Okay, point well made. Thus, the teenager's ready access to the public
library lets the teenager signal the parent that there is a problem
without actually confronting the issue. So banning these books from the
public library helps ... how? Without access to these books the teen
probably will not raise the conversation with Mom or Dad, but will feel
more like his/her parents just don't understand him/her and can point to
the fact that his/her parents are continually snooping through his/her
room looking for ways to try to understand what is going on in his/her
life.
So the books are out of the library and the kid gets his/her information
in the most satisfised way - he/she asks other teens who are equally
clueless about things because there is no ready source for them to
acquire information. Probably a good result as no one will be able to
blame the library for providing rational information. And yet, there is
a higher probability the teen ends up dead.
What is the difference between conspiring to deprive a child of
information, and conspiring to deprive a child of life, if the
information that otherwise would have been available could have
prevented the loss of life? But I digress. We are not allowed to let
children grow into adulthood with guidance outside the home. After all,
everyone provides a nurturing environment that lets a child make no
decisions on their own until they reach the age of 18, and then,
magically, all decisions made by the new adult are rational, well
thought-out and always made in the new adult's best interests. If
that's the case, why are there any libraries?
Chas. Gaunce
Law Librarian
University of Texas at El Paso
________________________________
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On
Behalf Of librarycom434@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 3:19 PM
To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: [LAW-LIB:56547] RE: Sarah Palin and Libraries
If you find a book on suicide in your child's room that came from the
library, I really don't think Nanne's point was that the library was
CONSPIRING to deprive your child life, nor to blame the library. Simply
that, as a parent, if I found a book like that in my child's room, I'd
want to know what else they were reading...books on depression, drug
abuse, suicide, you get the point. That way the problem can be handled -
sometimes it takes such an incident as finding a book in your kid's room
to find out that they may need professional help. It doesn't matter how
attentive parents are, sometimes they are the last to know.
My 2 cents.
Janne
-----Original Message-----
From: Gaunce, Charles <cgaunce@utep.edu>
To: Law-lib <law-lib@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Thu, 4 Sep 2008 2:58 pm
Subject: [LAW-LIB:56543] RE: Sarah Palin and Libraries
Just out of curiosity, if you find a book on suicide in your teenager's
room, why do you start to suspect the public library is involved in a
conspiracy to deprive your child of his/her life? Shouldn't you try
some other approach, such as determining if your child needs
professional help and, if so, getting that help? Oh, right - the health
care system is so broken that most families cannot afford unscheduled
medical expenses. Never mind. Continue blaming someone else.
Chas. Gaunce
Law Librarian
University of Texas at El Paso
________________________________
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On
Behalf Of Frye, Nanna
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 2:42 PM
To: Library; law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: [LAW-LIB:56539] RE: Sarah Palin and Libraries
Ah, but you did inject partisan politics into it, Paula, by the
manner in which you related these facts. Is anyone in doubt as to your
position on Sarah Palin after reading your posting? You certainly did
not supply both sides of the story. Reasonable minds could differ on
the legislation you mentioned below on whether parents could learn about
the books their children are borrowing from a library. If your teenage
child has been moody and you discover a library book on suicide in the
teenager's room, shouldn't you be able to find out if the child had
borrowed other books on suicide? Many would say "yes." Was the
censoring a blanket act that applied to adults and children or just to
children? Are we talking about literary books or titillating junk
novellas that Palin wanted to censor? Again, we don't have both sides
of the story. After many, many years of working for a court, it is very
rare when there are not two sides to a story.
I will reserve judgment until I have ALL of the facts. I would
prefer that we avoid political postings on law-lib about the
presidential election even if they do allegedly deal with "library
topics."
Nanna Frye, Law Librarian
Court of Appeal
San Diego, CA
________________________________
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On
Behalf Of Library
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 10:54 AM
To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: [LAW-LIB:56536] Sarah Palin and Libraries
I know this isn't the place for partisan politics and I'm not going to
discuss what I think of Sarah Palin's positions on abortion or foreign
policy or whether polar bears belong on the Endangered Species Act. But
she did try to censor books in the Wasilla Public Library and she did
try to fire the librarian for not agreeing to do so. And she did support
a bill in the legislature that would have forced librarians to tell
parents what books their children had checked out of the library.
I thought, as librarians, you might want to know her position on
libraries and censorship.
There is a well documented anti-Palin librarian's web site that
discusses this. issues:http://librariansagainstpalin.wordpress.com/
Paula Lichtenberg, Librarian
Keker & Van Nest LLP, San Francisco
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