Sunday, April 7, 2019

Mold Ignores City Plans, Ruins 34,000 Books

Good job, Jackson. The Jackson-Hinds library system lost 34,000 books to mold at the Charles Tisdale library after the city dithered for nearly two years. The Northside Sun reported Wednesday:

Inaction by library officials has resulted in the loss of approximately 34,000 books at the now defunct Charles Tisdale Library. The books were destroyed by black mold.

Meanwhile, any hopes of cleaning the collection were dashed recently, when an insurance claim filed to cover the books’ restoration costs was denied.

The Northside Drive branch was closed in April 2017, after storm-related flooding caused a black mold problem there to grow out of control.  Rest of article.
The city had grand plans for the library system but the mold didn't know it was supposed to wait for the city.  The Clarion-Ledger reported in December:

 Robert Blaine, Jackson's chief administrative officer, said the administration is taking a "holistic" approach. It's reviewing an overhaul of the system to bring the entire system more up to date. Its review includes the possible relocation of some branches to more trafficked areas.

"Libraries are no longer repositories of books. Libraries are a space for the access of new information and for the creation of new knowledge. We need to begin to think of what a 21st-century library system in Jackson looks like. How does that align with our public school system? How does that align with our community needs? How do we build capacity?"

Blaine said the downside of the approach is that it has taken longer for the administration to address the immediate needs of individual branches. He said the administration doesn't want to "just put a Band-aid" on the system.

"Like many things in Jackson, there are so many immediate needs. Historically, we've been in the practice of putting Band-aids on these needs. What we're trying to do as an administration is to get to the root causes," he said.

But every day that nothing happens is a setback for Furr and the community that has come to rely on their library.

"I came here to make a difference but ultimately, the city is going to have to decide what it wants to do," said Furr, who was hired as executive director in 2013 from the Coast where she served in the same capacity for the Hancock County Library System. "These are your libraries, Mr. Mayor. They need your help," she said. Rest of article.

 JJ said it before and will say it again:

A reading of the article will show a classic case of politicians pointing the fingers at each other while nothing gets done.  Executive Director Patty Furr begged the City Council and Mayor's Office several times to seek an alternative site to the Charles Tisdale Library after it closed.   They told Ms. Furr that the city first wanted to get an inventory of all property and buildings owned by the city while the City Council took her pleas under advisement.  Next anyone? Well, the books mildewed  while the PhD's studied and the politicians yapped.  The mold inconveniently ignored the master plans and did what it does best, seek and destroy.

 There are no excuses for this catastrophe.  None.  To think that the Civil Rights leaders fought like hell to get access to the Jackson libraries.   Now the current leaders can't be bothered to save them.

Inexcusable.  

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could they not send collection to other libraries? What a waste of tax payer dollars. Atthevery least, they could have donated the books to schools or held a public offering. As a former librarian, this makes me sick.

Anonymous said...

Adolf H. likes.

Anonymous said...

Preserving books is an old fashioned fundamental responsibility that the broke ass city of Jackson would like to side step if possible. If they delay long enough the point becomes moot and the problem solved itself. Now, that is an expense that can be taken off the ledger and the city can talk about "high tech information centers" rather than traditional libraries which are dead anyway. The last time I was in Oxford I went on a library tour...they could literally dump 90 percent of the books and the students wouldn't notice. It's a shame because I'm an old reader and I love books, but things have changed.

Anonymous said...

I grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s going to that library. Went there for more than one high school paper. This saddens me but so does the entire area in which I know from my childhood.

Playing in Hanging Moss Creek said...

I remember spending many happy times at the Northside Library during my youth.
Same goes for the 'big library" at State & Yazoo Street.

Like everything else about Jackson, only memories remain.

So sad !


Brylcreem Commando said...

Jackson is LOST.

Justice for Books said...

Keep throwing stones at Jackson Kingfish. You sure do like to criticize but you have no idea what kind of restraints our city leaders deal with because of dwindling resources. The racist white flight is the real reason Jackson is declining and don’t you forget it.

Anonymous said...

Don't need no stinkin' books in a dignity city. Our Chief Ideologue will tell everyone what to think and say. That is, of course, only on one of the very few days when he is not on the road telling tall tales about what a kick-ass job he is doing in Jackghanistan.

Dirk Gently said...

An Holistic approach doesn’t seem so bad to me...

Anonymous said...

