"Because," notes Park County Libraries Director Frances Clymer, "Libraries aren't just about books anymore."
However, about 1,000 items (such as the below-pictured National Geographics dating back to 1917) aren't making the trip to the new building.
Old stuff - from computers to beat-up, unpopular books - were pulled out off their shelves and offered for sale to the public last weekend. Roughly 600 books were yanked from their homes in the children's section, and around 400 were weeded from the adult collection.About 25 folks were waiting at the door to get first pickings Friday morning. Branch Librarian Marge Buchholz estimates about 500 or so of the items were ultimately purchased, raising about $600, and leaving behind a stack of interesting stuff.
Among the titles that were passed over by shoppers is a 1960 tome entitled "A History of Capital Punishment." An excerpt from the preface:
"Philsophically, psychologically, and legally the scaffold has ceased to produce any new arguments for or against its use. As an intellectual pastime, its pros and cons have ceased to interest all those who are not prejudiced."With the topic still a hot button issue some 58 years later, we apparently have a whole lot of unintellectual, prejudiced people.
A 24 volume set entitled "Man, Myth and Magic: An illustrated encyclopedia of the Supernatural" also failed to disappear over the two-day sale (pictured at left). The creepy magician hair may have been a factor.
The leftovers also indicate how much our education system has improved. A withdrawn (and unpurchased) 1984 title, "How to Write Book Reports," hadn't been checked out for 10 years - undoubtedly because today's students are just innately good writers.
Bestseller or not, Phil McGraw's "Self Matters" didn't make the cut either.
Anyway, we've got a far less frivolous story about the new library in tomorrow's paper.
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