Fundraising Idea from Tanglewood's Hometown

Following is an abridgment of an article in the Berkshire Eagle that reported on library doings in Lenox, Mass.

Burlesque for Books

The talk of the town here is the "Burlesque for Books" show presented as the centerpiece of an adults-only, fundraising gala last Saturday night at the Lenox Library. About 120 people attended at ticket prices ranging up to $100. The idea was hatched by a twentysomething library clerk who suggested a gala that people like him would want to attend - designed to erase the library's supposedly stuffy image. 

According to people who were there, very little was left to the imagination; the girls from Sugar Shack Burlesque in New York sported g-strings and "pasties." Some at the library had expected bikinis. A figure for net proceeds was not available on Friday, but we hear that after expenses, a rather paltry sum was left for the library.

Karen Lee, the organizer, said "Very few people gave this event support, and the fact that it happened so beautifully and gloriously, that's the joy. … Only two out of 17 or 18 library board members showed up."

There's no scientific way to measure town reaction to the show. But Select Board Chairwoman Linda Procopio Messana logged 23 critical calls about the gala, including four from people who attended. "I don't think the library expected the show to go as far as it did," she said on Friday.

The interim director for the past five months takes full responsibility. "I own it 100 percent," she said. "I should have gone to see those girls perform myself." Asked if she'd do it the same way again if she had the chance, she responded with an emphatic "No!" She's resigning as of April 12, but emphasizes that her departure has nothing to do with the hullabaloo. "I've been planning it for a while, in order to take care of health issues," she declared. …

Despite this misstep, the Lenox Library, and all others, deserve full support in an age of shrinking budgets and rapidly evolving definitions of what a library should be in the digital age. Meanwhile, here's hoping no one's planning "Booze for Books" or "Bondage for Books" anytime soon.