Library rides publicity wave well
LOREN BENOIT/Press Coeur d’Alene Library Director Bette Ammon displays letters sent to the library to show support for access to books of all types.
LOREN BENOIT/Press Stephen Colbert had a giant copy of “Whose Boat Is This Boat?” made for the library in response to a patron who has been misplacing books around the library.
On a rainy Wednesday morning, Coeur d’Alene Public Library’s parking lot was full. A preschooler dallied behind her mom, balancing a precarious stack of picture books in her arms.
Inside, the library was abuzz. Not with the cacophony of publicity it’s received over the past few weeks, but with the steady hum of patrons leafing through new novels, studying for final exams, shuffling along in the DVD section, and spreading the newspaper out on a table, eager for the day’s stories.
Within Library Director Bette Ammon’s office the happy hum continued. Ammon’s joy for the library’s efforts is obvious.
She pulled a stack of letters from their nest next to her computer.
“This came yesterday,” Ammon said, drawing a neatly folded newspaper clipping from its brown envelope.
It was sent from a couple staying in a hotel in Paris. They read about the Coeur d’Alene Public Library and its hidden books in the New York Times international edition.
Since the New York Times and the CBS “Late Show” with Stephen Colbert picked up the story of at least one individual intentionally hiding books within the library — specifically, books promoting LGBTQ rights, women’s right to vote and new releases critical of President Donald Trump — the library has been bursting with positive feedback. Ammon has received hundreds of letters and emails from around the world, over $2,000 in donations to the Library Foundation, and more than 100 book donations, many covering political topics.
“Somebody left me a $10 bill because they found one of the hidden Reilly books,” Ammon said. “We got a $100 check from a nun in Scranton, Pa., who used to live here.”
That letter, written in shaky cursive, sends prayers to library staff for all their community services.
Another letter arrived from an English teacher from Minnesota: “I was frustrated to hear what looks like books being hidden. Best of luck.”
Another from a teacher in Oregon: “My students made me promise that I would write to you and see what our school can do for you.”
An email from a book club in Seattle asked how they can help curtail the book thief.
“I think, basically, for libraries this is great,” Ammon said. “I think the way people have reacted is surprising, but it’s wonderful that they’re thinking about libraries. They’re thinking about our understanding that there should be freedom to read and all books should be available.”
Colbert’s 4-foot-by-3-foot unhideable edition of “Whose Boat Is This Boat?” rests on an easel near the circulation counter at the front of the library. The book is a collection of quotes from Donald Trump — assembled by the “Late Show” staff — to document the president’s responses to hurricane victims. It had been hidden by the now quiet book hider.
“We’ve gotten a huge amount of people coming in just to see the book,” circulation clerk Sharalee Howard said. “People from out of town and residents that don’t usually come in. For the most part everyone seemed positive.”
A couple from Portland traveled to Coeur d’Alene Thanksgiving weekend to take their picture with the book. Another couple traveled from Walla Walla just to see it.
Library employees haven’t noticed any more books being hidden, but they did find a magazine with a woman wearing a hijab on the cover tucked away under the dictionaries face down. Ammon seemed hesitant to say it was related to the book bandit.
“This person wanted to keep people from reading these books and the opposite has occurred,” Ammon said. “More people are reading all kinds of books.”