And sometimes a child may have a book on suicide because there is a school assignment on that topic. At our public library dozens of teens check out books on STDs, but I am not concerned about an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases in our service area. The students have to write a paper for health class on STDs, and other assignments include suicide, drug abuse, sexual abuse, mental illness, etc. The high school students have to write a paper about Greek mythology, so reading books about mythology doesn't mean they are about to turn pagan.
"Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.”
Samuel Butler (www.motivational-inspirational-corner.com/powerup2.html?id=452&startrow=62)
Melissa Barr
Legal Resources Specialist
Cuyahoga County Public Library
5225 Library Lane
Maple Heights, OH 44137-1291
tel. 216-475-5000
fax 216-587-7284
mbarr@cuyahogalibrary.org
The opinions expressed herein are mine and not that of my employer.
________________________________
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu] On Behalf Of librarycom434@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 5:19 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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