No Books In Foreign Languages Say Some Tennesseeans

Some people who live in Lewisburg –filming location for the 1999 movie, “The Green Mile”(TN), are upset that the local library has bought some children’s books in Spanish. They also bought a couple in Japanese, Russian, Polish and French and protesters added that those books shouldn’t be there either. Little bit of a story here.

September 30, 2006 by birdie Uncategorized 10

Anonymous Patron says:

September 30, 2006 at 5:06 pm

I have a simillar local climate
Unfortunately I have a simillar situation. If I spent local funds on Spanish materials to meet the needs and wants of a demographic that composes 30 percent of my usage I’d have a riot. Luckily I do meet the need by using donations to purchase the needed materials. We had a dirty neck, oops I mean patron, come in and start complaining about the Spanish materials in the library. After all he was a tax payer and he didn’t want his money to buy books for “them”. (Always tempting to offer a refund of their $1.10 provided they can show me a receipt for their property taxes.) So I pulled one of the books off of the shelf and showed him the book plate thanking the donor. In this case it was the company where he worked. Priceless

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Anonymous Patron says:

September 30, 2006 at 8:22 pm

Re:I have a simillar local climate
What percentage of your 30% are legal?

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Anonymous Patron says:

October 1, 2006 at 1:41 am

Re:I have a simillar local climate
as a librarian – it’s none of your business if they are legal.

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Princess Zipporah says:

October 2, 2006 at 8:00 pm

Bilingual Librarian Draws Complaints
Actually, the complaints weren’t just about the materials in Marshall County Library: Bilingual Librarian Draws Complaints In Marshall County: http://wkrn.com/node/49546

My favorite part:

“At the library, there were complaints that Nely was bilingual. She offered reading classes to students who wanted to learn Spanish. But Nely is actually trilingual because she also knows American Sign Language. So far, no one has complained that she helps those in the hearing-impaired community.”

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Chuck says:

October 2, 2006 at 8:44 pm

quite right
I’d like to agree with the above response to your question. The librarian should not consider that information about a patron when working with them.

For example, when you go into a library and get help no one cares that you’re a weak-kneed, bullying little piglet.

See how that works?

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Greebit says:

October 2, 2006 at 9:02 pm

Re:Bilingual Librarian Draws Complaints
Too bad there isn’t a such thing as American Meme Language to help those who are brain impaired.

Have these folks ever heard of International Business and how multi-language materials can help in that regard? I know I took out alot of French-language Michael Crichton to help me gain some fluency.

But this is besides the point. Not much you can do about xenophobes I suppose.

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birdman says:

October 2, 2006 at 10:13 pm

Re:I have a simillar local climate
Good idea mostly. Sometimes you have to compromise with idiots, especially if they are patrons. However, will we ever fully combat racism, small mindedness, and bad collection policy by compromise. Can you ever really compromise with stupidity?

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mdoneil says:

October 3, 2006 at 12:27 am

Amazing
Do you ask people their legal status in your library? What the feck difference does it make. Have you never used a library in another country?

You know librarians don’t ask to see someone’s passport or birth certificate if they want a book. Asking the question was childish, and you sir (or madam) are simply a dick.

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mdoneil says:

October 3, 2006 at 12:33 am

Re:Bilingual Librarian Draws Complaints
I am a polyglot librarian. Piss off. (if you’d like that in Spanish, Irish, or Serbo-Croation [well now more Serbian than anything else but it was S-C when I learned it]. I can probably also do a fair job of it in Italian and German. If I really try I can probably tell you to piss off in French too.

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JET says:

October 3, 2006 at 2:06 am

It’s only a few who are complaining
Both stories said that the library board listened to the complaints and planned no changes. The librarian has the support of her boss and the mayor. I think it may just be a small squeaky wheel faction of idiots who are complaining, not the majority and not anyone who has any power over the situation.

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