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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Harry Peark's mother do for a living?

2. Where did Peggy Murphy begin her library career?

3. On what side of the library did the first windows explode?

4. About how many maps did Feather collect?

5. What department did Mel Rosenberg work in before he retired at Central Library?

Short Essay Questions

1. What book did Orlean burn and how did she describe the process?

2. What was a polite expression in Senegal to say that a person died, and why did the author think the saying was appropriate?

3. What was the Career Onlie High School (COHS)?

4. How was money raised to replace the library books?

5. Who was C.J. Moon?

6. What did Orlean discover about the library's reputation for being a quiet place?

7. Why was it probable that there would be a fire at the library?

8. In Chapter 8, how many new books would arrive at the library in a month, and how were they processed?

9. When did the fire department first get information about Harry Peak from the tip line?

10. How did Orlean describe the Central Library when she first saw it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Orlean considered the topic of shared memory. What were Orlean’s thoughts about shared memory? What did that have to do with identity and culture and libraries? How were libraries able to preserve a culture’s collective memory?

Essay Topic 2

Althea Warren was known as a “reading evangelizer” (199). How did Warren feel about reading? How did she encourage people to read? Why was she known as a reading evangelizer or evangelist?

Essay Topic 3

For nearly 15 years, there was a struggle between those who wanted to preserve the library and those who wanted to tear it down. What were the pros and cons of preserving or tearing down the library? Why did the preservationists win and the Goodhue Building was saved?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,046 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample