(no subject)

[missizzy]

Got a chance to tour the current Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Library yesterday, which is actually soon to close for extensive renovations.  At least as much as is allowed; the building is actually designated a historic landmark because of who designed it, and when they turned an area with shelves into an area with computers, they even had to place the computers in such a way as to preserve the original layout of the shelves!  It was a neat digital services area, though, complete with two 3-D printers, which I'd never seen before.  One of them was printing a red Tardis figure!  As well as fiction and non-fiction collections, and a section for books for those with disabilities(I noticed they had not only Lord of the Rings but Tolkien's Unfinished Tales in Braille), they also have two special collections, one focused on African-American studies(they had displays out for Maya Angelou & Ruby Dee), the other on local DC history & documents.  We even got to see a document where Thomas Jefferson and some other people with money pledged it to start a public school for DC.
On the other hand, I was much less impressed when after all this, when my colleague and I took a walk around the great lobby, the display of children's books right underneath the pair of murals depicting MLK's life including a certain "My First Cookbook" from Paula Deen.  You would've thought someone would've thought better of that one.