| Larry Powell: Pen a library tune, make it a page-turner 01/05/2001 By Larry Powell / The Dallas Morning News Good morning, supporters of the Dallas Public Library. Today we present the latest challenge involving our city's library system. It's not exactly Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, but there is a payoff.
Life without a library card would be a sad existence. You can get smarter in a library. Why, heck, anyone who spends any time in a public library ought to be able to sing its praises, and that brings us to today's lyrical challenge. Write a song.
The Dallas Public Library is conducting a song contest to celebrate its 100th birthday. Write the library's centennial song and win some dough.
But first, some official library history: At the turn of the last century, Dallasite May Dickson Exall acquired a $50,000 Carnegie library grant. Then, other Dallas residents kicked in $11,000. They opened the city's first free library in 1901 at Harwood and Commerce streets with 9,852 volumes. Nowadays, the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library (built for $43 million in 1982) and its 22 branches have more than 2.5 million books, magazines, videos, recordings, etc. The system draws 2.8 million visitors annually – 540,000 of us have library cards.
Some of us go to the library to thumb through old magazines, some go to look at special photo and historical exhibits. Some stop by the copy of the Declaration of Independence printed on July 4, 1776. Others see the "First Folio," a complete printing of Shakespeare's plays from 1623.
It's a library – it's a museum.
It's also like a bookstore – shop, sit and read, survey the scene – only it belongs to taxpayers. And unlike mass-market bookstores, it may still have that obscure book you so desperately want to read again, that book that has been out of print since Hector was a pup and you were in diapers.
Now, hoping to have inspired some tunesmiths, let's look at this song contest. For the mercenary among you, the first prize is $250, put up by Mars Music. For the city's tuneful procrastinators always a few beats behind, the deadline is Jan. 31. (Applications are available at dallaslibrary.org – click on the centennial celebration line. Or call 214-670-8473.)
The library wants this centennial song to really hum, er, to sing – well, to be appropriate. The rules say the song must be "designed in a popular style to convey a positive, upbeat message about libraries. Entries will be judged on originality, adherence to theme, lyrics, melody and emotional impact." And you're not writing an opera – keep it under five minutes.
The winner will make its debut at the Dallas Public Library Centennial Fest on April 21-22 and may be used during other official occasions.
Perhaps you can find words that rhyme with overdue, card, dust jacket, dog-ear and, for the more ambitious, Dewey Decimal System or Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature.
"Check out some books,
you don't want to say you missed 'em.
Enjoy a timely topic from
Dewey's Decimal System."
Or, shamelessly,
"If you're aching for a volume
on making gold from something impure
pick up a big, thick copy of
(BIG, SWINGIN' FINISH)
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature!"
And now you know why my library records will reflect that I've never checked out a book called Songwriters' Market.
Larry Powell can be reached at 214-977-8487; P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265; fax 214-977-8319 or at .
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