Daniel Healy is outraged after the New Britain, Connecticut, Public Library refused a compact disc he tried to donate.
Healy, of Belmont Street, doesn’t buy the library’s various answers for refusing the musical tribute to Matthew Shepard, the young man whose murder sparked a nationwide movement to call attention to hate crimes against gays and lesbians.
“I’ve been given various reasons, and the answer keeps changing,” Healy said. “It makes me uncomfortable … all to suggest to another reason for their refusal.”
A one song CD please
It has one song and ‘testimony’ from Matthew Shepard’s mother, please who will check that out? It was nice of him to donate it but the library is under no obligation to add it to the collection.
I am sure they are not refusing it because Matthew Shepard was gay. They are refusing to add it because it won’t circulate.
I assume that it is What Matters by Randi Driscoll, I checked WorldCat and one library has it, Silas Bronson Library, Waterbury Ct. (and the 008 field in the MARC record: 070625s2002 xxuppn eng d shows they have not had it long at all. However the original cataloging is much better than I expected.
So I doubt it will circulate, it has a limited audience, it is a limited production item seldom held in circulating collections at public libraries and it is only one song all reasons not to add it.
Donor Perturbed
Apparently the donor questioned the internal policies of the New Britain Public LIbrary and got a cacophony of answers in reply. Not uncommon really.
New Britain Public is the largest member of the Patriot Act defying Libary Connection consortium. The library director there is realtively new on the job and appears to have handled damage control well with purchase of the “Love Rocks” CD.