I'm 66 years old and remember when the Northside Library was. Basement flooding was a problem there for as long as I can remember. The difference between then and now is that sump pumps and drainage systems were put in place to lessen the flooding. As long as the system was maintained there was not a problem except in historic rain events. Even then the basement was quickly drained, dried and made ready to go again. I once worked for a company the did extensive renovations to the drainage system in the late 1980's. After a few years of no maintenance the problem returned. By that time the City of Jackson leadership had changed and they didn't want to spend money to repair the system. Thus, years later we have what was (and could still be) a perfectly functional building but because the administration of Jackson refused to maintain it and its contents is now a great loss to the area. Apparently redesigning police cars to look like AMR vehicles is a top priority. Heaven forbid we should offend someone with the traditional "Black & White" that has served so well.

Anonymous said...

I regret that those books are lost, but seriously, who really goes to the library for books? Middle age ladies wanting a romance novel fix. The research materials are hopelessly outdated in ALL libraries. Why spend good money on these dinosaurs? 20 dumb internet terminals provide far more “research” than the entire Hinds, Madison and Rankin library systems. Jackson is right to question plowing money into JHLS.

Anonymous said...

Nobody uses hard copy books anymore, I bet most of the titles hadn't been checked out in years.
Pretty soon we will have to deal with recycling millions of paper books.

Anonymous said...

As the city continues to "transition" (ie: get blacker), that library was nothing but a free day care center. Ask around. Good riddance.

Anonymous said...

There's been a lot more than 34,000 books ruined by the current and past "management" in place at the City of Jackson.

One more broken, trashed out, urban shithole.

Just like every other city run by leftists.

Anonymous said...

And they had never been colored in-

Anonymous said...

We all know what a sad situation the city of Jackson is and we certainly want to take every opportunity to throw mud on it's dumb leadership. O.K. been there, done that. But the future of libraries and the books housed in them is an issue every municipality, school, and university will confront in future years. The city of Jackson is just so broke that they are dealing with it now. Books, like newspapers, are not the essential source of information any more. Jackson did not make saving those books a priority. Maybe that's another bad decision and maybe not.

Anonymous said...

Sad but true... why would would anybody go to a library today? I'm 66 years old and I know you can get infinitely more & detailed information without using the dewey decimal/car catalog system in a museum... instantly!

Sorry.

Anonymous said...

9:06 Well said Chokwe.

Mbrookes said...

Of course you can get more up to date information on line than at a library. I am a frequent user of the library because I can't afford to buy all the fiction I want to read. No, it is not all available on line. I read for entertainment as well as for information. Close all the libraries and many people will no longer have access to literature. This city (town?) is on a downward slide and I hate to see it.

Anonymous said...

9:22 Bless your 66 year old heart. But, there is something to be said for the benefits of reading a book. When scanning the internet, we tend to look for the condensed version of the story and don't want to expend the effort to use talents such as analysis and comprehension to understand a story. Instead, we rely on 288 words or less to shape our opinion. This lack of desire, talent, or effort has consequences - see election of reality star as president stories.

Anonymous said...

wow, this was way easier than burning them books!

Anonymous said...

Here comes the incompetence apologists with misdirection. Of course none of them will step up to suggest closing down the whole system though doing so would be the logical extension of their arguments regarding library book collection obsolescence. Their ONLY interest is providing Mayor Greenhorn with flank cover.

When Antar is Mayor we all are Mayor. Except when things go badly then his minions and eunuchs will trot out the excuse du jour.

Anonymous said...

The librarians didn't care.

The head librarian for the city should be fired.

The politicians didn't care, either.

Anonymous said...

Let's assume these books were just library copies of widely-available, run-of-the-mill books of very little literary or other interest for the contents therein. If those books had been removed and something positive done, even burning them for fuel, that would have been the end of the expense. Now, however, they are apparently "contaminated" with "black mold," and whether black mold or simple mildew, they are must be dealt with in a different and more expensive fashion. They cannot even be given away as "bookcase filler," etc., and likely as not, various "haz-mat" regs now apply (and in the case of real black mold, they should apply). The bottom line is yet another entity in the city has screwed the pooch yet again. And that is true whether the books were 34,000 books of at least some monetary nominal value to someone or 34,000 copies of "The Chuckmeat Lambada Guide to Economics," with a forward by Louis Farrakhan and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In other words, 34,000 books are now 34,000 pieces of hazardous waste, along with attendant mitigation costs. Fucking idiots, regardless of the bibliography.

Anonymous said...

