West Deptford Library Scores Humanities Collection

Moments after unveiling a collection of 30 books donated by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, director Marie Downes McDonald turned to highlight one of her favorites.

She looked at the shelf where The Honor Code, by Kwame Anthony Appiah, had sat, only to find a blank spot.

“Where is it?” she said, looking over the rest of the collection. “Oh, somebody took it out already.”

A few minutes later, a handful of other books had joined it on the way out the front door, and Downes McDonald and New Jersey Council for the Humanities interim director Mary Rizzo said they couldn't have hoped for anything better.

“This collection gives us an opportunity to be exposed to more of the humanities and award-winning authors and books,” Downes McDonald said. “Some of these are things that we ordinarily would not have selected. It gives us the opportunity to expand our collection.”

West Deptford was just one of five libraries in the state selected to get the collection, which is made up of 30 books nominated for the Council for the Humanities’ annual book award. All of the books have a New Jersey connection–either they were written by New Jersey authors or deal with the state in some way.

About a dozen libraries throughout New Jersey applied to get the collection, Rizzo said, and the council chose sites to get the most reach for their annual program.

“What we like to see are libraries that are really connected to their communities,” she said.

Miriam Reichenbach, president of the Friends of the Library, called the gift both an honor and a boon to the library, especially in times of tight budgets.

“Books like that are expensive, they really are,” she said.

It’s the wealth of information and ideas in those books that really brings the value beyond just a simple dollar figure, though, Reichenbach said.

“I’m sure that our patrons are thoroughly going to enjoy reading them,” she said.

Rizzo added that being able to give an entire collection at once opens up both libraries and readers to titles they might not have seen otherwise.

“We feel like part of our job is to partner with libraries to help them do their work better and make it easier for them,” she said. “We know that libraries are struggling.”

This isn’t the first connection between the state Council for the Humanities and West Deptford, either–earlier this year, the library hosted , which explored roots music in New Jersey.

“This is the icing on the cake after having so much going on this year,” Downes McDonald said.