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The title of this recent New York Times article bugged:

Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web.

Sounds like librarians are being selfish, right? We don’t want to share our books… you must come to our libraries <insert malevolent cackle>.

Actually, the article is about the recent decision of the Boston Library Consortium and a few other big players making a decision not to share their information with for-profit orgs Google and Microsoft (which place restrictions on the materials), and instead working with the Open Content Alliance to digitize materials that are out of copyright. Being a happy library cardholder of several of the institutions mentioned, I would have access to the materials in any case, but as a librarian/information professional, I really like the idea that the information would be accessible to those not ordinarily served by the particular libraries.

While the books involved in the above projects are (to my knowledge) not archival materials, I wanted to note that I’m in favor of digitization projects that work to provide access while preserving the context of the collection.

For instance, the Boston Public Library has the books of John Adams, and they were recently on exhibit at the main branch in Copley Square. While I did stop by several times to look at the materials, I’ve been even more excited about the website, because I can read Adams’ notations at my leisure. One that I particularly enjoyed was his handwritten argument with Mary Wollstonecraft in the preface of An historical and moral view of the origin and progress of the French Revolution : and the effect it has produced in Europe:

“If Nature has no Father, no Creator, no Governor, and men are to perish, Inequality is a Right and it would be folly in him who posesses or can obtain an Advantage, to forego it.”

http://www.johnadamslibrary.org/book/?book=2257683Adams%20221.15&page=11

I love that the digitized collection allows one to search the transcriptions, but also examine Adams’ words on the page in his elegant scrawl. Furthermore, I like that the pages are within the context of the entire book, as well as grouped with his collection of books, thereby providing a basis for researchers to understand Adams’ notations as a whole.

I’ve veered a bit from my original intentions in this post, but here’s the point: I like access, and I like context. The three organizations listed in the title plan to provide some access to materials that in some cases were not previously available to a wider audience. That’s a good thing. However, I think that we need to be conscious of not only access, but also the delivery model that we use to serve up the information. If materials are available through Google Books, but the user still cannot access them, then are we really serving a greater audience?

I always love to find out what other people are reading, and I found it especially interesting to see how many Nobel Prize winners attribute their early influences to libraries. I feel like the ALA or a literacy group should try to team up with them for some sort of publicity campaign.

First, check out this column from Rebecca Hegelin:

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/rebeccahagelin/2005/08/16/155191.html

Reading isn’t always good for our kids.

How’s that for an opening sentence to stir a little controversy among the educational elites?

We’ve been bombarded by so many messages about how reading expands the mind, excites the imagination and enhances the vocabulary (all of which are true) that many parents have forgotten that the benefit of reading for our children very much depends on what they’re reading. And, I’m afraid that many children spend hours reading what often turns out to be pure rot.

With school starting all over the country between last week and just after Labor Day, it’s time for a reading warning: Parents, beware.

In many cases the very liberal American Library Association exerts great influence over what reading materials teachers assign their students. But that material may be highly inappropriate for your child. Don’t let the following scenario unfold in your home:

Mrs. Jones hands out a book report assignment that includes several books for her class to choose from. Mom dutifully drives Suzi to the local library and browses while Suzi selects her book. Within half an hour, book in hand, everyone is feeling rather satisfied that they have been so responsible in starting on the project early. Mom and Suzi arrive home, and while mom begins making dinner, the conscientious and responsible Suzi heads to her room and begins to consume
what turns out to be highly sexualized, vulgar garbage, filled with four-letter words and enough verbal porn to embarrass even an ole’ salt.

Mom doesn’t have a clue that her daughter’s innocence has just been molested in the privacy of her own bedroom. She won’t ever know because Suzi, a bit stymied by the fact that Mom took her to get a book that her teacher assigned, will be too embarrassed and confused to ever tell. Yet, she’s just had sexuality, relationships and acceptable behavior defined for her by some perverted author most folks have never heard of. And the kid was simply trying to get her homework done.

While researching my book, Home Invasion: Protecting Your Family in a Culture That’s Gone Stark Raving Mad, I took an ALA-recommended reading list for 13- and 14-year-olds to my local library and headed to the “Young Adult” section (code for “pre-teen” and “teen”). I found some books from the list; others were already checked out. One book, the librarian told me, had just been returned but hadn’t been re-shelved, so I patiently waited while she went into the back room to retrieve it.

With several items in hand, I headed back to the Young Adult section, where I couldn’t help but notice pre-teen and teen girls and guys in various stages of development and maturity, dutifully searching the shelves for assigned books. I sat down on a reading bench and began flipping through the pages of the book that had just been returned.

