Town Square

Post a New Topic

Surprise move: funds for library's book group axed

Original post made on Aug 24, 2010

The final chapter of the Menlo Park Library's 15-year-old book discussion group doesn't make for a happy ending. In fact, it's proven to be quite the tear-jerker.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 12:00 AM

Comments (7)

 +   Like this comment
Posted by lauren john
a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park
on Aug 24, 2010 at 10:13 am


Thanks to the generous Friends of the Menlo Park Library for funding our book group so well and for so long.
Thanks to the community members who protested to the extent that the story about our wonderful book group actually made it into the Menlo Park Almanac.
We all recognize the importance of funding children's and teen programs--and if the $1200 it cost to run book group is put towards those programs, it would be great to know how they were applied.
Director Holmer has also informed me that should a volunteer step forward to lead a library based book group, the library will provide meeting space and publicity via the library Web site and bulletin board--should a leader produce flyers at their own cost.

What concerns me and should concern other community members is Director Holmer's continuous use of the word "I" as in her Almanac quote below. A library community is a "we" .

"Had I known that there was going to be such unhappiness, I certainly would have let them know before," she said, adding, "It wouldn't have made a difference in funding because I needed that money for other things."


 +   Like this comment
Posted by WHAT?
a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park
on Aug 24, 2010 at 10:35 am

By email? Holmer told the group leader she was history BY EMAIL? Words fail.


 +   Like this comment
Posted by Christine Traut Miller
a resident of another community
on Aug 24, 2010 at 10:37 am

Thank for for your accurate, fair and thorough coverage of the dismal treatment given to the Menlo Park Book Group and Ms. Lauren John by the Director of the Menlo Park Public Library Susan Holmer. Anyone who has had the privilege of attending one of Lauren's book group meetings knows that she is a treasure. I cannot fathom why Ms. Holmer would treat her in such a shabby manner.

The Menlo Park Library is a precious public resource that helps create community. Ms. Holmer's leadership most emphatically does not advance that aim.

My thanks to the Friends of the Menlo Park Library for supporting the book group for so many years. I enthusiastically invite anyone who loves book discussions to join our new group at the Palo Alto Oshman Community Center.


 +   Like this comment
Posted by Joseph E. Davis
a resident of Woodside: Emerald Hills
on Aug 24, 2010 at 12:34 pm

It is sad to see the results of the disgraceful looting of the public coffers by our so-called public servants.


 +   Like this comment
Posted by Barbara Seaney
a resident of Menlo Park: Sharon Heights
on Aug 24, 2010 at 8:34 pm

There's no question that the disbanding of the Menlo Park Library Book Club should have been handled in a more diplomatic manner. Those of us who were loyal members--and there were many-=will miss both our meetings and Lauren's enthusiastic and extremely competent leadership.


 +   Like this comment
Posted by Frances Zavis
a resident of Menlo Park: Sharon Heights
on Aug 25, 2010 at 10:48 am

Are adult book readers less important to the library system than children and teens? The principal supporters and users of local libraries are the strengths of the community. Was any thought of these factors considered before canceling this 15 year old book club in such a shameful manner? Evidently not!


 +   Like this comment
Posted by Trilda
a resident of another community
on Aug 28, 2010 at 12:01 am

I'm simply appalled.


Don't miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.

Email:


Post a comment

Posting an item on Town Square is simple and requires no registration. Just complete this form and hit "submit" and your topic will appear online. Please be respectful and truthful in your postings so Town Square will continue to be a thoughtful gathering place for sharing community information and opinion. All postings are subject to our TERMS OF USE, and may be deleted if deemed inappropriate by our staff.

We prefer that you use your real name, but you may use any "member" name you wish.

Name: *

Select your neighborhood or school community: * Not sure?

Comment: *

Verification code: *
Enter the verification code exactly as shown, using capital and lowercase letters, in the multi-colored box.

*Required Fields

Kirk's Steakburgers sold to new owner
By Elena Kadvany | 13 comments | 3,911 views

A proposal for Monday Night's Office Cap Discussion
By Steve Levy | 14 comments | 2,152 views

Eggs and Bacon Walk Into a Bar
By Laura Stec | 6 comments | 1,939 views

Gifts (that are not bought)
By Chandrama Anderson | 1 comment | 1,600 views

Blood on the Tracks
By Paul Bendix | 8 comments | 1,235 views

 
http://www.almanacnews.com/square/2010/08/24/surprise-move-funds-for-librarys-book-group-axed
www.almanacnews.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2015-11
51003
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:MIFQ2FX7YQLA3ROZNICZ4PUZKX36CVGI
<urn:uuid:4deb77f5-3e6e-423d-80bc-cfb30d273ea6>
2015-03-04T07:04:19Z
216.65.53.42
sha1:VUJZ4DCM5SBXW33WPYQD7BQKH5P6ZK6B
<urn:uuid:e8bfad8e-4ab0-4547-8554-425cf17c7952>
http://www.almanacnews.com/square/2010/08/24/surprise-move-funds-for-librarys-book-group-axed
response
<urn:uuid:96001732-d24a-4c7a-a62b-32e6538c88ff>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2015-11
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for February 2015
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf