The Springdale Morning News – Springdale,AR has one on a book crusader from Fayetteville. What began as a concern by the mother of two school-age children about three books in Fayetteville school library system she deemed “sexually pervasive” has ballooned into a crusade with 70 books on the list.
A seven-member committee, composed of administrators, a media specialist, classroom teachers and parents, spent 18 hours reviewing the books. Committee members agreed the books should remain on the shelf.
Disappointed but not defeated, Taylor vowed to continue her fight. After scouring school libraries she found 54, and then 70, additional books offensive to her religious beliefs and she now wants them removed from library shelves.
It’s all about her
from the story:
Not that I support her crusade, but if her criteria is based on HER beliefs, she’s really weakened her argument. She says she’s not trying to push her agenda, but there sure are a lot of “I” statements in what she says. What’s missing from the article is a list of books.
Re:It’s all about her
The list, as of 19 July 2005:
Society, and Law: Richard D. Mohr
Walter Dean Myers
Hundred Years Of Solitude: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
her list of books
Here are some of the books she finds bad.
Re:It’s all about her
Thank you, friend.
Not her place to impose on the rest.
I guess she is back. I cannot help but bristle when she says she is not trying to push her agenda on anybody, but it boils down to her pushing her agenda on anyone. No one has said that she does not have the right to raise her children and impart her values on them as she sees fit. Where she errs is in thinking she has the right to impose them on the rest of the people in the district. I agree with the editorial; she does not have the right to tell the rest what to read or what not to read. Her rights end where the rights of the rest of the community begins. I can only hope that more people speak up, that they write about it, that they tell their elected district officials that this one person “crusade” is not something to be tolerated. People like that need to be confronted, and they need to be countered. The strength of our nation and society is in our diversity and in the expression of various ideas, not censorship. Admire her for wanting the best for her children, but deny her the notion that she can tell others what to do with theirs, or what the rest of society can or not read.
Correction Re:Not her place to impose on the rest.
If its nobody’s place then all funding for public and school libraries should stop. With funding comes choices. There isn’t unlimited money or space so somebody has to choose what’s bought and what’s not, what stays and what goes.
I’ve seen the list, its scattershot and overkill but if librarians are going to start pushing political agendas then communities are going to start pushing back. Good for them.
Re:Correction Re:Not her place to impose on the re
With funding comes choices. There isn’t unlimited money or space so somebody has to choose what’s bought and what’s not, what stays and what goes.
Certainly. But one person’s religious beliefs, or moral beliefs, should not dictate the collection development policy for an entire community. Acquisitions need to meet the needs of EVERYONE in the community, including minorities of all types, the politically and socially liberal, and (heaven forfend!) the youth of the community who want and/or need literature that reflects their experiences and answers hard questions.
As a government funded institution, the library not only has an obligation to serve the needs of all persons in the community (everyone pays taxes, directly or indirectly) but also to observe both the spirit and the letter of the First Amendment, which promotes the free receipt of ideas across the spectrum of political ,social, and religious belief.
Re:Correction Re:Not her place to impose on the re
When you put the rights of minors over the rights of parents then your religous and moral beliefs are dictating the collection development policy for an entire community.
Re:Correction Re:Not her place to impose on the re
And when you put the demands of one person over the needs of the entire community you are not doing your job.
If a parent wants to control what their child reads, fine. No one has the right to control what someone else’s child reads.
Re:Correction Re:Not her place to impose on the re
No one has the right to undermine it either.