librarian.net » haters

book burning threat makes headlines in WI challenge dispute

jessamyn — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:09:58 +0000

I read this CNN article about a group in Wisconsin who has been fighting with the West Bend Community Memorial Library over the group’s desire to have a long list of YA books moved to the adult section of the library. Their challenge failed, but there’s a lawsuit pending.

The news article has the predictable all-over-the-place approach to the issue but it seems that this is one of those fights that has everything including outraged parents, a beleaguered library board whose members don’t have their terms renewed, assertion of First Amendment rights, threats of book burning, and a lot of homophobic-sounding nastiness. The article, though on the web, also doesn’t seem to understand the usefulness of hyperlinks to telling a story that is playing out on the web so I have added them here

the library’s materials selection policy (pdf) which appears to have been updated just a few weeks ago
West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries
blog post “there’s no such thing as a ‘safe library’” from the National Coalition Against Censorship’s blog
Wissup blog with lots of commentary about the library
West Bend Parents for Free Speech blog (interview with Maria Hanrahan, the blog’s founder)
City of West Bend’s website
Information from American Libraries about the lawsuit against the city of West Bend for the books in the library being, among other things “explicitly vulgar, racial, and anti-Christian” The plaintiffs want the book Baby Be-Bop to be burned or similarly destroyed.

I really wish the library or the city had more accessible public statements about this whole ongoing mess.

Summer Reading Program Cancelled – Harassing phone calls likened to “bomb threats”

jessamyn — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 14:18:25 +0000

Having a policy for when you do and do not limit access to materials is always a good thing. This includes your book selection policy, your Internet use policy and your “when do we cancel a summer program when we’re getting harassed by people who think yoga is a religion”? I understand that dealing with a steady stream of phone calls and emails is unpleasant for the South Carolina library that cancelled its summer reading program due to this type of harassment from one local church, but I really wish they’d taken more of a stand and not likened this sort of pressure from one aggressive group as tantamount to a bomb threat.

The librarians got nervous and decided to cancel all the Thursdays.

“They were talking about picketing the library,” the library system director told a newspaper reporter.

The minister said he didn’t mean things to go that far, that he and his congregation had no problem with all the other Thursdays, only the evil tarot card one.

“We weren’t against the reading program at all,” he told the reporter. “We just want our children being taught the right things …”

Reed Elsevier to stop organizing arms fairs

jessamyn — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:03:12 +0000

Rory has more information at Library Juice and you can read this earlier post concerning the controversy regarding Elsevier’s involvement in “organizing weapons trade shows attended by representatives of the world’s militaries.” They got pressured, people sent a petition. They backed down. I think this is sort of good news.

Flickr, patron complaints about

jessamyn — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 12:23:13 +0000

Are you a library that has gotten one of the cut-n-paste emails warning about “hardcore and even child porn” images on Flickr? Do you host a library-oriented group that has suddenly had an inundation of inappropriate (and possibly pornographic) pictures from users unknown to you? If so, you are not alone. Libraries and librarians have set up a discussion forum in this Flickr group to talk tactics. Michael Stephens has some backstory about the problem on ALA TechSource, particularly concerning as we watch DOPA inexorably move through Congress.

Educate your users—your community—about the good and bad of social software. I’d much rather give a roadmap and some guidance to someone instead of blocking access.

Jo Ann Pinder fired from Gwinnett library system in Georgia

jessamyn — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 13:15:33 +0000

I’ve been following the controversial story of Jo Ann Pinder’s firing this week. It’s a chiling story about the director of the Gwinnett County Public Library with 15 years of exceptional service fired by a 3 to 5 board vote, without cause. Her library system had been named Library of the Year by Library Journal in 2000.

Most people point to one board member and her influence over other members as the incentive for this move. Others point to the GCPLwatch website which clearly is concerned with issues like filtering [GCPL does filter], porn, the Boy Scouts and the American Library Association. Their issues page points to a “what’s wrong with ALA” article written by the folks at Family Friendly Libraries (whose website has been down all week for some reason). Their argument about ALA seems to focus on issues like ALA’s support of collections and displays containing information on Gay History (calling the Stonewall Awards “garbage”), books that are “expensive pop culture mind polluters” and the “hypocrisy” of the Intellectual Freedom Manual. The GCPLwatch.org URL is registered to Warren Furlow who has wanted to “harmonize the library system with conservative values” of the community. Other contacts for that group include Judy Craft, a local Family Friendly Library advocate who complained abotu the library providing books in Spanish, among other things.

