This is the sad fate of thousands of the books that were donated to the sale. Having seen what happened to the books after last year’s sale, we asked if it might be possible for our non-profit to come in and collect some of the left over books and magazines when the sale ended.
We were told to come to the library Monday morning and take selections from the what remained. We were shocked at the number still left, every table was full of books, many in excellent condition. I cannot give you the actual number since we were given only 20 minutes to make our choices and then were rushed out the door.
Representatives from Hospitality House arrived as we were leaving and they too were given just a few moments to take what they could use. Left on the tables were thousands of books on every subject imaginable, all destined to be picked up by the Recycling Center. The waste was appalling. A realistic amount of time should have been provided to the community to take what books could be used before the remnant was shipped off to its doom.
Perhaps other libraries, strapped by budget cuts could have been contacted to make selections before it was too late. Perhaps each sale could end with a ‘Free Day’ at the end of the week before the last volumes were destroyed.
A wealth of printed knowledge has been lost, and it’s shameful.
While the books were being trucked out the ‘free bin’ in the library’s foyer remained empty. We are proud to have an extensive library of our own but after seeing what happened to the books at this year’s sale, we will never donate a single volume to Rome’s so-called Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale.
Never.
Many, many community volunteers work hard to raise funds through the book sale (and book store) to help make up for the considerable shortfalls in public funding that have reduced library hours and budgets. And all this complainer can do is carp about how the unwanted books at the end of the sale were disposed of--and do so publicly in a way deliberately designed to discourage donations to the library. So because his "organization"--interestingly never identified--didn't get free books at the end of the sale he savages a worthy nonprofit trying hard to make our city's library better.
It is also interesting that the writer does not discuss how he brought his concerns to the Friends of the Library--presumably because he didn't. Instead, piqued that he didn't get to haul away free books (to resell?) at the end of the sale, he decides he will try to hurt the library--and by extension those of our community who depend on it--including many low-income patrons.
Of course there will be books that have to be discarded at the end of a sale that features many thousands of books that were by definition already unwanted by their owners. That the volunteers turn so many thousands of such unwanted books into a funding stream for our library is something we should all be very proud of. If the books do not sell at such a well-attended event, it is pretty good evidence that they are ready, finally, to be discarded.
Our community has a vibrant nonprofit community, and great care is taken always by those nonprofits to show respect for others who are also trying to better our community. A letter such as this one is so far outside the ethos and character of this city, and so mean-spirited and aiming to harm, that it is truly surprising it was written by anyone living here--and equally surprising our newspaper of record printed it.
I did identify myself and our non-profit when I submitted my letter to both the library and the Rome New Tribune. We are The Parrot Education Project, a 501c3 non-profit.
On the first day of the sale, we paid our admission as we always do, (we have for many years paid our membership fees to the "Friends of the Library.") I spoke directly to the lady that handles this sale and told her about our non-profit and what we do. She gave us a note inviting us back on Monday the 24th to gather books and magazines to help support our cause.
We have the note at hand in fact.
We give presentations to community groups, Boys Club, Girls Scouts and in fact for many years we've brought our birds and our program to the Rome Library Summer Reading Program so people have the opportunity to actually see and learn about the many different species of parrots. Many of which are already extinct in the wild in their natural habitats. We do these exhibitions gratis in spite of the great amount of work neccessary in preparing the birds, stands and cages for presentation and safety. In the case of our shows at the library, always very well attended, the Rome News Tribune has filmed them and made DVDs available. So if you want to call me mean and greedy you can't be further off base!
My intention is to prevent what I have seen happen on the closing of the last two shows. These were not trash books...in the few minutes we were allowed to be there, we were sickened by the number of books that were destined to be destroyed. The one lady present there told me "Yeah, I know if you love books it's hard to see them be recycled." She seemed more intent on preserving books for recycling then allowing them to be saved.
The end result was a room full of books, (not just dated technical volumes but Literature, History, Biography, Art, truly timeless books) whose value is NOT lessened with age, all waiting to be destroyed. End result..they are gone.
Your mean comments mean nothing to me. Maybe, your group needs to look at how much of your own resources you are trashing.
The books and magazines that we receive help us maintain our non profit and provide the presentations that have been of value to the Rome community for many years.
Elle Mott
Director
Parrot Education Project
www.parroteducationproject.org
Had you been truly concerned about the loss of quality books, you would have been at the sale on Saturday. You would have had hours to peruse the stacks and save every book you deemed worthy. I guarantee you could have done that for less than $20. If you had approached me at the sale and explained your organization's mission, I would have donated $5 or $10 to the cause. Recalling the other people there that day, I'm sure you could have more than made up the difference.
I get the impression from your letter and comment that you and your husband would rather complain about how badly you were mistreated by volunteers who love books than actually think of a real solution. It disgusts me to see the Friends of Library denigrated here in this public forum. They have done so much to encourage reading here in Floyd County, and all you can do is complain about how you were rushed while trying to get something for free. Incredible.
Limited space and staff to catalog books require libraries' to make choices. They do offer duplicates and unwanted books to other libraries.
Sara Hightower staff chose wisely and as they should have.
Ironically, public libraries are under corrosive pressure from local governments unwilling to adequately fund them. The writer could voice that concern to the local funding agency.
Mike L. Reynolds
First in our own defense, I assure you we were not driven to voice our views because we were denied a proper chance to 'rake the tables' for our own selfish need and turn the resultant haul into dollars to feed our parrots hungry beaks. No, not by a long shot.
In fact it was a visceral (but not unconsidered) reaction to seeing thousands of volumes consigned
to the modern equivalent of a bonfire.
Now it's true, I can't counter PhilHenry's book by book review of the contents of those still full tables. As we've said we were barely given enough time to select a few for our non-profit before being given the 'bums rush'.
I can assure you though that we did not select any Limbaugh's or Iacoccas, or Ludlums and I'm sure there are many folks that might still enjoy a Ludlum if one were offered. No, in the brief time we had we chose some good books, ones that had value, and left behind hundreds and hundreds, thousands and thousands more that still had a useful reason for being in the world.
True we were not at the sale on Saturday, we had been there two days before and also on opening day where we purchased approximately $100.00 worth of books and were invited to come back, since we are a non-profit, Monday morning after the sale ended to select some more gratis.
For that generous offer we are grateful.Had it been only a case of being given much less time than we were led to believe to make those selections, the letter to the editor would never have been written.
It was the colossal waste, the senseless destruction of books that caused that letter.
Yes, I know all about Libraries being strapped for funds, I teach at a college that has such a one in fact but I also know about small school libraries that would be grateful to receive them.
Sure, there will be some remaining that no one wants or needs but you cannot tell me that those tables full of books about to be hauled to the shredders and the pulpers of a recycling center were nothing but garbage.
I'm sure the Friends of the Library do great work.
and I hope that they make it clear next year that thousands of the donated books remaining after the sale will never be read by anyone.
I'm curious, how much does a ton of books bring at a re-cycling center?
David Mott