“There should be something in the library that offends everybody, but reading it is your choice.”
This sentiment was shared by Perry Public Library Director Mary Murphy and Perry High School Brady Library Director Mari Butler, who gave a duel presentation on the history of banned books at the April meeting of Nu Alpha Gamma Chapter.
Recent discussions in the news and at state legislatures about banning books from libraries were addressed, with Murphy reporting that talk of banning books is not new. New England colonist Thomas Morton’s 1637 “New England Canaan” was the first book banned in North America because it criticized the Puritans of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.
The librarians gave other examples of books that were banned in the past, such as “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein, “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss and “James and the Giant Peach” by Roald Dahl.
The Nu Alpha Gamma members were surprised because these are books beloved today by school children everywhere.
Butler said the Perry Community School District has a policy on removing books that includes a meeting with the Perry School Board. No books in the school direct have been challenged in recent years, she said.
Butler has sometimes displayed books that have been banned during Banned Books Week, held each September at the school. She said students will often come to the defense of some of the books on display.
Murphy handed out copies of the Perry Public Library’s policy for “reconsidering” library materials, which is also posted on the library’s website. The first step, she said, is always a direct contact with the person lodging the concern with the goal of resolving the problem.
Murphy illustrated the procedure with the case of a book in the children’s collection that was questioned because it contained a word for donkey — ass — that could be considered a swear word, according to the complainant. Murphy said it was determined that the book was just in the wrong section of the library.
“Libraries lead people to connect with what they need,” Butler said. She said that books should reflect the students’ lives.
Butler and Murphy reminded the Nu Alpha Gamma members that librarians are professionals who put a lot of thought into what they do. All books that are purchased have been carefully vetted through several sources, they said. Some books have been challenged in both public libraries and school libraries, but none have been banned in Iowa.
The Nu Alpha Gamma Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International is made up of women educators who live or work in Dallas County. The chapter strives to promote the professional and personal growth of women educators as well as to promote excellence in education.
Sue Leslie is the secretary of the Nu Alpha Gamma Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society.
I really hope if our community decides there are books that might be “troublesome,” we will be fully informed and those “naughty bits” will be read in meetings (and be printed here) because it’s darn tiresome to keep reading about this hullabaloo without no one sharing the passages in question, just each side’s reaction instead. I kind of doubt most, if not all the controversy would not amount too much if we were all informed fully.
The true purpose of this book banning activity isn’t about protecting us from naughty words. The intent is to intimidate teachers and librarians into giving up and leaving their jobs. These are “activists” who believe they are doing “God’s work,” but they are mostly deluded and manipulated. The intent is to eliminate our public libraries and public school systems and divert that funding into private pockets. It’s not about virtue. It’s about money.
Give these self-righteous busybodies and con-artist capitalists an inch, and eventually they’ll demand that every aspect of our lives meets with their approval (unless one can afford “special” access). This is all for the benefit of a few, at our expense. And sadly, there’s also some people that just get off pushing other people around.