Feed Your Mind: The Michael P. Mazur Library at The Heartland Institute

It has been more than seven years since the Michael Parry Mazur Memorial Library’s grand opening on May 4, 2016.

In the years since, the library has become better organized and ready for use.

*More than 3,000 records have been saved to the library’s OCLC account.

• *There are currently more than 23,500 total items in the collection.

*The eventual hope is to circulate books via OCLC WorldShare.

Joseph Davis, head librarian, has been tracking the library’s progress.

“Running a library is like a restaurant,” Davis muses. “Each patron places an order or browses for individual books; Library staff restocks in response to, and in anticipation of, actual demand; and the menu provides endless options.”

Davis continues, “Jefferson Airplane, quoting Lewis Carroll, said, ‘Remember what the Dormouse said, Feed Your Head.’ Libraries, like restaurants, can be satisfying places, where the mind’s hunger is abated by savoring books.”

The Mazur Library is available for interested volunteers, guests, and retirees to restock, relax, read, and find nourishment in a restaurant of freedom.

The mission of The Heartland Institute is to “to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.”

The Mazur Library advances Heartland’s mission by preserving the literature of liberty for future generations of students and scholars.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, or would like to just browse the collection, give us a call at (312) 377-4000 or stop in for a visit.

For the library volunteer, working in the Mazur Library might include…

*Labeling and barcoding, as we process the collection.

• *Protecting hardcover book dust jackets, using mylar covers.
• *Reviewing new donations and managing the sale of duplicate items.

*Reading for and co-hosting an in-house/streaming book reading group.

Another way to help the library grow is to purchase books for the library from our Amazon wish list, found at www.heartland.org’s “About Us - What We Do.”

If you are interested in donating books, please drop them off at The Heartland Institute, or call us, and we would be happy to stop by to pick them up.

Meanwhile, the library remains an enjoyable destination, like Douglas Adams’ Restaurant at the End of the Universe, “The ultimate hot spot for an evening of apocalyptic entertainment and fine dining.”