This firing is bringing to the forefront a larger issue that librarians and library professional organizations have been discussing forever: local control. If you and your library support gay people being treated just like anyone else, but your community doesn’t, what do you do? This came up in a Council meeting last year when Council was discussing what to do about states that were discussing withholding funding for libraries who didn’t restrict books on gay topics to adult collections only. Some chapter Councilors discussed how having ALA come out against this would make their jobs difficult and that they were trying to work from within organizations to change attitudes and hopefully also funding decisions. Another Councilor likened being asked to not speak out on this topic to the Jim Crow laws where racism and segregation were institutionalized in the South. I don’t think this is any different. While I’m willing to listen to anyone explain to me what other reason a library board might have to fire their director without cause, this seems like predjudice and hysteria that the library community should not remain silent on.

More from the blogosphere: Sarah Long, Kathleen de la Peña McCook, Karen Schneider, Annoyed Librarian (with comment from one of the gcpl watch folks), photos of the meeting from Michael Casey, GCPL branch manager. [bugmenot login info ]

habla español @ your library?

jessamyn — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 22:13:44 +0000

Quick, what is the official language of the US? While Fox News would like to strongly imply that it’s English in their sympathetic coverage of the plight of the immigration reformers, it’s not. The Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform is outraged at Denver Public Library’s proposal to increase the numbers of bilingual staff and Spanish-language materials in areas with large Latino populations. They are calling for the resignation or termination of the head of Denver Public Library who is a REFORMA member. This is crazy talk. This is happening at the same time as the ALA Council, of which I am a proud member, passed a resolution in support of Immigrants’ Rights to Public Library Access mainly dealing with the REAL ID Act and making sure that libraries aren’t denying cards to people simply because they lack state-sponsored identification. [thanks eoin, lis]

noted (almost) without comment

jessamyn — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 19:02:35 +0000

I’m assuming this post means that Michelle Malkin didn’t like the Resolution on the Connection between the Iraq War and Libraries. This from someone who thinks my job involves “stacking books.” Good tip on the AALL conference blog though.

ick, hitler!

jessamyn — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:11:32 +0000

Remember, when you download internet porn…. [sfw]

some bad pending legislation

jessamyn — Wed, 15 Sep 2004 15:41:29 +0000

While we’re on the subject, let’s talk about some bad pending legislation that could affect libraries, privacy or access to information

The INDUCE Act – criminalizing copyright violating software/hardware [bill/commentary]
new FOIA exemptions [commentary]
Family Movie Act – allowing software censoring of DVDs without copyright violations [news article]
CAPPSII – profiling passengers [eff info]
US v. Councilman – email privacy rehearing sought [news article]
various SPY acts [commentary]

There is some good news, however, section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act will “sunset” a scant fifteen months from now along with many other parts of the USAPA.

sort of a wonder the domain wasn’t already taken

jessamyn — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 10:57:00 +0000

The Librarians Against Bush web site was launched on Independence Day and contains top notch sets of links and information ot help mobilize librarians [and educate everyone] about some of the harmful policies of the Bush administration.

King & King “not what God wants”

jessamyn — Sun, 25 Apr 2004 17:57:23 +0000

Religious parent objects to public library kids book “King & King” being on a shelf where kids can find it.

“By him finding that book and asking why two men were kissing in it, I had to tell him about the two men being gay, which is something we disagree with and not what God wants” [thanks eoin]

bush tinkers with archivists

jessamyn — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 12:20:11 +0000

I swear I did not start this day thinking “let’s think of some crappy things going on for NLW” but it is turning out that way huh? Next up is news that President Bush is agressively trying to replace the current Archivist of the United States with his own hand-picked replacement before his Dad’s papers are subject to disclosure via the Presidential Records Act. There is also talk that he may not want some of the 9/11 Commission’s records released. The Society for American Archivists is concerned. [thanks jes]

after all, we know kids NEVER go to the library, right?

jessamyn — Tue, 11 Nov 2003 01:35:12 +0000

Elementary school teacher accused of child abuse [duct taping children to the blackboard] in Florida gets to work in the school library while she is awaiting trial. [thanks natalia]

shut up and what?

jessamyn — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 13:18:20 +0000

As per usual, it’s good to remember that not all patrons appreciate our anti-PATRIOT Acts. In fact some don’t even seem to understand what we do for a living….

Okay librarians, let’s get this straight. You stack books in a building for a living. Are we clear? You run books under that beeping thing and give them to those of us who are too cheap to buy them in stores. You are not arbiters of free speech, the Constitution or our freaking civil rights. [stuff]