Bucks for Books

Few disasters have ignited the hearts and imaginations of the public like Katrina, the hurricane that devastated New Orleans and much of America’s Gulf Coast at the end of August 2005.

Editor Kate Stine points out in the October issue of Mystery Scene magazine that the New Orleans Public Library system was hit extremely hard by that big blow, “and the flooding afterward ruined eight of the system’s 12 branches and damaged the rest. Entire collections of books, DVD and CDs, and periodicals were destroyed, not to mention computer equipment, furniture, etc.”

Even after the destruction had stopped, and organizations rushed in to restore safety and sanity in the Big Easy, the library news remained sour. Explains Stine, “the collapse of the tax base forced the city to lay off 80 percent of the library staff.”

Like many booklovers, Stine has taken this matter in a very personal way. “I can’t imagine what my life would have been without my local library,” she writes, adding that, in an effort to help the beleaguered New Orleans library system, Mystery Scene is organizing a fund-raising effort. It has apparently already donated $500, and “a couple of donations at Bouchercon raised the total to $735.” Hoping to add to that sum, Stine says that “from now until the end of 2006, Mystery Scene is donating $5.00 to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation for every back issue [of the magazine] that we sell.” A downloadable form on Mystery Scene’s Web site lists the contents of all issues from 2002 to 2006. Alternatively, you can request a form, and the magazine will mail it to you via regular post.