Libraries will find what you're seeking

Give the man credit for speaking his mind.

But next time he’s at the library, maybe he should check out Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

The writer opened his recent Press letter to the editor in this less-than-effective way:

“All the commies in town are in an uproar over their progressive books being hidden by a ‘book bandit’ in the Coeur d’Alene library. But the commies in the library itself are also hiding books, and for keeps — that is, removing them from the shelves permanently.”

The writer then more tactfully outlined his complaint by noting that many classical works are no longer on local library shelves because readers aren’t checking them out.

Point taken. Public libraries are one of society’s truly magnificent assets, opening worlds of adventure, knowledge and wisdom to people of all ages and economic backgrounds. If libraries were in the business of peddling only what’s popular at the moment, wouldn’t that diminish us all?

It would if that were true. But around here, anyway, it isn’t.

We checked in with Bette Ammon of the Coeur d’Alene library and Anne Abrams of the Community Library Network.

“Libraries in most places typically weed books based on condition, use, and relevancy,” Ammon acknowledged. “We have only so much real estate available, so we’re continually looking at all collections to see if people actually want to read those books that occupy space.”

But Bette noted (and Anne agreed) that local libraries will go out of their way to get patrons the reading material they want.

“The lovely thing about the Cooperative Information Network is that there are over 25 libraries who share their collections and regularly courier things back and forth,” Ammon explained. “If an item isn’t available in one library, it likely is in another. And if it isn’t available in the network, we’ll borrow through interlibrary loan.”

Her conclusion? “We might not have everything but we know where to get it!”

So comrades, if you’re looking for the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett-Browning or the notebooks of J. Krishnamurti and your local library doesn’t have what you want, talk to a librarian, who will do everything possible to get it for you. Just forgive the Russian accent.