Monday, December 5, 2011

Jones Library aftershock

Jones Library 11/1/11 Closed after the Halloween weekend storm

Just when I thought the library had gone back to normal, meaning non controversial, there's this: On Wednesday Jones Library Trustees will discuss spending $10,000 to purchase a seismograph so Jones patrons can participate in the "Boston College Educational Seismology Project," and become one with earthquakes.

Currently the program has 33 participants--all of them schools located around Boston.

While I don't doubt the educational value of learning about earthquakes, I do question whether the library should be the lead agency in town to take on the project, since all the other participants are schools.

And then there's the matter of the $10,000 cover charge, plus potential time commitments from employees who could be shelving books. But hey, when your endowment stands at $7.85 million, perhaps $10,000 is mere chicken feed.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, now you want to micromanage the library.

Larry Kelley said...

I'm a patron (as are my two daughters).

Anonymous said...

Perhaps a better title would be "Failed Businessman Tells Successful Library with $7.8 Million in Bank How It Should Be Run."

Larry Kelley said...

"Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker."

And one of the things it teaches very vividly is not to spend money like a wide eyed kid in a candy store.

Anonymous said...

that's really stupid. it can be better spent on things for education locally, not boston. we're not going to school down there, but up here. hey upstairs start using your smarts for a change and get off of your pedistal! it's doomed to failure and money where it could be spent not wasted!

Anonymous said...

Written with the grammar, puctuation, style and penauche of a 3rd grade graduate.

Anonymous said...

But, we just had an earthquake in response to your ground shaking article. Perhaps Mother Nature approves this expenditure?

Larry Kelley said...

True enough. Behold the power of the blog.

The library was also closed for a few days after the Halloween weekend storm knocked out power (like the photo I took on Monday afternoon).

So maybe Mother Nature was telling them to invest in a generator first.

Anonymous said...

Don't think for one second that the library has gone back to "normal". The big concern here is what will happen in March when trustee seats are up and there are not enough good candidates...

Anonymous said...

If Ms. McKee and Ms. Gray announce for reelection, then we can begin to canvass the sane looking for someone to run against them. It is time to bring the Starship Jones Library back to Earth.

Anonymous said...

Beam me up!

Anonymous said...

I would take a Clingon over Mrs Gray any day....