It took us a while to figure out
the hubbub surrounding the opening
of downtown San Francisco's
latest mall, but then someone
pointed out that the $137
million glass and concrete
structure is the new library.
Still, our confusion was perhaps
prescient, as it turns out that
the "New Main," this "Library
for the 21st Century," (as it's
being called) is about as
reverent of the pursuit of
knowledge as a Waldenbooks
outlet. And, if essayist
Nicholson Baker is right, it
might have even fewer books. In
a speech given last week, Baker
asserted that City Librarian Ken
Dowlin has "committed a crime
against knowledge" by ridding
the library of at least two
hundred thousand books - a fifth
of the old library's collection.
Dowlin's motivation? To make
room for, among other things, a
"state of the art" online
catalog. Some might dismiss
Baker's concerns as reactionary
neo-Luddism, but we feel that
even the most wired among us
should take note. You might even -
dare we say it - take up a pen
and request, under California's
Public Records Act, to take a
look at the old catalog
yourself. The card catalog is
the only complete record of what
the library once contained, and
with 50% of the new library's
stacks closed to the public, it
seems that digitized media isn't
the only kind of information
that wants to be free.
-Suck