Challenge to take on politics?
I saw this come across in my e-mail, and I just had to share. Beverly Marinelli has submitted a challenge to the Rancocas Valley School Board in New Jersey against three books, she states for sexualizing children:
At a February 23 meeting of the Rancocas Valley school board, complainant Beverly Marinelli emphasized that the three books she was challenging are on a recommended reading list compiled by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which was founded by Kevin Jennings, who is now director of DOE’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. She gave board members an information packet that included the statement, “I feel that ANY books related to Mr. Jennings are detrimental to schoolchildren and should be removed from the school library. We need to protect our children.”
Marinelli stated that this was not an attack against books that contain homosexual themes but of books that “sexualize children”. However, the library’s Media Specialist who has reviewed the pack says she believes that it’s more organized and may be affiliated to a chapter of Glenn Beck’s 912 Project. She bases this on references and sources within the challenge.
However, the basis that they should not be in the libraries because they are “related” to Jennings is unfounded. According to the Office of Intellectual Freedom’s Blog:
“the ongoing campaign against Kevin Jennings, the Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, attacking him because GLSEN, an organization he founded but with which he is no longer affiliated, publishes a list of literary works that touch on gay themes. These attacks seek to stigmatize Jennings and GLSEN for providing information for those who are interested in gay-positive books and materials for youth and adults alike.”
I find it interesting that her reasoning for challenging the materials was because of the association with Jennings and yet no solid association exists. I also find the connection with Glenn Beck’s 912 Project interesting. It makes me suspect that this challenge is more based on politics especially since Marinelli states that the libraries should not have books associated with Jennings.
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Always time for a laugh!
On the week of February 9th the Library funny guys behind the comic of Unshelved did a series related to Information Freedom. Here’s the first comic. The character Dewey hit it right on, only their parents can be responsible. The things the library director mentions will be objectionable to some parents, which is precisely why parents should be involved in what their children are reading. Last fall a co-worker and I tried, but failed to start a teen book club. The books we wanted to discuss were Kristen Cashore’s Graceling and Suzanne Collins’ (AMAZING) Hunger Games. One parent had read the books and decided not to let her daughter read them, however I spoke with a 5th grade English teacher later about Hunger Games, and she recommended the Hunger Games to her class. So it’s interesting how different people view things and what they feel is appropriate.
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Questioning My Objectivity
A couple of weeks ago I was checking in books from the courier and one of the books that came in was The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)
I was disgusted. Not so much by the fact that some person was wanting to check it out, but that a library would have in their collection a book that was spouted spouted hatred toward and contained broad generalizations about one of the worlds largest religions. Just like you wouldn’t want a medical reference book that contained out of date information in your library, why would you choose to place a book like this in your collection? I felt ill.
I got over it, then reading this in IF Manual made me contemplate it as well:
Both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison felt strongly that an informed and educated citizenry is the best defense against a despotic or tyrannous government. They believed that freedom of inquiry and speech are essential to the search for truth. For truth to emerge, erroneous ideas must also be available for the people to examine and discuss.
I feel a little better about this situation. While this book contains generalizations that can cause hatred towards a large faction of the world, it really is the individual’s job to decide whether or not to believe it.
I still would have a difficult time purchasing this for my library (if I had one of course).
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About two months ago one of our regulars asked us about a book. The book in question is The Chicken Dance by Jaques Couvillon. Her daughter had checked it out, and this mother read the book before the child as she does all of the materials her children check out. Two of us were at the circulation counter and she told us that she didn’t really feel the book should be in the Juvenile Fiction section. She was not confrontational about it all, she did not suggest we remove it from the library, just re-evaluate the location.
Not being familiar with the work, we said sure, we would take a look at it. We looked at other libraries in our cooperative; they all had the book in children’s. We pulled the book up on Amazon, which said the book was childrens, we looked at reviews… you can guess what we found… yep, childrens! So we decided that while it was great she was doing her job as a parent and monitoring what her children were reading, we would leave the book in its current position.
I was reminded of this incident when I was reading “Access for Children and Young Adults to Nonprint Materials” from the Information Freedom Manual:
…[P]arents–and only parents–have the right and responsibility to restrict access of their children–and only their children–to library resources. Parents who do not want their children to have access to certain library services, materials, or facilities should so advise their children. Librarians and library governing bodies cannot assume the role of parents or the functions of parental authority in the private relationship between parent and child.
This parent was doing the right thing for her child, however, she was stepping over the line into the restriction of materials to other children as well. We reviewed her challenge informally because mistakes in cataloging can happen, but since her protest was to the appropriateness to the material for children, we chose to leave the book where it was.
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