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David Miscavige Programs Library Donation Campaign

Library Donation Campaign Hot

November 04, 2012    
 
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The Library Campaign was originally a campaign to get donations to purchase LRH books and get them placed into libraries around the world. It was never particularly effective, mainly because librarians and people in general don't want books from groups perceived to be destructive cults. If the Church of Scientology had repaired it's image, changing it from a mafia-like cult to the beingness of an Auditor, interest in the program could have been different. Mark the failure of the library program to inept leadership and sabotage from the top.

Still the Library Campaign was not any big deal... until the advent of the "Basics," i.e. the re-re-release and mandatory sales of basic LRH books and lectures. David Miscavige forced all staff off post giving them daily sales quotas that had to be achieved before they could go home. Now the Library Campaign became THE way to get Scientologists to purchase multiple sets of the same books — the only way that David Miscavige's insanely high sales quotas could be met.

There was zero real interest on actually getting books into libraries. There was only interest in making sales quotas so one could go home and sleep. The books that were in fact sent to libraries were promptly thrown into the trash. Checks of libraries around the US found zero LRH books in stock despite millions of dollars in sales. Which bothered David Miscavige not one bit since no word was ever spoken considering it was a colossal failure according to the program's stated purpose. That is because the actual purpose was never to get books in libraries. It was only to gain the income from the sales and achieve an illusion of tremendous popularity (useful if your interest is in gaining donations and support).

The campaign was a monumental fraud.

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The two suburban libraries that I visit each have about six LRH books (2007 editions) on their shelves, next to Buddhism in the religion category. The choice seems random: Fundamentals of Thought, Evolution of a Science, Self Analysis are fine but what do raw public make of Intro to Scientology Ethics and History of Man? I don't think they get much use, although I borrowed Ethics to read four pages that were blank in my own copy.

Alarm bells ring at the idea of telling librarians to destroy older editions. Yes, lending libraries do dispose of old books to make room for new ones, at their own discretion rather than in obedience from orders from outside. But part of the purpose of institutional libraries is to preserve all editions of an important work so that future scholars will be able to compare and trace the changes. This might not be understood by a guy who never completed high school. It's also an out-point that people who claim to be Scientologists would want to destroy books written by L. Ron Hubbard. Compare this to the attitude of Muslims, who treat a copy of the al-Quran with respect however old and tattered it may become.
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Reviewed by Alael November 25, 2012
Top 10 Reviewer  -   View all my reviews (16)

Good idea but botched implementation

The two suburban libraries that I visit each have about six LRH books (2007 editions) on their shelves, next to Buddhism in the religion category. The choice seems random: Fundamentals of Thought, Evolution of a Science, Self Analysis are fine but what do raw public make of Intro to Scientology Ethics and History of Man? I don't think they get much use, although I borrowed Ethics to read four pages that were blank in my own copy.

Alarm bells ring at the idea of telling librarians to destroy older editions. Yes, lending libraries do dispose of old books to make room for new ones, at their own discretion rather than in obedience from orders from outside. But part of the purpose of institutional libraries is to preserve all editions of an important work so that future scholars will be able to compare and trace the changes. This might not be understood by a guy who never completed high school. It's also an out-point that people who claim to be Scientologists would want to destroy books written by L. Ron Hubbard. Compare this to the attitude of Muslims, who treat a copy of the al-Quran with respect however old and tattered it may become.

Where I stand on key issues

I am a
Independent Scientologist
The leader of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige, is a...
Suppressive person (sociopath)

Pros and Cons (optional)

Pros
Any LRH data that can be got into the hands of the public is a good thing.
Better than the old line that no-one should read a book without paying.
Cons
Placement of books needs to be done intelligently, by choosing the introductory boooks and 2-way comm with the librarian to find what the users of that library want.
Donations for this purpose must be voluntary, and the Church must be accountable for how they are spent.
Destroy books? Over my dead body!
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Friends of mine plus I myself, we have checked several Libraries in our City (a big one).
We haven´t found any LRH-book there.
Of course there might be libraries, who do have some, but "100% libraries - completed",
I mean,...????
I think it´s just a way to get some donations due to another button. Some rather give money for Anti-Drugs, some prefer to give to Libraries. Just another button for money, but no product for it.
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Reviewed by Chris from Germany November 21, 2012
Top 50 Reviewer  -   View all my reviews (7)

Money for (nearly) nothing - a lie

Friends of mine plus I myself, we have checked several Libraries in our City (a big one).
We haven´t found any LRH-book there.
Of course there might be libraries, who do have some, but "100% libraries - completed",
I mean,...????
I think it´s just a way to get some donations due to another button. Some rather give money for Anti-Drugs, some prefer to give to Libraries. Just another button for money, but no product for it.

