For Immediate Release:
Contact: Robin Diener
202/ 387-8030; 431-9254 cell
Community to Chief Librarian: Stop Ignoring Us
Washington DC -- September 3, 2008 -- The DC Library Renaissance Project yesterday delivered a letter to Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper detailing the ways the DC Public Library has ignored general and specific requests from the community regarding plans for the new Watha T. Daniel neighborhood library in Shaw. The three-page, single-spaced, footnoted letter was released in anticipation of the “final” design meeting on the new Shaw library on Thursday:
“Final” Design Meeting at the Interim Shaw Library
Thursday September 4 at 6:30 pm
945 Rhode Island, NW.
“Numerous individuals and groups, including Advisory Neighborhood Commissions in Wards 1, 2 and 7, have concluded that DCPL is not interested in community input from Shaw or any other community,” said Chris Otten, director of community outreach for the Library Renaissance Project. “We say to Chief Cooper, President Hill and all the Trustees on behalf of all the communities involved: Stop ignoring us, start working with us!”
The letter cites the following instances of Cooper and Hill turning their backs to the public:
• Failure to respond to repeated requests for design information in advance so residents can review and comment meaningfully;
• No feasibility study for a café or coffee shop in Shaw as requested by the community to meet the need for neighborhood gathering space;
• Failure to reach out to young people, teens, and seniors for input;
• Failure to make a budget available (Board of Trustees cite $15.7 million, Chief Librarian cites $9 million);
• Refusal to outline DCPL commitment to adult literacy in response to expected recommendations of a long-delayed report from the Mayor’s Adult Literacy, Council in spite of participation on the Council by Cooper and Hill;
• No commitment to using proposed green roofs as demonstration projects in furtherance of the library’s broad mission to educate.
Library Renaissance Project will hold a briefing outside the interim Shaw library at 6 pm.
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Sent by
Robin Diener
Director, DC Library Renaissance Project
1530 P Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
202/387-8030; 431-9254 cell