Every time you purchase a book, we donate a book to someone in need.The librarian plucks a book from a cart at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington and flips through the pages, scanning “Goodbye, Sweetwater” for signs of damage.
“Is it stained? Is it torn?” Jo Stallworth asks of the 1988 collection of stories by novelist Henry Dumas. “Because even if you say, ‘It’s a good book,’ but the binding is cracked and the cover is falling off, it’s taking space from another book on the shelf.”
Since the central library closed its doors to the public for a $208 million, three-year renovation, Stallworth and dozens of other librarians have been examining thousands of books. Their job is to determine whether the titles should be kept, given to other branches or donated to Better World Books, which saves books from landfills.
As she scrutinizes “Goodbye, Sweetwater,” Stallworth’s eye lands on pages 12 and 13. “Oh, my,” she says. Someone has written in pencil in the margins, scribbling notes as though it were his or her own personal copy, with little regard for the next borrower. The words “Fish-hound, you ready?” have been forcefully underlined. On the next page, the reader left questions: “Imagery? Reference Wright Big Boy leaves home?”
