A film by Kunhardt Productions and Thirteen/ New York C 2007
You read me bitch about LAPL?
Los Angeles Public Library can't compare with the New York Public Library, which still has an emphasis on being a research facility for the public's use.
Los Angeles Public Library's book purchases reflect a popular library view point. (This really hit me when I discovered a slew of Nadine Gordimer's books on a free book cart being given away because they hadn't been taken out enough over at the Studio City branch a few years ago.)
For many years and ongoing, I've suggested dozens of book purchases, some of the titles having been featured in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, the LA Weekly, or the BOOK FAIR (once known as the UCLA LA TIMES BOOK FAIR now the USC LA TIMES BOOK FAIR) and though I'm told that all such suggestions are read, they must be read and then pitched (which rhymes with bitched) because I don't think a single suggestion I've made has resulted in a book purchase.
What is most in demand at NY circa 2007?
First drafts of now famous writer's works. Manuscripts that are, because they are not in a museum but a place where they are used, are conserved but also lent out for use.
Betty Frieden wrote at New York Public Library.
So did Bob Dylan.
There are thousands of original music scores housed at NYPL, John Cage's orchestrations being the most used and studied.
Copies of handwritten documents by Thomas Jefferson (he hand copied unedited Declarations of Independence for some of his friends so they could read it and then the official, published copies, to compair. George Washington's beer recipe...
Prior to the Andrew Carnegie endowment the library was unable to expand and go public. Carnegie believed in the survival of the fittest, but he also believed in giving children a chance.
Today one of the most vital branches is the Schomberg center and their Black cultural, historical, literacy, and other efforts.
SCHOMBURG CENTER (NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY) FOR BLACK CULTURE link!
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY link!
I 've benefited from Andrew Carnegie's largess in my lifetime. I don't have the Frequent Flyer miles or the friend with an empty nest required to go research in New York, but I wish.
