OUR BIBLIOPHILE MAYOR

It is reassuring to know that Mayor Riordan loves books; I only wish he had a more realistic understanding of what goes on in libraries (“The 40,000 Books of Richard Riordan,” Book Review, Oct. 10). His vague suggestion that his cuts to the Los Angeles Public Library budget can be remedied with an increase in volunteers is ridiculous. In no way do I want to denigrate the valuable role of volunteers in public libraries; however, volunteers are no replacement for trained, professional librarians.

Here is an analogous suggestion for Mr. Riordan, who is a lawyer by training. What would he think if someone outside his profession suggested that, as a solution to the backlog of cases in the criminal justice system, we didn’t hire additional attorneys, but instead supplemented the District Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices with volunteers? These volunteers would not need to be trained attorneys, but good Samaritans wanting to do their part to fight crime and insure justice. He would probably argue that lawyers are professionals, with years of education and training. So are librarians; in fact, the typical academic background and period of specialized education for librarians and attorneys is very similar.

It is professional librarians who build a library’s collection, organize the materials in it, and provide the expertise to assist members of the public to put the collection to use. Without the dedication and work of librarians, the magnificent, newly restored Central Library would be a jumbled warehouse of books, unorganized and unusable (and so would the mayor’s personal library purchased from Immaculate Heart College, catalogue and all). It will require money to support our first class library with the staff and new collections to keep it great. If the mayor truly loves books, he will find a way to support the Los Angeles Public Library for all of Los Angeles, including those who can’t afford to buy their own library.

GLENN JOHNSON-GRAU, LOS ANGELES

When I read the headline in the Times, “The 40,000 Books of Richard Riordan,” I rejoiced to learn that our mayor has a library of 40,000 books. What a good example and inspiration to Los Angeles students! But on reading the article I saw that our mayor had bought the library, holus-bolus, from a defunct religious college.

When asked about his favorite reading, Riordan cited Proust, of whose works he had read but a small part, Chesterton, Waugh, Greene--but he seems to have no acquaintance with the great books of the world.

The 40,000 books seem to provide insulation for his house, from cellar to rafters, but little else. Let us look elsewhere for real bibliophiles.

MARION D. BLYTH, LOS ANGELES

Mayor Riordan’s interview about his book collection was a fascinating study in double-talk and condescension. Most of the interview is devoted to his self-development by serendipitous and easy access to more books than anyone could read in a lifetime. Then he offhandedly says this is not appropriate for his constituents--their Central Library should be a community and homework center.

Like the mayor, I first entered this incredible Aladdin’s cave as a browser many years before. After completing library school nine years ago, I got a dream job--Central Library paid me to wander those aisles. Since then I’ve been through fire, flood, earthquakes--and those were the good days. I’m still there because I’m still the same Alice in a Wonderland of what humanity has learned about itself. So is the mayor, and I find it very condescending of him to limit this experience to those who can buy out defunct libraries. He’s trivializing the people who raised millions of dollars for Save the Books--not Save the Community and Homework Center. We didn’t need to add a new building and divide it into book-stocked departments--all we had to do was hollow out the old building into an extension of the L.A. Convention Center and surround it with volunteers staffing study carrels to help Los Angeles schoolchildren who can’t study at school anymore because government non-leaders have already allowed the school libraries to die.

Central and its branches have always been a homework center--we set up special areas for science projects, college catalogues, assignment books; many of the users since the reopening have been students using the full resources of the library.

Central Library wasn’t sold to Philip Morris and it isn’t for sale to current Mayor Riordan. It belongs to the people of Los Angeles, and in spite of all the glitches that come with moving into a new house, they are coming into the departments and standing in long lines for library cards and they are using a collection that is even better for serendipitous browsing than it was in the old library since with the added space far more of it is out in the open stacks.

The mayor’s philosophy of do as I say, not as I do, speaks for itself.

JACQELEN RUBEN, WOODLAND HILLS

The mayor regrets that he has never found the time to read all of Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past.” Well, he shouldn’t feel too bad about it. He has something that no one can ever take away from him: the enviable opportunity to read completely Proust’s incomparable work for the very first time.

There are some--alas!--for whom this delight has been forever relinquished!

M. SCOUSE GAFFNEY, VALENCIA

TEARS FOR CHEERS

Regarding “Gwendolyn Brooks at the Getty” (Sept. 26).

Ellen Melinkoff has let herself become entangled in preconceptions. Since when has it been mandated what a poet should look like?

“More’s the pity, they don’t stomp, they don’t cheer.” Brought back memories of a Life Magazine photo years ago showing a little old lady knitting in the second row at a jazz concert. When asked by the photojournalist, “How can you just sit there when the house is going wild?” “Sonny,” she answered, tapping her heart, “I don’t have to jump and shout. I feel it deep inside.”

Let the stompers and the cheerers do their thing, but don’t form a category for us silent ones.

In my 72 years I have never found it necessary to exhibit my feelings, and when experiencing a superb performance in any field of endeavor my body vibrates, tears roll down my cheeks and speech is impossible.

E. WARREN BRUCE, RIVERSIDE