Marion Country May Slash Library Budget

In an effort to curb purchases such as the Australian novel “Eat Me”, Ocala Star brings us an article about how county commissioners are thinking about budget-cutting as a way of keeping objectionable books out of the library. The book was pulled by librarian Julie Sieg last fall, but council members are wary of what may next appear on the library shelves of this conservative southern township. The board plans on personally reviewing the 400,000 extant volumes.

April 7, 2004 by birdie Uncategorized 9

Steffers says:

April 7, 2004 at 7:19 pm

Ummm….
Wouldn’t this issue be better resolved by writing a collection development policy that is more strict when it comes to “racy” materials? I can’t see how cutting the budget will prevent the naughty books from being selected.

Reply
GregS* says:

April 7, 2004 at 8:11 pm

Re:Ummm….
Probably but its what they see as a way to make sure the library does actually write that policy.

Reply
Steffers says:

April 7, 2004 at 8:30 pm

Re:Ummm….
Geez, nothing like a little blackmail to get a new policy written.

Reply
mcbride says:

April 7, 2004 at 8:42 pm

Re:Ummm….
Well, it works in the corporate world. That’s why, according to Dilbert’s world, you:

1) ask for more money than you need
2) spend it all (never have any left at the end of the year)

Sounds like it would be better to just write a collections policy and avoid all the wasted time on threatening the budget.

Reply
thesaint says:

April 7, 2004 at 9:47 pm

400,000 Volumes
I wonder how many members are on the board. Say, 10. Now, I’m math challenged, but that seems like 40,000 books apiece to “review.” I bet they’ll just be scanning for the “good parts.”

Perhaps they should just learn to sit still in a room.

Reply
Anonymous says:

April 7, 2004 at 9:56 pm

I love local political fights!
This has got to be one of the most interesting stories I’ve read. So we have Marion County commissioners objecting to some books, thanks to a “small batch of protestors” who showed up thanks to “Eat Me.”
One commissioner seems to be half awake, since he said said there was no way that cutting the county’s roughly $900,000 annual budget for buying books and other materials would guarantee a work like “Eat Me” wouldn’t slip through the cracks.
But the commissioners appeared to agree on the conservative values of the community, not just that, but this book was an “assault on the traditional, moral values that we have understood in this nation for many, many years.” Apparently no commissioner wanted the “disgusting book” in the library.
The lead protestor seems to have at least some support.
The library director took the book out of circulation in part because of her “own personal disgust with it,” but was voted down by Public Library Advisory Board.

They say legal roadblocks to removing it were too much of a hindrance, though “Let’s just do it and stand back and get ready,”

Yet he also argued that the board would open itself to reviewing the 400,000 volumes now in the library. Time for a new committee!

The part that cracked me up was
“This isn’t Alachua County.” phew, glad they cleared that up for me, I’d hate to confuse the 2 counties. I love it when people can see differences between people are micro levels like that. Reminds me of high school where everyone chooses sides based on whatever seems really important to them at the time.

Reply
Brian says:

April 7, 2004 at 10:01 pm

Ask and spend
It’s not just a corporate thing. When I was studying for my Master of Public Administration degree in the ’80s, those two bits were passed along as the Primary Law of Budgeting. Actually one of the more useful things I learned in grad school.

Reply
commonsense says:

April 8, 2004 at 4:31 am

Once again, the public opinion is ignored…
And to the delight of the ALA.

Glass told commissioners that he didn’t doubt the existence of similar books in the library.

But the problem is the judgment exercised to acquire such books, he added, especially when done so at taxpayer expense.

“Somebody needs to be held accountable,” Glass argued. “Too many people are mad about this.”

[clip]

Harris called it wrong for taxpayers “to purchase this filthy, raunchy trash” and suggested the board could reduce the book-buying budget until “a more quality job” of book selection is done.

“You don’t have to enter into arguments about censoring filthy trash, if you don’t purchase it to begin with.”

Library boards and directors “run amuck”–all the time, and think they have every right to do so, regardless of what the public thinks. And this library only has 40,000 books. They probably only add a thousand a year… not hard to pick out decent books… but NO… they have to pick out those which run against the community standards of their area.

Wake up people!!! More stories at http://www.InternetFilters.org

Reply
Anonymous Patron says:

April 8, 2004 at 5:12 am

Book budget
I think the commissioners in making a blanket assumption that the community is conservative and not like that of Alachua County errs. Marion County is made up of all types of individuals (various races, genders) who hold varying religious, political and moral beliefs. And each of these individuals pays property taxes that go towards the purchase of library materials. I don’t think the commissioners wish to interrograte each taxpayer and find out if their views are represented by the library collection and then refund the tax dollars back to those whose views do not align with the “conservative” viewpoint. Libraries are for the entire community and so are their collections. If the commissioners proceed with their ill-advised plan to stop the purchase of what they view as smut and choose to purchase only materials that align with their viewpoints, I would hope those taxpayers not in alignment would file a civil action. And they should remember when they go to the polls to make their voice heard!

Reply