Harper Lee, the reclusive author of the Pulizter-winning novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," came out of decades of seclusion to attend an awards dinner to benefit the Los Angeles Public Library. The dinner, where speakers extolled her book, raised $700,000, not a penny of which will go towards the purchase of an actual library book.
Posted by floridacracker at May 22, 2005 03:08 PMMaybe they should spend it on fire equipment. (LAPL, or at least it used to, had a problem with library fires.)
Posted by: James at May 22, 2005 08:31 PMIt's unfortunate that to stay viable in today's world libraries must rely more and more upon technology and less and less on "hard copy".
Did you know that several years ago Gov. Jeb tried to shut down the state library in Tallahassee for budgetary reasons? His argument was that with more and more information resources being digitized and thus becoming electronically accessible, a centralized state library was a budget drain and no longer a necessity. Hmph. Librarians gathered from all over the state for big protest that ultimately saved the library, or it would no longer be with us.
Unfortunately, that's the thinking of our pols these days, and thus the great need of libraries to become and stay "technologically viable." If libraries don't offer the best and latest technology to people who would otherwise have no access, many of them would eventually be closed down as "budget drains." IMHO that's particularly ironic when you consider that the biggest drain on a modern library's budget is technology.
Posted by: Amy at May 23, 2005 05:48 AMDonnah -- In case you're not aware, the computers are for watching the updated 21st century version -- "How to Kill a Mockingbird".
Posted by: Salt Lick at May 23, 2005 07:38 AMI think it's great that they raised money for literacy programs, computers and training. Who knows? Maybe they had a book drive a month ago and are stacked to the gills with donated novels, etc.
Posted by: Christine at May 23, 2005 10:29 AM"Maybe they had a book drive a month ago and are stacked to the gills with donated novels, etc.
"
If they're anything like the library I worked at they have a room full of donated books.. some 70% are romance of some sort.. 10% are something from Dianetics and another %5 are copies of Dune.
Posted by: LarryConley at May 23, 2005 03:24 PMHa! Good point. I know that's the case in some book drives. But where I live, in Sherman, CT, we have regular donation drives that cull Homer, Woolf and the like- along with the usual battered about Danielle Steele and half dozen torn People magazines. But it's a pretty good draw in variety compared to what you experienced.
Posted by: Christine at May 23, 2005 04:34 PMWell.. I do admit to having bagged the entire Dr.Who paperback series in the employee presale... ::cackle::
Posted by: LarryConley at May 23, 2005 09:10 PMDonations aren't a reliable source of a quality permanent collection.
Posted by: Donnah at May 24, 2005 08:34 AM