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Cin · 11-17-2011, 06:22 AM

The OWS People's Library was confiscated during the Tuesday night raid, angering the public who rightly were horrified by images of books--particularly a lovingly-curated collection of donated and crowdsourced books--being destroyed.

Douglas Rushkoff urges those disheartened by this to regroup and restart and take the library for a metaphor:

A book can have more influence for being destroyed than having existed in the first place. This week isn't the first time my books have been destroyed, but it's probably the most significant....Remember, though, the People's Library is less about the books sitting in the reference section at Zuccotti Park than the extended network of books being shared and read by real people in the real world...Likewise, while the Occupation of Zuccotti and other places may serve as "reference" points, the real occupation is embodied by those of us in the real world who change our behaviors to reflect our values, and who stand up for what we believe in the conversations occurring all around us.

The library was immediately restarted with a half a dozen paperbacks. Within two hours the collection was up to over 100 volumes and the library was fully functioning—cataloging, lending, and providing reference services. “The library is still open” was repeated like a mantra...During the reoccupation on the evening of November 15, it started to rain so library staff put a clear plastic trash bag over the collection. Within minutes a detail of about 10 police descended and demanded that the covering be removed because they deemed the garbage bag to be a tarp. There were a few tense minutes as staff tried to convince them otherwise, but ultimately it was removed—leaving the collection open to the elements. As the police withdrew, scores of people chanted “BOOKS …BOOKS … BOOKS … BOOKS.” ... Library staff quickly set up umbrellas over the bulk of the books and began sending librarians home with bags of books to keep the collection safe in remote locations.

complete article here:http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews...ks/#paragraph6

11-17-2011, 06:22 AM	#990
Cin Senior Member How Do You Identify?: Butch Preferred Pronoun?: she Relationship Status: Truly Madly Deeply Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: In My Head Posts: 2,815 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 6,333 Thanked 10,408 Times in 2,477 Posts Rep Power: 21474852	The OWS People's Library was confiscated during the Tuesday night raid, angering the public who rightly were horrified by images of books--particularly a lovingly-curated collection of donated and crowdsourced books--being destroyed. Douglas Rushkoff urges those disheartened by this to regroup and restart and take the library for a metaphor: A book can have more influence for being destroyed than having existed in the first place. This week isn't the first time my books have been destroyed, but it's probably the most significant....Remember, though, the People's Library is less about the books sitting in the reference section at Zuccotti Park than the extended network of books being shared and read by real people in the real world...Likewise, while the Occupation of Zuccotti and other places may serve as "reference" points, the real occupation is embodied by those of us in the real world who change our behaviors to reflect our values, and who stand up for what we believe in the conversations occurring all around us. The library was immediately restarted with a half a dozen paperbacks. Within two hours the collection was up to over 100 volumes and the library was fully functioning—cataloging, lending, and providing reference services. “The library is still open” was repeated like a mantra...During the reoccupation on the evening of November 15, it started to rain so library staff put a clear plastic trash bag over the collection. Within minutes a detail of about 10 police descended and demanded that the covering be removed because they deemed the garbage bag to be a tarp. There were a few tense minutes as staff tried to convince them otherwise, but ultimately it was removed—leaving the collection open to the elements. As the police withdrew, scores of people chanted “BOOKS …BOOKS … BOOKS … BOOKS.” ... Library staff quickly set up umbrellas over the bulk of the books and began sending librarians home with bags of books to keep the collection safe in remote locations. complete article here:http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews...ks/#paragraph6 __________________ The reason facts don’t change most people’s opinions is because most people don’t use facts to form their opinions. They use their opinions to form their “facts.” Neil Strauss