THROW AWAY BOOKS! Who Does That?

On any given day, articles in The Washington Post inform, enlighten, frustrate and irritate me for a variety of reasons.  Depending on the topic of the piece and the information included, daily, I feel as if my emotions are zipped up in a Moon Bounce and sent careening from acceptance to vexation to outrage.  This morning, Tuesday, September 10, 2013, I was totally appalled. Tom Jackman’s excellent Metro Section story, “Fairfax County library revamps system, discards books, reduces librarians” hooked my interest, but his middle topic, “…discards books,” sent my blood pressure into the danger zone.

Throw away 250,000 books! THROW AWAY BOOKS!!! Who does that? Even books that I absolutely abhorred, such as one written by the purported 1980s Queen of Romance, don’t deserve such an ignominious demise.   In the only book that I read by this author, writer’s research due to my curiosity about her top-of-the-chart popularity, a scene set during the Vietnam War depicted a character mentioning bookoo (no this isn’t a misspelling!) enemy, instead of beaucoup, and a bomber pilot who enthused about “…his bird dropping eggs,” which is World War II terminology for dropping bombs, thank you very much!

Did I toss this tome in the trash?  Absolutely not, but I did laterally pass it down the hall where it skimmed my unsuspecting husband’s left temple. “I guess you don’t like that one,” he said in his laconic way as he ambled toward his office. We added the book to a box we were giving to the Vietnam Vets organization.  Oh, such irony.  Hopefully the novel generated a few eye rolls.

Throw away 250,000 books! My mind cannot shake this profane desecration. Who does that?  Dictators, petty despots, fanatics with their private agendas, and anyone who fears a world where people, armed with knowledge that only the written word can generate, will develop the ability to think, reason and act on their own.

Throw away 250,000 books! Who does that?  Bureaucrats whose agendas are so packed that they don’t have time to address this little detail?  Officials who are too indifferent to figure out a prudent alternative? Civil servants who shrug at the importance of a library in the community because they possibly haven’t entered one since their senior research paper in high school?

My husband and I lived in nine different towns before settling in Herndon on August 15, 1984. Although our general locations were determined by Army postings followed by regular sales and teaching jobs, our specific locales were chosen if they checked off a number of boxes, one of which was: an ample community library for recreational reading and research. After our children were born, top-notch libraries became a top priority in our quest to open our children’s minds to the wonder of books.

During my 30+ years as a Middle and High School English teacher, I always required research papers, ranging from those with one cited resource to lengthy dissertations with ten sources (12th grade).  Here is an example of the resource requirement for a twelfth grade A paper on Book Censorship: “An A paper will include: 10 sources (3 reference books, 3 periodicals, 3 Internet sites, 1 interview).”

The fly on the wall rolled his eyes when students complained, “Why do I have to go to the library instead of just surfing the net?” and I responded by lecturing the value of skimming internet sources versus studying trusted,  authoritative references. This same fly fell off the wall when a senior’s question, “What’s a periodical?” was joined by a chorus of, “Yeah.  What’s a periodical?” Even I had to roll my eyes and stifle a groan on that one.

Jackman’s Washington Post piece detailed the journey of one member of Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors to find out what happened to the monthly 20,000 book marked for replacement. In the article, Jackman stated, “Twice, she found stacks and stacks of high-quality books, bought by the taxpayers, piled in the trash. The second time, she filled a box.” His accompanying picture screams this loss (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fairfax-county-library-revamps-system-discards-books-reduces-librarians/2013/09/09/e3dca65a-1724-11e3-be6e-dc6ae8a5b3a8_story.html?hpid=z3).

Three online articles address the library issue succinctly, and include a plethora of comments from both sides of this dilemma.

 The Herndon Patch article, “Stand Up For Libraries on 9-11” (http://herndon.patch.com/groups/announcements/p/stand-up-for-libraries-on-911_c4117e6a?ncid=newsltuspatc00000001&newsRef=true) informs readers of an important up-coming meeting.

These issues concern me because I firmly believe that public libraries, rich with books and periodicals from reference to recreational reading, support schools, families and people in general and strengthen their communities, specifically.  The outcome of the books that are being tossed away like yesterday’s fish devastates me.

Yes, I fully understand that libraries need to keep up with the times, and that this brings about the delicate process of deciding what goes and what stays. Next spring, my husband and I have the painful job of weeding through our thousands of books for keepers and giveaways before we downsize. Like Ella Fitzgerald sang in the Marti Fredericksen, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry song, though, we accept the fact that, “Something’s gotta give, something’s gotta give, something’s gotta give,” and in this case, it’s books.

Why didn’t the head honcho instruct librarians to find alternate solutions such as donating them to The Friends of the Library, as had often been done in the past? They could have brought in a few bucks selling them to teachers, families and individuals, as they always did.

Like we plan to do, this official could have authorized the librarians to donate them to:

· Homeless shelters

· Veterans hospitals and rehab centers

· Retirement Communities

· Assisted Living residences

· Schools

· Community outreach programs such as: Vietnam Vets, Purple Heart, Goodwill, the Salvation Army, and, in Herndon, The Closet, and

· Allow any county citizen to cart away a few since their tax dollars paid for them in the first place.

To just toss them into dumpsters-that is simply unconscionable. Books don’t spoil or smell after three days, three months or three years. Dogmatic indifference to their importance on peoples’ thinking and their impact on a society’s ethos stinks, though.

FYI:

LIBRARY BOARD MEETING - 7:00 PM SEPTEMBER 11
AT THE GEORGE MASON REGIONAL LIBRARY 7001 LITTLE RIVER TURNPIKE  ANNANDALE
22003-5975 

Until next week,

Connie

http://teachitwrite.blogspot.com