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Troubled Libraries Find Help on the InternetFacing serious budget cuts, layoffs, and reduced hours, the Oakland (Calif.) Public Library staff recently sought help in a new way: They posted on Amazon.com and their own Web site a wish list of books they would buy if they could afford to. This caught the attention of many people, including Los Angeles writer Pamela Ribon, who asked readers of her Web site to help out. And the response was overwhelming.The library received more than 420 books from www.pamie.com readers in three weeks. “Her readers responded from all over the country.” Leslie Rodd, Oakland’s administrative librarian, told the Associated Press May 24. “The UPS man gets out and he has Amazon.com book mailers piled so high you can’t see his head. It’s really a thrill.” This is all part of a growing trend of libraries posting wish lists online, which inspires donors to buy books for them. The AP report estimated that more than 300 libraries across the country have done this and that some have had success. The Burlingame (Calif.) Public Library posted a list of about 400 books and received nearly 200 of those as gifts. At the Castle Rock (Wash.) Public Library, Director Vicki Selander posted a list and received two boxes in the mail shortly thereafter. “It was everything on my wish list,” she told the AP. “I was so stunned and thrilled.” Ribon’s readers were also inspired to help the Ellison Public Library in Scandinavia, Wisconsin. Director Dorothy Youngblood’s list had received no responses in two years, but in May she received five donations from people who saw her list while searching for Oakland’s. Posted June 2, 2003. |
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