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PRESS RELEASE
Warwick, RI (July 24, 2003) – The Rhode Island Library Association (RILA) and
the Cooperating Libraries Automated Network (CLAN) are pleased to announce a donation to all the public libraries in the State of Rhode Island.
Today at 10:00 a.m., at a press conference, Derryl (De) Johnson, President of
RILA, and Virginia Moses, Executive Director of CLAN, jointly thank Cheryl Smith for donating 60 hard cover copies of the newest Harry Potter title (#5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), plus cassette and CD editions to be
distributed to all the public libraries in the state.
The reserve request list at all our libraries is soaring, currently standing at over
900. This donation will help fill the need for copies to fill those reserves. A reserve title of a new book takes at least 3 weeks to turn around from one reader to the
next. These volumes will reduce the reserve wait time by over a month at each public library in the state.
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Left to right: Cheryl
Smith, donor of 62 copies of Harry Potter #5; Douglas Pearce, Director, Warwick Public Library; Ginnie Moses, Executive Director, CLAN; De Johnson, President, RILA.
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Ms. Smith has told the leadership of CLAN & RILA that she is paying tribute to her
mother who loved reading and libraries so much. (Her mother died of cancer in 1995). Ms. Smith is an avid reader and user of libraries herself and would love to
think that every child who wishes to read Harry Potter will be able to do so during the summer holidays. Hence this gift. Ms. Smith has done acts of reading kindness
before, with other Harry Potter titles several years ago, and with a recent donation of 60 copies of Tear Soup to the Friends Way (a bereavement center for children).
Ms. Smith was born and raised in Providence, spent nearly 10 years in California,
and returned to her Rhode Island roots in 2000. She works for Synopsis, a California-based software company.
This year the Rhode Island Library Association is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
There could be no greater gift to the library community than sharing the joy of reading in such a tangible way.
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