Please welcome doctor hayden. [applause] i have to start. I am carl hayden, library of congress. I just want to thank jamie and angel and the readers for allowing me to be with someone who has elevated libraries to such an extent. Let me just say there have been patron saints in carnegie and things like this. I finally smacked down andrew carnegie. How does it feel to be the patron saint . When i started this book i couldnt have anticipated that part of it. I was drawn to this story because i wanted to understand what happened in 1986, this epic fire that closed the la library for twee 7 years but more importantly i wanted to understand why i cared about it so much. I often said if someone said to me city hall burns down i would have thought that is too bad and i assume they will rebuild it but hearing the library had burned felt like a deep, profoundly personal loss and i felt why do we feel such a connection to books . Why do we feel such a connection to libraries that the idea of on
The Rescue of the New York Public Library thenation.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thenation.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.