Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-12
.LUMM|S REPLIES
To HIS CRITICS
CITY LIBRARIAN GIVES VENT
TO FEELINGS
In Signed Communication He De-
fends the Fair Name of Los An.
geIei as Well as His Own
Official Acts
At last the worm-in this Instance

At last the worm--in this instance
a book worn1-has turned.
City Librarian Charles F. Lummis.
who declares that he has uncomplain-
ingly stood unmerited abuse heaped
upon him during the year and half
he has held his present position, fin
ally has made reply to his critics,
more in defense of the fair name of
Los Angeles, he says than of his own
acts as the city's servant
Following is the text of Librarian
Lummis letter:
AN illustrated article in the Los
Angeles Record of August shows
condition of affairs in the Los Ange-
les public library which would be inn
portant and distressing IL true. With
pink paper and rural head lines there
purport to be given photographs and
facts Il quote from headings and
seven and a half inches of text, in
which there are more falsehoods than
have ever detected before in the same
area) as to-
Twenty-Five Hundred Good Novels
Sent to Basement Popular Novels
Banished by Librarian Lummis How
Librarian LummiS Gets Rid of Fiction
Valuable Books Allowed to Go to
Rack and Ruin in the Cellar of the
Laughlin Building Annex $500 pop
ular works of fiction which have been
banished from library shelves because
Librarian Lummis believes that the
Los Angeles reading public always has
been and always will be in a state of
mental and moral undisciplne and be-
cause, moreover, the dictator of the
library is confirmed in the belief that
popular works of fiction are not fit to
be read, and since the intrusion of
Lummis in the library no works of
fiction have been rebound. 1t
has been Lummis' policy from the be-
ginning to cast novels aside as fast as
| the original cover becomes fr2zzled.'
"This article is about as truthful as
any have seen in the Record in the
last twelve and a half months relat-
ing to the public library. / have been
attending to the library during this
time and not hunting for newspaper
fights. Even the worm will turn, how
ever 1t is my impression that decent
people in Los Angeles are sick of IL
brary wars. Those of them who use
the institution decently are aware that
1t Is a p~etty good public library, and
trying all Ne time to be better. 1t is
about time for this institution, which
serves the public, to have peace from
the half dozen conspirators who are
trying to injure it. Peace is good,
even If you have to fight for it, as
gentleman by the name of Grant once
remarked. If we really have to have
any more library wars 1 will be in the
| fight.
at beg to say that the article re-
| ferred to is a malicious lie in every let
| ter. The reporter who wrote it was
| told the truth and expressed his in
| tention to perVert it, saying, You
know am on a paper antagonistic to
the public library
1.-The books referred to are not '2500
good novels nor $500 novels, good, bad
or Indifferent, nor $500 anything. They
| are not in the basement nor in the
cellar, nor going to rack nor ruin, nor
banished. They never have been. They
are the books sent to the library hos
pital, as has been done from the be-
| ginning in this and any other public
| library in the world, and as always
| will be done. / have handled every
one Of them myself. There are 1905 of
them in all. The majority are chill
dren's books, about a third are novels,
about a half have been rebound al
ready, once; about quarter have al
ready been rebound twice. They come
up to the workroom from every de-
partment of the library when the COW
ers become broken or the leaves torn
or lost, or the copy in any way unfit
for circulation without mending or re-
binding OF this number have picked
out 371 volumes to be mended in this
1 v
| the binder and replaced in their pres
ent covers, 760 to be bound anew, 800
hopelessly tattered and torn and dirty
| to be given away to the county farm
and the children's vacation playground
and other avenues through which we
| dispose of our discards.
| "In the year of my active direction
of this library I have not 'banished'
one book of any kind. Yesterday
| instituted an investigation of hum
dred books discarded before my in
cumbency of which many were dis
carded not because they we're worn
out but because they were about Nor
mons or Christian Science or in some
foreign language. 1 have my own
ideas about what is fit to read; but
my position as librarian Is that the
readers in this library (above the juVe-
nile) are old enough to be allowed TO
read what they prefer If they wish
| to kill time, that Is their privilege.
| Unless present plans miscarry, within
three months it will be easier for even
readers of the monetary novel to get
the book they wish than 1t has ever
been beforehand practically every
report OF every one of my predecessors
in the lbrarianship has complained on
| this point,
"On the other hand. have no dispo-
sition to dodge the frank statement
| that the board and | intend not only
! to make this institution an easy place
to get story books without paying for
them. but also to make II workshop
in which people who care TO improve
their minds can find the tools they
wish.
with reference to fiction. shall
recommend to the board plan urged
in an annual report OF the library
many years ago, but never put in oper-
tion here, thought Il is In successful use
In many OF the public libraries of the
east.
with reference to the larger func-
| lion OF an Institution Mhlch comprlses