Library Press Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: press@occupywallst.org
For this event: William Scott, 412-390-6510
Occupy Wall Street Librarians Address Bloomberg for Destroying Books
Over 4k Books, Documents, Were Trashed by NYPD & Dept. of Sanitation in Raid
Over 4k Books, Documents, Were Trashed by NYPD & Dept. of Sanitation in Raid
OWS Library Staff Recovers Books and Supplies, Less Than One-Fifth is Usable
What: Press conference to address the destruction of the OWS People’s Library by Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the 11/15 raid.
*Photo Opportunity* All of the recovered, destroyed books will be at the press conference.
Where: 260 Madison Ave, 20th Floor, between 38th and 39th St
When: Wednesday, November 23, at 12:00 noon
Who: Norman Siegel will host and moderate. Speakers: Gideon Oliver of the National Lawyers Guild, Hawa Allan a Fellow at Columbia Law School, and Occupy Wall Street Librarians from the People’s Library. Law professors from Columbia, members of the American Library Association, various writers and others have been invited.
When: Wednesday, November 23, at 12:00 noon
Who: Norman Siegel will host and moderate. Speakers: Gideon Oliver of the National Lawyers Guild, Hawa Allan a Fellow at Columbia Law School, and Occupy Wall Street Librarians from the People’s Library. Law professors from Columbia, members of the American Library Association, various writers and others have been invited.
So far, the People’s Library has received 1,099 books back from the Dept. of Sanitation after last week’s raid (some of which were not library books to begin with), and out of these, about 800 are still usable. About 2,900 books are still unaccounted for, and less than one-fifth of the original collection is still usable. These numbers may change slightly when the People’s Library gets an exact count of the recent (and final) retrievals from Sanitation, but not considerably.
“The People’s Library was destroyed by NYPD acting on the authority of Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the night of the raid. In addition to all our supplies, laptops, and tent, they threw roughly 4,000 books into garbage trucks and dumpsters that were adjacent to the park, as well as assorted rare documents that were associated with OWS,” says William Scott, an Occupy Wall Street Librarian.
Watch video of the NYPD and Dept. of Sanitation destroying the OWS People’s Library tent and throwing away all the books.http://www.youtube.com/
Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to more than 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. For more visit www.occupywallst.org
Norm,
ReplyDeleteAre donations being accepted for the People's Library? If so, The IS 141Q UFT Chapter is willing to help. A House Divided Cannot Stand.
Regards,
Charlie
I just wrote a blog post pointing out the hypocrisy of the city..throwing out books but telling teachers to 'dumpster dive' when there is a shortage of books in the schools.
ReplyDeletehttp://talesofasweetgirl.blogspot.com/2011/11/city-sweeps-away-4000-books-but-there.html
Isn't it high time that the ACLU is informed of the ILLEGAL closing of many NYC public school libraries?
ReplyDeleteCharlie-The books that you want to donate, can they be smoked? If not then I am pretty sure that the OWS People's Library will not have much use for them.
ReplyDelete