The “nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization” Common Cause has released a statement calling on Mayor Bloomberg to “Open your wallet Mayor Bloomberg, it’s time to buy some books.”
The president of Common Cause Bob Edgar:
“To the extent that the books lost can be accounted for, the city should replace each title, buying two new copies for each one destroyed,” [he continued] “And for whatever number is unaccounted for, the city should provide Occupy’s librarians with funds sufficient to buy twice as many.”
The press release continues:
“Indeed, an attack on books is an attack on rights protected by the First Amendment. People who would ransack and trash a library or a book collection put themselves on the moral level of book-burners. Their actions are intolerable.”
Occupy Wall Street Library 
Well done! I think I commented today that a bill should be sent. I do think he should also replace equipment ( computers etc) As this destruction was willful, if they don’t pay for willful destruction of property they should be sued.
Awesome. Totally with you. Love it. Was there yesterday for the morning shutdown then rally & walk. So inspired. We are winning!
No books need be purchased for you. You knew the library would eventually be cleared, and you abandoned the library when it was announced the park had to be cleared. No one took the library with them. It was just left there, abandoned. There’s your fault, not Mayor Bloomberg’s.
“Occupied ALA Ignored Cuban Librarians; OWSLibrary is Not a Real Library and People Knew It Would Be Removed”
http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupied-ala-ignored-cuban-librarians.html
Your criticism of our moderation policy was unfounded. I was sick over the weekend and my husband turned 40 on Friday. We’ve been too busy to look through substantive comments, not censoring. Though, we do reserve the right to post what we want; it’s our blog, not a public forum. There is a clear difference.
Mandy
Who still has the sniffles and whose husband is now 40
Mandy, I hope you are feeling better.
Other comments were published, but mine wasn’t, so naturally it appeared you chose not to publish mine. Perhaps you published it after seeing my criticism on my blog.
But setting that aside, I can yet again make the point that you prescribe medicine for others that you do not yourself take, speaking of being sick.
“Though, we do reserve the right to post what we want; it’s our blog, not a public forum. There is a clear difference.”
Okay, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. “Though, we do reserve the right to clean Zuccotti Park when we want; it’s our park, not a public forum. There is a clear difference.”
So the argument you just made applies to the very situation you oppose.
Even your comment moderation. What’s that? That’s a form of control of what can be said. “[W]e do reserve the right to post what we want….” What, is it different rules for the owners of Zuccotti Park? On my blog, I let anyone post anything at any time, barring Google’s automatic spam detection feature. I then remove obvious spam Google missed and comments containing mainly ad hominem remarks. But for me it’s free speech. For you it’s moderated speech. That’s not a problem in and of itself, it just shows that you have standards for yourself while you demand standards for the owners of Zuccotti Park that differ significantly from yours. In light of the current situation which you yourself have in part caused by not removing the books when requested, the double standard weakens your case considerably.
By the way, the Annoyed Librarian just wrote about you and me in the Library Journal, and, other then my comment about the ALA and Cuba, she basically agrees with me that your OWS Library is NOT a real library. http://blog.libraryjournal.com/annoyedlibrarian/2011/11/21/what-is-an-american-library/
Should you bring or join any effort to bring suit against anyone or any organization that removed and stored the garbage you abandoned before it was returned to you, I will make an effort to find out about that and join in any counter action, if I have standing.
Now go read that Library Journal article and the comments thereto and realize your library is not a real library and everyone knows that. Likely even you.
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