360: Librarians & the Palin: October 13, 2008

Ok...she didn't "ban" books....as I understand, they were not even a part of the Library's collection. "Banning" a book actually denotes the government banning a book from being published, sold, printed, and made available in any format. No, she did not do this, she has not the "authority".

However, the fact remains that the Palin, queried the Wasilla Library as to how to go about having books removed from the Library's collection and whether or not they owned the books of her particular interest.

Librarians are far from stupid....we really do our best to uphold the 1st Amendment, and we do our best to avoid censorship.

As a Librarian, with collection development responsibilities, it us up to me to decide which materials are added to the library's collection and which are not. Therefore, I might not purchase "Heather Has Two Mommies" or "Daddy's Roommate" if there is no interest in the community. I prefer to spend my shrinking $$$ on items that will circulate, for circulation is counted as activity, and the more activity a library has, the higher their budget in comparison to a library with a low activity index.

So I suggest you read the following articles...

Sarah Palin, Librarians, and the Wasilla Library Book Banning Controversy
Read the full article at:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6597542.html&


However, I'm still not going to vote for anyone who feels they have the right to personally interfere with peoples' lives (by having them removed from their jobs) just because she doesn't like them...her personal agenda is fine for her family, but it is so not okay to impose it on the world. It's bad enough both her & McCain are anti-environment and pro oil...

When we speak about alternatives to (foreign) oil, why not look at the fact that we already have a huge transcontinental oil pipeline right in our midst...and then ask yourself "Where in the hell has that oil gone?".

Then consider renewable fuel sources....Windmills, grain based fuels, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and electric cars! Golly, gee...the City of Los Angeles DWP uses windmills, and I can't remember when the last time my rates went up!

Also, go rent the movie, "Who Killed the Electric Car"....or read the Wikipedia article, then view the movie.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F


It's about more than books.......