The central library branch of our local library was set on fire by an arsonist Sunday night. The sprinkler system put out the fire, but at least 6,000 books were damaged, and the library's closed for a week while cleanup goes on.
Friends told me about this and I couldn't believe it, I wondered if they were playing some kind of cruel joke on me... I just can't understand why anyone would set fire to a library... I know other kinds of vandalism goes on, but, a library???
One good thing = thanks to the huge amount of books I had checked out, that many less books were in the building at the time of the fire to get damaged...
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
I'm glad you saved the books you had! Arson in a library... That makes me sad.... Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
plaid, that's horrible.
It reminded me, though, of the way our local library saved money when they moved into their new building. To save moving costs, they asked everyone to check out 10 books, and check them in at the new building.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
jeniwren, that's a great way of handling it, at least in theory. To what degree did people participate?
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
Significantly enough that it worked, I think. It was before I moved here. I heard about it last year when they started talking about moving again.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
That's a great solution to the problem! I'll have to recommend that to the local library if they ever need to move a lot of books.
It's really sad that someone would burn a library. Is there any indication whether the person was actually upset at the contents of the library or whether it was a thrill-seeker wanting to cause trouble?
By the way, I'm all for burning individual books. It raises book sales. Thank you, paranoid fundamentalists, for helping to make Harry Potter a best-seller!
[ January 21, 2004, 03:12 PM: Message edited by: Shigosei ]
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
Hmm... maybe they felt the library was stealing from authors by letting folks read their books for free.
I wonder if libraries have some sort of insurance for something like that... seems like they should.
[ January 21, 2004, 03:21 PM: Message edited by: Tresopax ]
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
The article makes reference to cataloging the damaged books for insurance purposes, so I'd assume that they do.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
The only upside to the burning of the Downtown L.A. library (how many years has it been now? 15?) is that the rebuilt library is incredibly cool.
I don't understand arson of any building; but I agree that burning a library is particularly incomprehensible.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
The things people do to get out of paying an overdue book fee.
There is also the possibility that the arsonist was stealing some valuable rare books, and lit the fire so that no one would know what had been taken.
This would be especially helpful if the theif was an insider and stole books over a long period of time to sell to book dealers. Then when they were about to be discovered, they set fire to the library. Any missing books would then be assumed to have burnt away.
I read a book on book collectors. Such things have happened. When a Guttenberg bible sells for millions, and other collectors will buy no questions asked, and you are holding one small book no one ever reads, that can net you $50,000, some librarians have been known to succumb to the temptation.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
I know rivka...I mean, it's not even a challenge! It's filled with paper for crying out loud!
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Yeah, you know what... This guy should become a REAL arsonist and try to burn down an asbestos factory.
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I'm glad you saved the books you had! Arson in a library... That makes me sad.... ![[Cry]](graemlins/cry.gif)
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