Speaking volumes

A few weeks ago, I responded to a request from the Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library to "Be Part of the Story." Really that's just a cloying marketing tag line for their capital campaign to raise more funds for the new Central Library. If we believe all the hype, this new library will be so architecturally astounding that people will look back at the Guggenheim and wonder what all the fuss was about. The garden on the roof will grow exotic fruits year-round. The computers will be lightning-fast, and we'll all have instant access to them with no waiting whatsoever. Each floor will have cushy sofas and leather bean bag chairs, and at the push of a button, you'll be able to call a friendly server to bring you a vanilla latte. No charge. And the books? Ah, the books. The collection will be so complete that the Library of Congress will call our reference librarians to ask, "Hey, could you look something up for me?"

It wasn't so much my faith in the wonder of this new library that made me mark "yes" on the form and send in a check. It was more a sense of civic responsibility and a feeling of appreciation for everything libraries represent. Libraries represent literacy and culture and the democratic ideal of all citizens having equal access to resources, information, and opportunities. Libraries are, as Barbara Kingsolver (through her character Hallie) wrote, "the one government institution you shouldn't rip off." Libraries represent learning and growth. These are all things I can easily get behind.

I realize these are lofty words considering how often my librarian friend has had to eject local perverts from the public access computers for inappropriate behavior, but it's an ideal I want to believe in. That's why it bothered me so much that such a prominent symbol of knowledge and intellect included the following statement in the bimonthly "Speaking Volumes" mailing I received today:

The Friends Bookstore will be closing the downtown location in February 2006. The store will be continuing it's 50% off sale until then, with a bag sale in February.

It's 50% off sale? It's? This publication came to me from an organization with Masters- and Doctorate-level scholars behind it, and they can't find someone to edit the newsletter who knows the difference between it's and its?

I may, of course, be overreacting. I'm fully aware that I'm a grammar geek and I have probably an unusually low tolerance for the errors in punctuation that I find most egregious. Misuse of the apostrophe is one of them. Once an English major, always an English major, I suppose. Still, I'd like to think my expectations could be a bit higher considering the source. On a hand-lettered sign at the Middle Eastern deli (where I'm fairly certain the majority of the staff do not speak English as their first language), I can overlook quaint errors like "Gyro's Daily Special." But in an otherwise well-designed, professional-looking document on glossy 11x17 paper? It's just wrong.

The same newsletter lists the "Gifts to the Friends" made between 8/2/04 and 10/8/04. Either the Friends are really a year behind on their bookkeeping or the same editor made a slip-up there as well. The way my faith in the library is momentarily shattered, I suppose either is possible.