After the San Francisco Public Library rejected an 11-year-old boy’s offer to dress up as “The Reading Wizard” and read to preschool children to get them interested in books, Mayor Willie Brown stepped in and ordered the library to reconsider.
Sixth-grader John O’Connor had been told at SFPL’s Presidio branch that only trained library staff are allowed to read to children. However, in the wake of nationwide media coverage of the rebuff, Brown told the library May 12 to “immediately implement a program” to allow O’Connor to read. “Our libraries are supposed to turn kids on, not turn them off,” Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We should be rewarding young people with creative ideas, not discouraging them.”
City Librarian Regina Minudri said that the library would launch a summer reading program called “Kids Read to Kids at the Library” that would train O’Connor and other youths to read to preschoolers. However, she supported the children’s librarian at Presidio, who “did what she was supposed to do when she declined John’s offer.’”
Posted May 17, 1999.