Brevard libraries pull erotic best-seller ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
The erotic “Fifty Shades of Grey” apparently is too blue for the Brevard County Public Libraries system.
The wildly popular first installment of a titillating trilogy by British author E.L. James, “Fifty Shades” is parked atop every best-seller list in the country, from Amazon to the New York Times.
But the sadomasochistic saga won’t be found any longer on Space Coast library shelves. All of a “handful” of copies were removed from circulation earlier this week.
“It’s quite simple — it doesn’t meet our selection criteria,” said Cathy Schweinsberg, library services director.
Eyeroll
If it didn’t meet the criteria, then why did they buy it in the first place?
Stupid!
they had to be certain
They had to dig deep inside the pages to make sure it was too smutty for the delicate nature of Floridians.
Because large library systems
Because large library systems can’t purchase all books on an individual title basis. It’s too time consuming. They have standing orders with jobbers for X copies of NYTimes bestsellers, award winners, etc.
I’d like to know how the book does not meet their selection criteria. I’m sure it’s selective application of the selection policy.
Hole in Selection Policy, its Application, and ALA Excuses
This story illustrates that selection policies are not always followed, then later, when a book is compared to a selection policy and falls short, it may be removed. This is significant because one ALA argument for never removing anything from any library for any reason is that everything in the library has already been through the selection process and need not be reconsidered. Obviously, that is just one more false argument/excuse from the ALA, and this news story helps make that case.
Know the ALA
The one way you can tell
The one way you can tell SafeLibraries is lying:
There’s a link in its post.
We purchased the book because
We purchased the book because we had an overwhelming number of patrons request the book. There are over 300 holds for the first book in the trilogy for the print edition and over 100 for the Overdrive version.
We thought long and hard about purchasing the books because of the content, but patron request(s) won out in the end. We are getting asked about this title on a daily basis.
If they didn’t “fit” their criteria, they should never have purchased it in the first place and wasted their money.
So will they ILL it for their
So will they ILL it for their patrons? (Of course no library will lend it for ages….)
$9 book
This is a $9 book. If people want to read it, buy a copy. If you are too poor to come up with $9 you might have better things to do then read BDSM fiction.
Not the Point
That’s not the point. It’s about censorship. Not affordability.
Ideas
So what important ideas are being censored by the library not having this book? None. If you want to read mommy porn do it on your own dime.
And do you have the same
And do you have the same attitude towards the books that you choose to read? Sure, the book isn’t great (or even good) literature but little that gets published is great and then most folks don’t choose to read it. The public has shown a great interest in this trilogy and that is reason enough to make it available in libraries.
Not the Point
It’s about censorship. Not about affordability.
Against Book Banning? Sign the Petition
http://www.change.org/petitions/brevard-county-library-system-put-50-shades-of-grey-back-on-the-library-shelves
we pulled our copies, also
but only because they all acquired an odd smell.
B.S. alert!
I roll my eyes at Fifty Shades of Grey, but I wonder if the librarians will pull all of their “erotic stories”?:
http://discover.mylibraryworld.com/#section=search&term=erotic%20stories&dbTab=ls2pac
NCAC Pushes Porn on Libraries; Fifty Shades of Grey Propaganda
Update: “NCAC Pushes Porn on Libraries; Fifty Shades of Grey Propaganda: Brevard Buckles, Harford Holds“