Noted Chicago author Louis ‘Studs’ Terkel visited the Sulzer Regional Library Friday to (in his own words) “see what’s up.” What was ‘up’ was a rather uncomfortable visit to a public library where four separate security guards confronted this small group of four visitors who were minding their own business.
What prompted the visit was a personal letter Terkel had received from Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey responding to comments he had made in the Sept. 28 edition of the Chicago Reader. According to Terkel, Dempsey’s letter stated, among other things, that “he owed an apology to all librarians” for what he said in an article written by the Reader’s Ben Joravsky.
“Doesn’t she understand, that’s why I said that and that’s why I’m here today,” said Terkel. “I know the librarians are afraid to talk, I know who her husband is, but I’m here to help the librarians: I love librarians. It was our local branch librarian, Mrs. Fletcher, who got me my first book when I was a kid... it was Mark Twain’s ‘Huckleberry Finn.’”
In the Reader article Joravsky informs Terkel that among other things the library is removing perfectly good books just because they are “buckram-bound under the grounds that today’s readers won’t read books unless it has a picture on the cover.” Terkel responds, saying, “But you want those books, they’re durable, they last. They can pass on from one generation to the next.”
“Who the hell cares if they have a picture on the cover,” Terkel went on. “They took one of my books, you say? I guess I should be flattered, at least I’m with good company.”
In fact, a title page from a hardback copy of Terkel’s book “American Dreams, Lost and Found” was one of the items Inside Publications received from a library source which was reportedly taken from a “discard” box earlier in September. It, like tens of thousands of other Sulzer books, had its title page ripped out and was stamped “discard.”
Inside Publications twice offered to return that item (and others) to the Library Board and specifically to Board President Jayne Thompson; neither responded to our offer. Inside Publications then gave the title page to Terkel framed as a keepsake.
“Oh, this is crazy,” continued Terkel in the Reader article. “I’ve got to go down there and raise a stink. They can’t do this. Someone has to stop them. What kind of librarian would throw away so many books?”
Last week Inside received a phone call from Terkel inviting us to join him at Sulzer Friday, saying: “I can’t believe what’s going on. We can’t let these guys get away with it. I don’t know what to say - I can’t believe it.”
Upon arriving at Sulzer, Terkel was greeted by this writer, Joravsky and Frank Crescenzi, a member of the Friends of Sulzer Library. Those three had been previously greeted by three uniformed security guards who wanted to make sure no photographs were to be taken inside the library. A fourth guard asked “What’s up?” as the group approached the adult fiction section on the second floor.
Inside has taken many hundreds of photos for a variety of events and functions at Sulzer Library since the facility was first open, including our coverage of Sulzer’s own opening in 1985, and never once did a newspaper staffer ever have to ask for permission. Many of these same photos, as well as others, were then donated to the Lake View Ravenswood Historical Collection housed at Sulzer Library (coincidentally 36 such photos were donated by this newspaper and accepted into the collection just last Thursday).
The new “no photos” policy first surfaced in an incident on Sept. 6 when Chicago Sun Times photographer Al Podgorski was refused entry at the front door. Security guards informed our group that “Permission from downtown is now required to take any photos inside the library.” Photos were taken outside instead.
Even more surprising was the constant presence of security guards circling the group and calling in reports on their radios the entire time we were in the facility. “It was depressing, like being in a police state,” said Joravsky. “Normally the librarians would be all over someone like Studs coming into their library.” Not a one approached, though some library patrons did.
The goal for Terkel’s visit was to view Sulzer’s adult fiction section which is the victim of most of the recent intensive weeding. Library staffers estimate that as many as 35,000 books have been removed from the collection, most from adult fiction. “I’ll bet we’ll be able to find a copy of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ there,” he said.
It’s clear to those who remember what once made up the section that there is now a lot missing from this collection. Most shelves are now only half to two-thirds full. Terkel specifically searched out Mark Twain and was surprised to see less than one shelf’s worth dedicated to one of America’s most prolific writers. He also stopped to look up Mike Royko’s books. Among the books discarded in the “weeding” of Sulzer were copies, in good condition, of “Sez Who? Sez Me “ and “Like I Was Sayin’...” by the late quintessential Chicago columnist.
As he was leaving he said, “I don’t know what happened to all those books but it looks better than I expected it to. I know the community is watching these guys and it looks like you stopped them for now. I think they’re also going to do this on the South Side, too. She [Dempsey] told me in her letter they had ‘experts’ and ‘specialists’ on it... those words have always worried me,” said Terkel.
“And the moral of this is that community involvement is what it’s all about,” Terkel continued. “We’ve seen weeding here with a capital W and I think the community needs to be involved and consulted anytime you plan such a large effort. What you’ve done is stop further degradation and nothing else should go on here without community involvement.”
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