Sunday, February 4, 2018

So... Where's the Money Going?

 

From the ages of two to nineteen, I lived in the town of Oxford, Massachusetts. During my grammar school and high school years, I was a patron of what was then referred to as the Charles Larned Memorial Library. (Now it's called the Oxford Free Public Library, but I'm not sure when they made that change.) The above picture shows what the library looked like during most of the twentieth century, before an add-on in the rear, completed during the year 2000, approximately doubled the building's size.

My childhood patronage was back in the good old days -- I refuse to say "back in the day" -- when "SHH!" was the word most heard there, and thankfully, it was also long before cell phones existed, so no one had to listen to idiots carrying on conversations that needed to be taken outside.

But I digress. What else is new?

For the past few years, I've been spending quite a bit of time at this library and the one in nearby Webster, the town in which I now live.

A couple of days ago I was there, reading a brochure about The Friends of the Oxford Free Public Library. Here's a brief section from that brochure:

The Friends of the Oxford Free Public Library was formed and incorporated in 1992 with the purpose of maintaining a membership of people who are supportive of the library, to focus public attention to library services, facilities, and needs; to simulate gifts of books, magazines, collections, endowments and bequests, and to communicate the needs of the community to the staff and the library trustees.

If you read that carefully, maybe you caught what I did, the sentence that includes "to simulate gifts of books, magazines, collections, endowments and bequests".

Uhhh, do ya think they mighta meant to write "stimulate" rather than "simulate?" Cuz if they didn't, that means that they're only pretending to do those things, which means that somebody in the organization is embezzling their funds!

And if that's the case, I wonder where the money's really going?

A relatively recent drawing of the Oxford Free Public Library, from
an angle that shows the building as it's looked since the year 2000.

Thanks for your time.

P.S. ~~ And yes, in all seriousness, I told them about the typo and they promised to fix it.

22 comments:

  1. Hey, maybe they have cutting edge technology and can go all VR and simulate that stuff. A library making a typo, whoops. Loud idiots on their phone is annoying anyway.

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    1. Cell phone use should be prohibited in libraries, period. Usually the people who do this are using the computer and are on some website, and they're having problems so they have to call the company whose website they're on!

      The library staff was very nice when I pointed out the error. Whoever copied the brochure's info onto their website had made the same error, and that was corrected immediately.

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  2. Interesting, and a very good question. A lovely library, and libraries have always been and always will be a destination of mine too!

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    Replies
    1. Seriously, I have nothing but good things to say about the staff at both of the libraries that I frequent.

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  3. I receive simulated gifts all the time by phone and email.

    Love,
    Janie

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  4. Lol at the catch, but of course you would. I enjoy going to my local library. It is next to the gym so I often go. I have donated many books for the book sales. I like to read actual books and I keep them for a while or loan them to friends, but many make it to the sales.

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    1. I keep far too many books. I have hundreds, and that's definitely not counting comic books and magazines. Then I'd have to say thousands.

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    2. That is a lot of books, I’d like to see your library. What is your favorite book?

      Delete
    3. Well, True... "Library" implies that they're organized, haha! The magazines and comics are, but the books are in closets, boxes, stacks, and in some rare instances, actual bookcases!

      My favorite book? Hm. Tough one. In my Blogger profile, I list several. Here's a quote: "Great Expectations, Moby-Dick (I love that only-in-the-title hyphen!), The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, Cyrano de Bergerac (and I know it's really a play), Don Quixote, Shane, Summer of '42, On the Road, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Corsican Brothers (not the Cheech and Chong movie), Captains and the Kings, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, and random writings from authors Jack Kerouac, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Dorothy Parker, Bret Harte, Harlan Ellison, and Damon Runyon!"

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  5. Nice catch, Grammar Nazi! :) They should have had you proof the thing before it was printed!

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    1. Maybe so. They were all very nice when I pointed out the error. That's one of the reasons I enjoy going there.

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  6. I love libraries where I go is little but have good books. This is beautiful like I love libraries! xo

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    1. They're building a new library in Webster, the town I live in. It should be finished in a few months, and it's going to be huge!

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  7. Good old days is the right expression. Libraries should require readers to check in their phones like they do with other belongings.
    I'm terrible with typos...however do expect libraries not to make any :)

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    1. I'm bad with typos, too, which is why I proofread the heck out of my stuff before letting anyone else see it. I type with two fingers, but very quickly, and mistakes like "tsop" instead of "stop," and "thew" when I meant "the" happen all the time. That's why I invite my readers to let me know if they spot any errors like that.

      Delete
  8. How did I miss your fun lair all this time? Thanks for finding me, so that I could find you, Silver Fox.
    Looking forward to many a visit.
    Have a great (rest of the) week and then some.

    Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I guess the money is going to somebody who may have a penchant for Bora Bora, and I can tell you right now... it ain't me. Um I mean, it isn't me. Pardon my horrible grammar. It's a sensitive subject. As a teacher, I should know better. I also know you dislike (hate?) "back in the day", so I won't say it. In fact every time I hear someone say it, I'm reminded of you. Scary, I know. But you love comics, so it's all good, even if "it" lacks an antecedent. News flash: CLICK! Yes, it says, "This edition collects BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE with Bolland’s reimagined colors and the original edition’s colors."

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I occasionally use "ain't" for emphasis, and everyone except for my second ex-fiancee realizes I'm using it to be a smartass. She thought she had an opportunity to correct my grammar.

      BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE for $49.99?!? That's a bigger crime than anything the Joker ever pulled off!

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  10. Good thing you caught the error! Playing the "what if" game...imagine if they had actually meant what they said in the original text, what kind of a story that would make...

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    1. The town of Oxford needs a good scandal. The only big one I recall was back in the early 1970s, when a recent high school graduate became pregnant... and the father was a local priest!

      Delete

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