Something to Read When You're Down and Out

A couple of weeks ago Flavorwire posted a list of "truly magnificent novels written about the penury and deprivation that can arise in allegedly first-world societies, books that are crushingly depressing but also with a lot to teach about the way our world treats those who have less than we do."

Read the whole list and make some notes for your next library visit.

Love for Libraries

"The richest person in the world – in fact, all the riches in the world – couldn’t provide you with anything like the endless, incredible loot available at your local library. You can measure the awareness, the breadth and the wisdom of a civilization, a nation, a people by the priority given to preserving these repositories of all that we are, all that we were, or will be."-Malcolm Forbes, Forbes, 16 February 1981

From the web page of my local library.

Trouble Collecting the Money You're Owed?

It could be worse. The Dominion Post (from Wellington, New Zealand) reports that the Wellington Library is owed more than $1 million in overdue fines.

My favorite tid-bits from this article:

It appears hip-hop CDs, science fiction and books on crime, Maori tattoos, alternative religions and Hitler are returned late most frequently. Ironically, given the 60 cents a day overdue fee, books on money-making and memory aids are also often tardy.

Resourcefulness Celebrated

From last night's Daily Show, an interview with a person who truly embodies the Broke is Beautiful spirit. William Kamkwamba of Malawi was inspired by a diagram in a library book to use salvaged materials to build an electricity generating windmill for his village. (It's a good thing Constantine Xios didn't live in his village.)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Mommy, Why is that Mean Man Shouting at Me?

Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well and living in the Chicago Suburb of Oak Brook.

Broke is Beautiful, which could not conceivably been written without the help of librarians, includes a chapter I titled Librarians: A Love Story. (In my book, it's a real love story, not like Michael Moore's love story about capitalism.)

It was the radical Benjamin Franklin who came up with the notion of the lending library. Franklin’s Library Company, which he referred to as the “public library of Philadelphia,” was formed with an idealistic view to break down class distinctions and allow artisans to become as well-read as the well-born. It was an early manifestation of The American Dream and its ideal of a true meritocracy and social mobility.

"These libraries have improved the general conversation of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps has contributed in some degree to the stand so generally made throughout the colonies in defense of their privilege,” Franklin wrote in his autobiography.

Constantine "Connie" Xinos is perfectly fine with class distinctions. He once successfully blocked a permit for a senior's home, stating, "I don't want to live next to poor people. I don't want poor people in my town."

As reported in The Daily Herald, Xinos, the president of the home-owners' association in a gated community, hates such socialist instutitions as libraries--He reportedly worked to elect an Oak Brook village council who would shut down the town library, which he also campaigned against-- and thinks little children should be taught a lesson in personal responsibility.

When local kids showed up at town meetings to ask that their library be left open, he is quoted as saying, "I don't care that you guys miss the librarian, and she was nice, and she helped you find books."

When he brought a little girl to tears, he was not fazed. From the comfort of his Mercedes-Benz, he later told Daily Herald reporter Burt Constable: "I wanted that kid to lose sleep that night... This is the real world and the lesson, you folks who brought your kids here, is if you want something, pay for it."