And here it is, national Library Week. The search engine Bing has a photo of the Seattle library interior, full of people, on its opening page today. Once again, I'm embarrassed by Mississippi and Jackson in particular for failing to recognize the importance of public libraries and the value of knowledge in general. Jackson could have donated the books to schools, auctioned the books to readers, or sold them online for money before the books were ruined. But heck no, we have incompetent city leaders who probably never read a book in their lives and commentators here who read only if it is printed on a computer screen. We really are degenerating into an ignorant third world country with ignorant, uneducated citizens and corrupt leadership. God help us.

Anonymous said...

“Libraries are a space for the access of new information and for the creation of new knowledge.“

LOL

Anonymous said...

At least they all died with dignity.

Anonymous said...

How convenient.....intentionally allow the books to self destruct, relocate to a new location and fill it with new books that better reflect the prevailing view of "historical" events thus rewriting "history" and blaming it on that pesky "black mold". Next.....

Anon-E-Mouse said...

@ 7:43. Don’t shoot the messenger. Jackson is in a death spiral because of inept leadership. Why are they inept? Because the smart leaders left the city 25 years ago when they saw the direction of Jackson. Yes, now they have a revenue problem. It is one of their own making.

Eventually, it will be leveled and rebuilt. Until then, the in,ages are ruining the city.

You All Jess Racist said...

I noticed above that someone continues to 'blame it all' on 'racist white flight'. People of all races and hues have left Jackson when and if they could afford to do so. Please tell me why it would be considered 'racist' for ANYbody to leave a situation they found to be undesirable or intolerable or one they felt they could improve their lives by leaving.

Obviously that was posted by one of the old hold-overs who thinks he can stifle comment and shock people by calling them racist. That has not worked for at least twenty years.

Anonymous said...

Jackson-The Mold New City

Anonymous said...

The city is too busy filling pot holes to worry about a few books!!!!

Anonymous said...

the mold is a very poetic event. we took from nature materials to make the books and nature has taken them back! we are so hooked on technology that no one even cared to intervene.

walk into a restaurant, airport, bar, etc., if you make eye contact with anyone, you are considered a freak and a weirdo.

at least the pineapple people in reunion are living in the real world.
Fight the Phones!!!

Anonymous said...

Link and align with JPS - my goodness what a terrible thought.

Anonymous said...

Everyone knows a moron who loves to opine that no one reads books anymore to make themselves feel better about the fact that they don't or can't.

Anonymous said...

When's the last time any of you old cows even used a library? You want Jackson to keep these things, but none of you even use them. Why should I, as a tax payer in the city of Jackson, give a shit about what you Madisonian clowns think?

If the library is that important to you, climb up into your truck and drive down here, get a library card, and use the system.

Anonymous said...

The library is not the only place black mold has destroyed.
Just take a good look at city hall.

Anonymous said...

I wonder which illustrious contractor will get the job cleaning this mess up (and subsequently caught breaking all sorts of rules and regs, including burning all the books in some vacant lot)? Hey, with any luck, this could be the contracts scam/clusterfuck that finally gets a few deserving folks some attention from the feds.

Anonymous said...

The same scenario as Jackson repeats all over the world. It should be as predictable at the moon phases. Pretty crazy that people expect a different result each time. It may be a hard pill to swallow but it is the truth.

Anonymous said...

At least they are not crazy enough to build more. Baton Rouge just had a $2.5 mil change order to a $19 million one Downtown.

Anonymous said...

Who would stay in this shithole? Every Sunday my neighborhood is terrorized by ghetto dwellers speeding around Hanging Moss, Northside, Northview and North State. The police IGNORE it until they get 911 calls. I have beggars coming to my door all the time, the streets are a joke, taxes are ridiculous, car and home insurance are higher because Jackson is one big hood, animal abuse is out of control. And some asswipe is gonna blame white people for exiting the Titanic.

Anonymous said...

8:27 -- What you say? Part of the delay on doing something with the books at Tisdale Library was that they were looking for a new location to move.

And they are actively looking for a new location for the Welty Library.

Both cases will probably result in our 'city leadership' deciding to build new facilities - much better opportunity to take care of the brothers that way. And the thought that we don't need the same number of libraries that the city had 50 years ago will never cross their collective minds

Anonymous said...

Why are you still in Jackson, 11:20 am, if its that bad in Jackson?

Anonymous said...

Because my house is now worthless because of all the drug dealers and illegal personal care homes that moved in.



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