes etched into the stone.  Over the door of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh were the words, “Free to the People” - the foundation of his belief about libraries. But the undeniably best quotation is, fittingly, at Carnegie’s hometown library in Dunfermline, Scotland.  These are the words that politicians should be reminded of as they slash budgets and close libraries across the country.  Above the sunburst at the entrance the to library are the simple words:  “Let there be light”.

A Better Ballard

OK, I’ll admit it, I thought the story of the library in America would be set on the East Coast.  I mean, wasn’t the rest of the country struggling for survival, making log cabins and panning for gold when the first reading room at the Boston Public Library opened?  Not really, they were building Carnegie Libraries just like everyone else.  The West Coast might have gotten a late start but they learned fast - Seattle is an absolute library mecca.  Central library is a phenomenon of its own but then there are the 26 branch libraries.  Six current branches are on the National Register of Historic Places, several have been declared landmarks by the Landmark Preservation Board and the new Ballard Branch is LEED Certified.  

I wasn’t surprised to find Andrew Carnegie’s name in the history of libraries in Seattle, his name has turned up as patron saint of libraries across the entire country.  Carnegie’s first library grant in Seattle came four days after most of the library’s collection went up in smoke in the Yesler Mansion.  The mansion belonged to Henry Yesler, a saw mill owner and Seattle’s first millionaire and was donated to the library at his death in 1892 as a permanent home for the transient library, then it burned to the ground in 1901 and the library was homeless and bookless.  Carnegie made a deal with city officials; he would donate a whopping  $200,000 to build a ‘fireproof’  library if they would buy the site and guarantee $50,000/year for maintenance.  When Carnegie sent off his hefty check he noted, “I like your pluck.”

At the turn of the century, Ballard, WA was a small fishing town outside of Seattle.  They built their own Carnegie Library in 1901 with the help of the Dewey Women’s Christian Temperance Union (the group was doing their best to encourage activities that did not include alcohol).  The classic revival building included a men’s smoking room,  ladies conversation room and a large auditorium.  When they opened, with very few books, residents were encouraged to visit and “bring a book to start the collection.”  There is an entertaining and detailed history of the branch at HistoryLink.org.

In 1907 Ballard was annexed by Seattle and the library became its first branch.  It certain has grown up since then...as part of the “Libraries For All” bond, the Ballard Branch, now located at 5614 22nd Ave. N.W., was rebuilt in 2005 as a library and neighborhood center for $10.6 million.  The design, by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is breathtaking (check out their photos).  The swooping recycled pine beams are perched atop a delicate glass and metal base and, although it is ultra-modern, it feels warm and welcoming.  The branch vibe is young, ambitious and vibrant and, coolest of all, it has a sod roof planted with 18,000 low-water-use plants.  Wait, I lied, it gets cooler...there is a PERISCOPE in the library so you can check out the roof and the mountain views.  Hold on, cooler still... the artwork in the library is a LED display that interprets data from weather instruments on the roof and triggers patterns of motion.   Even Andrew Carnegie couldn't make up this incredible, imaginative stuff, it took the artists Donald Fels, Andrew Schloss and Dale Stammen to do that along with the vision of the Seattle Public Library.

The Giving Pledge

From Harper's Weekly 1903

Last week Paul Allen’s Family Foundation awarded $8.5 million dollars to non-profit organizations in the Northwest and half a million was directed to libraries.  The Seattle Times reported that the grant’s goal was to help librarians meet the needs of patrons and promote libraries as places of lifelong learning - hey...doesn’t that remind you of what Andrew Carnegie was doing about 100 years ago?  Even though it seems that we are in the midst of an unprecedented library crisis; funding slashed daily, branches closing and librarians losing their jobs, we have really just made a big circle loop back to our library roots - relying on private philanthropists (and the occasional corporate neighbor) to support the library as a community resource.  Not exactly progress.

Carnegie believed that the rich had a responsibility to give away their money to ‘do good’ during their lifetime.  He certainly put his money where his mouth was and spent the end of his life dolling out grants to create 2,500 libraries around the world (this was just one of the projects he spent his great fortune on).  Carnegie thought that “the best means of benefiting the community is to place within its reach the ladder upon which the aspiring can rise”.

Carnegie would have been on of the first to sign “The Giving Pledge” a moral imperative established by Bill & Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet in 2010.  Wealthy families and individuals who sign the pledge promise to give away the majority (at least 50%) of their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetime.  The Giving Pledge website provide a list and the original commitment letters of the families and individuals who have accepted the challenge (Paul Allen is at the top of the alphabetical list).  Warren Buffet’s letter explains that his goal is to give away 99% of his fortune before his death.  He told ABC news that “the idea that you should be able to do nothing in this world for the rest of your life and [the lives of] your children and grandchildren … does not really seem to be very American.  I want my money to have the greatest impact on improving the lives of the most people,”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest foundations in the world, has made major contributions to libraries across the country with the understanding that if people can get to a library, then they can get to the Internet and the world.  In 2008 they gave $8.1 million to libraries in low income areas in eleven states to upgrade outdated computers and support free, public access to computers (yes, I do know where the computers are coming from but I still feel good about it).  Just like Carnegie, the Gates Foundation requires that communities provide matching funds.
So, as scary as it seems, we are once again at the mercy of the affluent when it comes to providing crucial services to sustain our democracy.  For the moment, the wealthy seem to have money to burn and  understand the critical role that the library plays in promoting an educated citizenry - let’s just hope it stays that way.

Michael R. Bloomberg: "If you want to do something for your children and show how much you love them, the single best thing - by far - is to support organizations that will create a better world for them and their children. And by giving, we inspire others to give of themselves, whether their money or their time."