re: banned books week

I've been working in public libraries for eleven years now. At the library system I work for, we have a policy of allowing access to all books and magazines to anyone who wants them. It is not our place, nor our right, to determine what is or isn't fit reading for children. That's part of a parent's job, not a librarian's or a library clerk's or any other library employee.

At our library system, the information concerning banned books week isn't "aimed" at school boards or parents who are afraid their kid is going to see something about sex. It is simply there to make people aware that books have been banned in the past, are banned in many places in the world today, and that there is a danger in that. The danger is that it erodes people's freedoms.

I don't want to get off onto a political diatribe here, but banning books can be just the tip of the iceberg. And as hard as it may be to believe, there are people who come into the library and are amazed that the banning of books takes place anywhere in this country. They are the ones our displays are "aimed" at. We feel it is important for people to know that it happens.

char | October 8, 2006 12:09 AM

Exactly. If parents don't want their kids having certain books, they should keep track of what they read. But they shouldn't give public libraries a hard time about what books are available there. Parents should monitor their own children and not expect a librarian or society to do it for them.

marydell | October 9, 2006 7:07 PM

And yet, many of these towns that don't want smutty books are MAJOR consumers of smutty tabloids, available in every grocery store. Should Piggly Wiggly be responsible for keeping impressionable youth from reading about Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan?

Oh, and wait -- do any of these watchdog parents have cable TV?

Lisa | October 9, 2006 8:25 PM

Smut is all a matter of taste.

Some parents also think society is supposed to do their jobs for them. They actually want to take the smutty thing away from everyone because they can't keep track of what their kids are doing.

marydell | October 12, 2006 8:16 PM

I don't want to get off onto a political diatribe here, but banning books can be just the tip of the iceberg. And as hard as it may be to believe, there are people who come into the library and are amazed that the banning of books takes place anywhere in this country. They are the ones our displays are "aimed" at. We feel it is important for people to know that it happens.

AS you think?

Christian Ter | October 17, 2006 7:24 AM