By now, you may be finishing journalist Susan Orlean’s lucid and fascinating nonfiction work The Library Book, which tells the story of the Los Angeles Public Library and the 1986 fire that destroyed 400,000 of its books. But what is the view from behind the desk? We are pleased to welcome historian, author, and former librarian Dorothy Lazard to discuss The Library Book with Orlean and California Book Club host John Freeman.
Lazard’s 2023 debut memoir, What You Don’t Know Will Make a Whole New World, recounts her early life in the Bay Area in the 1960s and ’70s, starting with her nuclear family’s 1968 car trip from St. Louis to California to live with a larger circle of relatives.
In her second memoir, Behind the Desk at the Main: A Librarian’s Memoir, to be published on August 18, Lazard writes about her years serving the public at the Oakland Public Library, delving into the library as a crossroads where people of disparate races and generations congregate for a host of reasons and curiosities. Grounded in both national and local history but alert to the present moment, the book interweaves the warmly personal and the keenly informative. It moves from entertaining anecdotes about the diversity of patrons—or “library users,” a term that Lazard says is more popular now—that function like mini–character studies to explorations of what goes into internal processes like deaccession (weeding and culling the current collection—a motif in the book) and public collaborative sessions on such subjects as travel. The work segues to a moving passage on watching President Barack Obama’s inauguration with a Black patron and later returns to that thread to consider the importance of representation in libraries.
In contrasting chapters that showcase Lazard’s writerly range, the author discusses her romantic relationship with a biblioholic—or hoarder—before moving into a chapter about the Dewey decimal system and coming back to the intimate with a chapter on dismantling her deceased sister’s library. These varied topics are united by Lazard’s voice, which is smart and assured. And the book is full of interesting observations about the life of a librarian, including the traits that people may not realize the role requires. For instance, in a section on unhoused people’s use of libraries, Lazard writes, “My role at the library demanded that I see the people whose dire circumstances tempt us to ignore them. Behind the desk, I was unofficially but morally commissioned to be a better person, more compassionate, more responsive and respectful. The work demanded that I address the patrons, answer their questions, and help them locate information. In other words, see them as fellow citizens, no matter their abilities, backgrounds, or economic circumstances.”
Lazard’s is a thoughtful work of nonfiction to engage with once you’ve completed Orlean’s The Library Book. Join us Thursday for a lively conversation about Orlean’s work and one of our most precious institutions. And as Lazard says, “let us read. The freedom to read can never be surrendered, not if we want to honestly call our country a democracy.”
Join us on August 13 at 5 p.m. Pacific time, when Orlean will sit down with host John Freeman and special guest Lazard to discuss The Library Book. Register for the Zoom conversation here.
MIRACULOUS SPECTACLE
John Freeman, host of the California Book Club, writes about Susan Orlean’s The Library Book and the power of books brought together. —Alta
DISMANTLING LEGENDS
Read critic Lauren LeBlanc’s review of Téa Obreht’s Sunrise, which is paced like a thriller. —Alta
SPY NOVEL
Read journalist Robert Ito’s feature on David Baerwald’s The Fire Agent. —Alta
POETRY FELLOWSHIPS
The Academy of American Poets announced that 22 poets laureate were awarded $1.1 million for community poetry projects. Five are from California. —Poets.org
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