Orlean knows how cool libraries are.

Susan Orlean appeared as part of the Book History Colloquium series last night to discuss her latest work, The Library Book, a meditation on the role of libraries in American life focusing on the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles public library. Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1992 and is best known for her book The Orchid Thief. Sports Editor Abby Rubel attended the event.

Sean Quimby, director of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, started the event by informing the audience that Jim Neal, former president of the American Library Association and former Columbia librarian, could not attend the event because of unexpected illness. Instead, Quimby served as the moderator.

After introducing Orlean, he asked her why she decided to write about the Los Angeles public library. Orlean described a long process that led her to that topic. When she first moved to Los Angeles six years ago, she visited the library branch closest to her new house and started to wonder how libraries work. When she took her first-grade son to the main branch to interview a librarian for a school project, she was reminded of trips to her childhood library with her own mother and thought about the role that libraries play in our lives. But still, she said, she kept thinking that such a topic would make a good book for someone else to write. When a librarian at the main branch took out a book, smelled it, and told Orlean that some of the books still smell like smoke from the 1986 fire, she realized that she could use the fire narrative as the basis for writing the book herself.

Orlean also discussed how the library book project helped her discover her new city. “I was learning everything” about Los Angeles, she said. She dove into the extensive scholarship on California, Los Angeles, and the 1986 fire, which she described as “daunting” and “terrifying.” But, she said, she embraced her newcomer’s perspective. “There are a lot of really weird people in LA, and now I’m one of them,” she said.

One aspect of Orlean’s research that especially interested her was how gender politics of libraries have changed over time. At the turn of the century, she said, women were heavily restricted in their use of libraries, and children were frequently not allowed at all. And although librarian is a career usually associated with women today, the profession used to be dominated by men. Many early library directors, however, were women, including Mary Jones, who headed the Los Angeles library at the turn of the century and refused to retire so a man could take her place. When Andrew Carnegie began sponsoring libraries around the country, demand for librarians skyrocketed and women were hired to fill the gap—they could be paid less.

Orlean also mentioned one of the library’s more eccentric heads, Charles Lummis, who features prominently in her book. Lummis would brand books he deemed bad with a skull and crossbone, she said, and include a note referring patrons to better books on the subject.

Quimby then opened the event to questions from the audience. One member asked Orlean what she thought about the future of libraries. The asker made it clear that he disagreed with the increasing embrace of technology by libraries, and asked Orlean what she thought of it. Orlean responded that she sees libraries as “public parks for the mind.” Their vitality comes from use, she said, and libraries should make themselves into places people will gather. If that means providing access to technology, so be it. She also refused to make a computer vs. book value judgment. Quimby added that libraries have always been more than books.

Another audience member asked Orlean about the process of writing the book. Orlean said she started by researching the fire. She also reflected on her relationship with her mother, which informed the book’s theme of preserving memories. She described the process as “like becoming a library.” The book, however, was “very challenging to write.”

With the Q&A over, Quimby invited all attendees to a book signing event and reception in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, where they enjoyed a cheese plate and wine.

image via Bwog Archives