Katt Hernandez 195 Hampshire Street #3 Cambridge MA 02139 617-354-2320

To the Directors of the Cambridge Public Library-

I was alarmed when I went to the Cambridge Public Library today and found that almost all of an entire subject's worth of books was empty- ironically enough, the 160s- the section devoted to the study of Logic. Beneath that sadly stocked shelf were two more which were utterly empty. On further inquiry to a few librarians, I learned that you, the very directors of the library, plan to throw away- in the garbage- most or all of the books in the library that were not checked out for the last six months. The seeming justification for this nauseating trend is to make the move into the new building easier to carry out, and to make the library a "twenty first century" facility.

Are we not meant to read books in the twenty first century? The function of a library is to make the widest and most comprehensive selection possible of books, recordings, documents and learning resources available to the general public. Of these, books are the most important. Although a library must respond to the wishes of its community in order to be relevant, a library is also meant to hold itself to a far higher and better considered set of standards than the fickle breezes of the month's best-seller list. Its function is far more important than a six-month popularity contest can reliably account for. In a time when illiteracy rates are alarming and children are set in front of televisions and computers for hours at a time daily, libraries have an even more crucial function to play. For you, as library directors, to not want to bother storing your own books is ludicrous! Storing books so that we may all have access to them is the most important function of a public library- of any public library!

A few years ago, the library "got rid of" the jazz record collection one of its librarians had built up over years as a real labor of love. The librarian passed away, and this is how his efforts were honored. It was one of the most comprehensive in the country, a really unique resource which is difficult to find anyplace outside an elite, expensive, and publicly inaccessible music conservatory library. Many of the records were out of print, making it even more invaluable. And for me personally as a musician, it was an incredible resource. Thank god that the folks at Allston-Brighton free radio got wind of this foolishness, got in there, and rescued some of the records. It was only because they happened to hear the library was going to throw the collection out that it was saved. It was certainly not because the library made any effort to preserve it. Now this destructive move comes again- a greater and worse version affecting the entire collection! Do you wonder why people don't read? Perhaps its because in many towns the libraries have already gone through this terrible process, and been reduced to repeating shelves of hack novels and cookbooks!

Have you read Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury? I read it as a youngster. It is- for the moment- a part of your collection, for other youngsters to read. At the end of the book, we find a group of people who are doing with their bodies and memories what you have been given far greater resources to do- preserving the literature, ideas, history, and culture of their civilization as it was recorded in books. I urge you to read it. Your library has many, many books which are impossible to find elsewhere- many, I'm sure, which I have not yet discovered. They, and the information they contain, have fallen prey to popular opinion- that is, the publishing houses don't make money off them, so they are no longer in print. I doubt anyone checks alot of them out very often. But it gives me great comfort to know that the knowledge inside them- which is valuable above and beyond this week's public opinion poll- will be available to anyone who wants it. Who will preserve all the learning? That, oh directors of the cambridge public library, is your job.

The fact that the lower level librarians are far more concerned about this awful decision than the directors that made it is a clear indicator of a mismatch in interests. If you are more interested in preserving the ease of your workday- during the move to what was supposed to be a "better", and permanent building- than in the invaluable task and charge you have been given- the entire collection of a major metropolitan area's main branch library- then perhaps you should look for employ at moving companies and storage facilities, where your work day preferences might be better suited. Then the real librarians, who understand the importance of their task, could do their job properly! This idea of throwing away any book that was not checked out in the last six months in order to save some trouble moving to a new, permanant, and hopefully long-lived facility is an absolute disgrace! I certainly hope you will reconsider and rescind this decision for the sake of all the people here, young and old, who might want to read something other than a computer screen, a Dr. Atkins book, or a Danielle Steele novel.

with greater expectations-

-Katt Hernandez