Ferguson library receives flood of donations after Michael Brown unrest

The library in Ferguson, Missouri, which stayed open as an ad hoc school after the grand jury decision not to indict an officer over the shooting of an unarmed teenager prompted rioting and school closures earlier this week, has been overwhelmed by donations, raising more than $175,000 (£111,000) in less than two days.

The St Louis Post-Dispatch reported that donations to the Ferguson Municipal Library this week have topped $175,000, almost half its annual budget. “It doesn’t seem real yet,” the library’s director, Scott Bonner, told the paper on Wednesday. “I had no idea there was anything like that coming.”

The library has seen a wave of support online in the wake of its decision to stay open following Monday’s decision that state criminal charges would not be brought against police officer Darren Wilson for killing unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown on 9 August. “Many other orgs closing. But we will stay open to serve people of #Ferguson as long as safe for patrons & staff, up to 8p. Love each other,” its staff wrote on Twitter on Monday night. “Normal hours tomorrow. We will have teachers and volunteers here to help kids from 9-3 since FFSD [Ferguson-Florissant school district] is closed!”

Then on Tuesday: “WE ARE OPEN! Teachers and volunteers are here 9am-3pm to help kids who can’t go to school today. Library open 9-4, presuming it stays safe … Wifi, water, rest, knowledge. We are here for you. If neighbors have kids, let them know teachers are here today, too.”

The branch describes itself on its website as “your hometown library”, which “encourages lifelong learning and serves as a community information and technology gateway, dedicated to making the City of Ferguson a rewarding, attractive, and pleasant place in which to live, visit, and work”.

Bonner told the St Louis Post-Dispatch that he stayed late in the building on Monday night, and “heard a couple of attempts to kick in the building’s glass doors after the grand jury decision was announced”. But the library was not damaged, and on Tuesday staff tweeted: “Lots of kids, lots of teachers, lots of knowledge at the #Ferguson library today! Thanks! Support each other & stay safe. #whatlibrariesdo”. Bonner told the paper: “I call it an ad hoc school.” The library had previously stayed open for lessons for children for a week in August after protests followed Brown’s death, said the local paper.

Authors including Neil Gaiman have backed the work of Ferguson Library, Gaiman tweeting: “Anyone who wonder what use libraries are in this day and age, go and read @fergusonlibrary’s twitter stream”, and telling his two million followers: “We can donate directly to the #Ferguson library through their website. They are open while schools are closed.”

The call for donations of money and books spread rapidly across the internet, with author and Buzzfeed writer Ashley Ford a key promoter and instigator. “For those in the back, let me explain what you did today: You helped raise $175,000 for a library with ONE full-time librarian. You’ve donated books children in Ferguson can read with protagonists that look like them and have familiar life experiences,” tweeted Ford yesterday, adding: “I’m going to work on my book for the rest of the night. And someday, I’m going to donate a copy of this book to The Ferguson Library.”

Bestselling fantasy novelist Laurell K Hamilton, who lives nearby in St Louis, also donated. “We needed some hope in St Louis last night and we found it in the Ferguson library,” she wrote on her blog. “I donated to the Ferguson library, because books and the people who love books are my people. It’s not about the colour that happens to be on our skin, if you love stories as much as I do, then we have more in common than anything that divides us. As we all look for things we can do to help rebuild, or reinforce the good things that remain, find something positive that means as much to you as books do to me and put your money, your time, to that. We donated to the Ferguson library so that they will be there for everyone who understands that stories are part of what makes us human, makes us people, makes us who we are, and helps us to become more.”

A book drive for the library has also been set up by Angie Manfredi, a New Mexico librarian and book blogger, and young adult writer Joelle Charbonneau has been helping to co-ordinate donations of signed copies. “As a parent and a young adult author, I can’t help but think of the youngest members of the Ferguson community,” she writes on her website. “I worry that they will see the hopelessness and unrest around them and turn their back on the possibility of a better future. I worry that they will believe they don’t matter. I am terrified they will lose hope. They need to be reminded that they are important and that there is hope even in the darkest of times.”

On Wednesday, staff at the library tweeted that they had been “overwhelmed” by “generosity from around the country”, with donations from more than 7,000 people. “Amazing and humbling,” they wrote.