DESTROY BOOKS IN A GOOD CAUSE ?                                             by Dr. William Taber, NYSALB trustee     What is a trustee's job? To destroy books, perhaps?     This is a pretty dark and awful thought to most of us who recognize that books and their preservation are vital to the very foundations of democratic civilization. My house bulges with the collection of books that represent the accumulation of my lifetime and those of ancestors who also could not bear to throw out a book. I cringe when our librarian does her necessary job of culling some books from our library every year.     Yet I destroyed the book that Janet Welch is holding up in the memorable photograph that you see in this issue of the TRUSTEE. That is certainly an odd way for a trustee to help libraries, isn't it ?     But, when you volunteer to help libraries in various ways beyond just attending the occasional board meeting, one thing can lead to another, and sometimes the path takes unexpected and interesting turns. This was certainly the strangest turn that I have yet encountered on my trustee path.     Last autumn, Paul Girsdansky (Communications Director of NYLA) asked me if I knew of anybody who had the power tools to mutilate about a dozen books. He wanted about 17% of each book to be destroyed in variously visual ways for the news media. After my first response of shock, horror, and instant refusal to contribute any of my books to such a project, I began to understand the premise of a publicist's brilliant idea to create a visual symbol for the any of my books to such a project, I began to understand the premise of a publicist's brilliant idea to create a visual symbol for the damage that has been done to libraries throughout New York State by persistent underfunding.     When you mutilate a book, you destroy the integrity of the whole. When 17% of a book is missing, the value of that book can be destroyed to any amount above 17% all the way up to 100% .     The New York State legislature had refused for years to grant to the libraries the full funding that they need not only to maintain their services but to keep up with the rapid changes in information technology. The shortfalls have sent repercussions throughout all the systems. Year after year of 17% shortfalls add up to a very big loss.     Yes, I knew of a friend, a Bosnian Serb who has run a local garage for about 20 years. He has the tools. I went to him, explained the project, and heard his courteous but very firm refusal to have anything at all to do with damaging even one book, no matter how meritorious the cause. Funding was too abstract a cause; a book, any book, was concrete and real, its destruction is a step toward barbarism. I respected and understood his decision, but I regretted it, especially because it left me to do the dirty work myself.     I did the evil deed with handtools in my cellar. Tense, sweating, tired, and guilty, I inflicted various injuries upon the books. Mystery novels were the easiest; just cut out the last 5th of the book. The others were more challenging. It was surprisingly hard work, especially for a library trustee who respects books !     I was sustained by the hope that Girsdansky's idea would lead to some good, and, thanks to Janet Welch, it did. When we see her hold up one of those violated books, our revulsion is focused by a powerful image directly where it should be ...upon the political shortsightedness that would weaken a major support for responsible, informed, democratic society. Libraries are part of a cluster of literacy, information and access that is not just a nice part of our cultural heritage; it is vital to our strength. Weaken them just a little, and our potential declines. Weaken them a lot, and we become a society where few remain who know enough even to mourn the loss.     Hopefully, the future will bring us to a day when this multilated book can be held up to say, "This is the past, and this is what we must never let happen again " rather than its present sad message, "This is what has been happening to us for years, and we have to change it somehow." NYSALB TRUSTEE Essays For Library Trustees & Others