While visiting Washington, D.C., on a work-related matter, Mayor Susan Coleman took the opportunity to select a number of donated books from the Library of Congress for use at the Sweet Home Public Library.
Library Director Megan Dazey said she applied for an opportunity to obtain free books through the Library of Congress Surplus Books Program, and was approved.
“You have to apply to the program and be accepted, then receive special permission to visit the Library of Congress in person,” Dazey said.
The caveat, which she alluded to, is that someone needed to be there in person to hand-select the books they wanted. Enter Mayor Coleman, who had plans to fly to D.C. where her employer, Children’s Literacy Project, was doing a seminar at the National Prayer Breakfast. Mayor Coleman participated in presenting a seminar about literacy in America.
Not knowing what to expect on her side-mission for Dazey, Mayor Coleman set aside some time to carry out the errand.
‘The Library of Congress actually is three buildings, so finding it was fun,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.
Once she found the correct location, a man who’s worked there 45 years greeted Mayor Coleman and proceeded to open up cages that contained “just rows and rows of books,” she said. He expressed his pleasure that they had read the fine print regarding the requirement that someone appear in person to select the books. The man then showed her a number of books related to Oregon that he’d set aside for her, in case she was interested in taking any of them.
The Surplus Book Program has a wide variety of books that the Library of Congress gathers through purchases, gifts, exchanges and other means, which are then offered to eligible organizations and institutions, such as libraries, schools, museums and governments.
Mayor Coleman spent three hours picking out approximately 125 books from among selections of novels, poetry, biographies, special interest, gardening, religion, large print, reference and more.
“(There were) just so many to choose from,” she said. “It was not an easy thing to go through.”
Most of what will be found in her selections are novels, but Mayor Coleman said she also tried grabbing books that she believed would be of interest to different people in the community.
“You’d see a book and you’re like, “Oh, I know a person who’s interested in that,” she said.
Senator Ron Wyden also selected a number of books for Sweet Home’s library, and is shipping his books along with Mayor Coleman’s in several boxes.
“He picked out some large print books because libraries are often struggling with that,” Mayor Coleman said.
Dazey said the surplus book program is a “great benefit” to the community at no cost.
“It was fun. It was very fun. I enjoyed it,” Mayor Coleman said.
Some of the titles to be arriving are:
From Strength to Strength (Arthur C Brooks)
Where the Wild Things Grow (David Hamilton)
Home At Last (Alysia Austin)
The School Run (Ali Lowe)
Fire Strike (Clive Cussler)
The Change Agent (Damon West)
A Cowboy Christmas Carol (Melinda Curtis)
Fugitives From Justice (Reg Quist)
The Long Game (Elena Armas)
The Missing Witness (Allison Brennan)
An Eye for An Eye (Jeffrey Archer)
Stories of the Golden West: A Western Trio (ed. by Jon Tuska)
A Nest of Vipers (Harini Nagendra)
The Paris Widow (Kimberly Belle)
Summer Romance (Annabel Monaghan)
The Waters (Bonnie Jo Campbell)
The Wisdom Whisperers (Melinda Blau)
Forged in Crisis (Nancy Koehn)
Graciously Assertive (Yasmin Davidds)
Hell in the Heartland (Jax Miller)
Healthy at Home: Get Well and Stay Well Without Prescriptions (Dr. Tieraona Low Dog)
Generations (Jean M Twenge)
Dungeons & Dragons: The Road to Neverwinter (Jaleigh Johnson)
A Global Force for Good: Sea Services Humanitarian Operations in the Twenty-first Century (John S Sherwood)
Shattered (Arthur Boers)
A Rock Between Two Rivers: The Fracturing of a Texas Family Ranch (Hugh Asa Fitzsimons)
Deep Waters: A Memoir of Loss, Alaska Adventure, and Love Rekindled (Beth Ann Mathews)
A Quilted Life: Reflections of a Sharecropper’s Daughter (Catherine Meeks)
The Half-Life Empire (Shami Stovall)
Assassin’s Fate (Robin Hobb)
Kinfolk (Sean Dietrich)
Belly Buttons: Lifelines from My Brother (Patty McWilliams)
What in the World? (Leanne Morgan)
Hope to Kiss a Cow ( J B Vissotzky)
The First Conspiracy (Brad Meltzer)
Cleopatra (Stacy Schiff)
Shadowlands: Fear and Freedom at the Oregon Standoff (Anthony McCann)