Ugh. I've been a bit busy lately thinking about and raging against my local library system's decision to not purchase a certain book series due to its 'pornographic' nature (yeah, yeah, the 50 Shades of Grey books). If you'd like to read my actual statement it was first published in The Dagger HERE, and later an edited version in the Baltimore Sun HERE.
Basically I called shenanigans and outright BULLSHIT on my local library (Harford County Public Library) system. The HCPL library director and board of trustees have taken a page from the books of countless corrupt politicians and corporate CEOs by lying outright to the public and the media. They've chosen to hide behind their version of a selection policy as an excuse for censorship. Their official statement, again, standing by protocol and policy as a smokescreen, is HERE.
I will never understand why people just can't be honest. HCPL may as well be saying, "We believe it is our call to extend beyond the duty of public service as public librarians to provide your desired reading materials. Rightly so, we choose to pull out this shiny halo and this lil' wooden gavel and judge what you are reading, deem it too explicit, and by God, we are just not going to buy these smutty things and dirty up our reading shelves with their presence! Ladies and gentlemen of Harford County, go spend your money at stores not supported by your tax dollars to provide your filthy filth. You ain't getting it here."
Maybe I just believe in people's right to read more than the library's role (or self-perceived role) to bestow ethical judgement on what another reads. Some of the awesome comments in support of HCPL have been about them making the "hard decision" to do "the right thing" and cheering their "moral bravery". I guess I thought professional librarians are supposed to provide materials, not deny them. Especially super-popular modern recreational reading (no matter the poorly crafted quality). Damn, girl, if you want to read that bodice-ripping love stuff: get some! You're reading, and that's awesome.
I guess HCPL has done its job. In sending a clear message to its readers to find their books elsewhere. Shoo, flies. You filthy, fucking things.
Here's another member of my community (a Board of Trustees member in Baltimore County) who wrote a piece against the censorship HERE, and an editorial from my local paper, The Aegis, HERE.
Rant over. I promise to blog about more fun things soon! I just had to get all that off my chest (but not in a dirty way, god forbid!). Lord have mercy! Heavens above! =p
Very well said in all your editorials. The comments are so idiotic. Especially the people who say they don't want their thirteen year old to pick it up and read it. Do these people know we have Noire and Zane and 190 titles classified as "erotic fiction" on our shelves where their precious child can check it out any time they'd like?
ReplyDeleteI hate that I'm in a position where I have to deliver the message to the public that we don't have the book but that every other county in Maryland does and that if they have internet access, they can download it from the consortium. Being able to download it is a consolation to some but not everyone has an ereader. I don't. So if I wanted to read it, I'd have to borrow it from my mom. :)
For serious. Not everyone can read their smut privately on an ereader. I don't have one, either.
DeleteI was thinking of Zane when all this was happening, but HarCo readers may not be up on the urban erotica (although I get the impression many of the commenters aren't regular library patrons, nor regular readers).
In the very friendly response letter that I received from Mary Hastler, she suggested I come to any HCPL branch and check out their diverse collection (for something other than 50 Shades). I checked the catalog looking for American Psycho, but, alas, all copies were currently checked out. =p Maybe I'll try Zane. Although I hate to say I'm not a huge romance fan. Didn't like Lady Chatterly's Lover or The Story of O. Oh, well!
Mary Hastler is really down to Earth and a great administrator and it's a shame that all this is happening in our county. In a meeting today, she said that she read 50 Shades and that she wouldn't classify it as porn but since professional reviews do just that, she had to base the decision off of those. She also said she's a romance reader and has read raunchier stuff that we do have on the shelves. I just wish we had a venue for voicing our opinions within the system instead of being forced to deliver a message we don't believe in without being consulted first. I'm so torn because clearly this is censorship and every fiber of my being is fighting it but I have to stand by the organization even though I don't agree. I guess that's a big part of having a career. I don't think anyone ever agrees 100% with the actions of their workplace unless they own that shit but you have to weigh the good with the bad and I really do love my job despite this debacle.
DeleteThat's good! I'm glad you see the positive and still love your job! It is a shame this happened here; it makes me feel like we're such a back-asswards county, decades behind, with public officials who cater to the uber-conservatives who populate the area. As a member of the public, it makes me not want to visit our county system. Which, in reality, probably won't ever happen: I mean, I love the library! I just wrote what I did to get it off my chest, which I did, and I'm glad since so few people spoke up against the censorship (the Aegis and the Patch opinion pieces above were the few I found). Keep up the good work and keep on trucking, librarian! I support you and all the hard work you do. No joke. For serious. =)
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