Where I stand on key issues

I am a
Independent Scientologist
The leader of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige, is a...
Suppressive person (sociopath)

Pros and Cons (optional)

Pros
it sounds good - LRH-Materials in Libraries
Cons
but it´s not true
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I had insight into this campaign, but do not want to disclose the location. I will note what I observed: Libraries were bombarded by Scientologists forcing donations on them. The ones in my area became fed up, as they were forced, as part of accepting the books, to go on camera and be filmed gratefully accepting the books. Many of them became fed up, and rejected the books. Some accepted the books just to get the Scientologists off their backs, and then discarded them later. Both public and staff were hard core pressured to buy sets, which corporate Scientology then passed off as "donations" from Bridge Publications, when in fact, they had been donations from individual staff and public who had paid for them. This was deceptive and dishonest. The normal thing for donations to libraries is for the name of the individual who paid for, or owns the material, to be acknowledged as a donor.

So Bridge Publications and corporate Scientology were claiming credit as being donors, when in fact they were not, but the individuals who paid for them were.

Then, to make matters worse - libraries who were targeted in the campaign were told they had to dispose of any and all existing Scientology books in their collections, and replace them with the new Basics - many libraries did not want to comply with this.

The campaign generated more ill-will, because of all the badgering of libraries and library staff, who are not used to this sort of thing, and the poor public and staff were milked to the bone to buy up sets.

This is a campaign that could have been done so differently, but because of the heavy and harsh enforcement, it went completely south. It ended up as deceptive, a scam, and an epic fail.
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Reviewed by eagle November 11, 2012
Top 10 Reviewer  -   View all my reviews (23)

Enforced donations

I had insight into this campaign, but do not want to disclose the location. I will note what I observed: Libraries were bombarded by Scientologists forcing donations on them. The ones in my area became fed up, as they were forced, as part of accepting the books, to go on camera and be filmed gratefully accepting the books. Many of them became fed up, and rejected the books. Some accepted the books just to get the Scientologists off their backs, and then discarded them later. Both public and staff were hard core pressured to buy sets, which corporate Scientology then passed off as "donations" from Bridge Publications, when in fact, they had been donations from individual staff and public who had paid for them. This was deceptive and dishonest. The normal thing for donations to libraries is for the name of the individual who paid for, or owns the material, to be acknowledged as a donor.

So Bridge Publications and corporate Scientology were claiming credit as being donors, when in fact they were not, but the individuals who paid for them were.

Then, to make matters worse - libraries who were targeted in the campaign were told they had to dispose of any and all existing Scientology books in their collections, and replace them with the new Basics - many libraries did not want to comply with this.

The campaign generated more ill-will, because of all the badgering of libraries and library staff, who are not used to this sort of thing, and the poor public and staff were milked to the bone to buy up sets.

This is a campaign that could have been done so differently, but because of the heavy and harsh enforcement, it went completely south. It ended up as deceptive, a scam, and an epic fail.

Where I stand on key issues

I am a
ex-Scientologist

Pros and Cons (optional)

Cons
Where do I start? This was such a bad campaign, from so many angles - what it did to the staff, the public who were hard sell marketed to, the image of Scientology in Libraries (more on that in my comments), and so many other things.
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I was asked to donate a set of Basics so that LRH could be found in all libraries, so I looked in the library closest to Flag and there were none. I then searched online in libraries and, again, found none. Public was told this program was complete when they next wanted sets donated to the American Indians - who then sold them on Ebay. Complete scam.
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Reviewed by pmm0724 November 10, 2012
Top 10 Reviewer  -   View all my reviews (13)

Not in Libraries

I was asked to donate a set of Basics so that LRH could be found in all libraries, so I looked in the library closest to Flag and there were none. I then searched online in libraries and, again, found none. Public was told this program was complete when they next wanted sets donated to the American Indians - who then sold them on Ebay. Complete scam.

Where I stand on key issues

I am a
Independent Scientologist
Was this review helpful to you? 
 
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