There’s something very moving about holding a book in your hand that a child has just finished reading. But the warmth in my heart soon turned into a sickening feeling in my gut when I began to read passages so cheap and trashy that I could scarcely believe my eyes. I only had to get to page four before the first of many uses of the term “motherf—–” showed up. Several scenes described, in graphic detail, sexual acts between teenagers.

In the interest of decency, there’s no way I can give you word-for-word examples. And I refuse to give the trashy book and its loser author free publicity in a column that often gets forwarded around the World Wide Web. I’d rather parents and other adults who care about our children and their education — and whether or educational elites indoctrinate them in immorality — actually go to their local library and research the reading lists themselves.

Lest you think the first book was put on the list in error, the next recommended teen item I thumbed through was equally as nauseating. A sexual act between fourth-graders was a “highlight,” as well as graphic details of sex between teens, including a homosexual encounter. And this is the garbage that today’s educators pass off as great literature for our children? The great classics, meanwhile, are all but missing. One list I reviewed for eight-graders contained about 20 authors — none recognizable save the lone great Mark Twain. And they call this education?

The lesson here is simple. Moms and Dads, don’t just naively drive your kids to the library — you must be careful to help them choose books that reflect your values. Even if your kids are in private school, you’re hardly safe — many of the best schools blindly use ALA lists. Of course, if you home school your kids, you’re probably already aware of the moral problems of many ALA decisions, but even if you’re using a good curriculum guide, it’s always best to preview the books first.

The ALA is quick to call anyone who questions its decisions a “censor.” But remember, part of our responsibility and privilege as parents is to be the ones who determine what is and is not appropriate for our own children.

Rebecca is the author of Home Invasion: Protecting Your Family in a Culture That’s Gone Stark Raving Mad and a vice president at The Heritage Foundation, a Townhall.com Gold Partner.

After reading the beginning of this column, I started to get a bit steamed. (I did, however, enjoy being referred to as a member of the “educational elite.” Heh.) However, I do agree with one point that this woman makes, and I’ve made it before: “Moms and Dads, don’t just naively drive your kids to the library — you must be careful to help them choose books that reflect your values.”

I don’t believe that it’s the ALA’s job to parent other people’s children, and I don’t believe in censorship, either. I think that parents need to be consciously involved in their kids lives– and yes, helping them to make decisions about what to read is part of that. While the “value judgement” IMO should have more to do with choosing age-appropriate books, and reading them yourself first if you’re worried about the content, books can serve as valuable tools, and even avenues for communication and exploration. Honestly, my parents were really, really lax in the sex-ed department (especially if by lax, one means NOT PRESENT)– and I must say that the Judy Blume classics were quite helpful during a certain period (heh) of my life.

As for the author’s obvious slant to the right (becomes even more obvious when you check out her website- http://www.homeinvasion.org/), and her assertions about values and those awful teachers who are assigning “poor Susie” smutty crap to read- get involved with her classes, find out what the objectives of the courses are, discuss (in a rational manner) different possible books, etc. Banning a book because *you* find it objectionable removes the choice for other people to read it, and what gives you that right?

Some of the most heavily used books in libraries are in the YA section, but rarely get checked out. I’m talking about books that deal with topics that are embarassing to teens- sex, abuse, violence, homosexuality, and others. Those are the books that are most often stolen or hidden throughout the library behind other books. Just because some people find them objectionable, should they be banned from the library?

Parents Complain About Book’s Undertones

Sat Mar 4, 6:06 PM ET

A children’s book about two male penguins that raise a baby penguin has been moved to the nonfiction section of two public library branches after parents complained it had homosexual undertones.

The illustrated book, “And Tango Makes Three,” is based on a true story of two male penguins, named Roy and Silo, who adopted an abandoned egg at New York City’s Central Park Zoo in the late 1990s.

The book, written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, was moved from the children’s section at two Rolling Hills’ Consolidated Library’s branches in Savannah and St. Joseph in northwest Missouri.

Two parents had expressed concerns about the book last month.

Barbara Read, the Rolling Hills’ director, said experts report that adoptions aren’t unusual in the penguin world. However, moving the book to the nonfiction section would decrease the chance that it would “blindside” readers, she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060304/ap_en_bu/brf_book_flap

We’re not talking about Heather Has Two Mommies here, folks! (Not that I think that should even REMOTELY be banned.) Some people in Missouri are apparently offended by PENGUIN “adoption”. I think I’m actually more annoyed with the library director for caving– but at the same time, she’s the one that has to deal with getting public library funding.

Back in November, there was a big kerfuffle between library catalogers as to where a kids book about dinosaurs should be cataloged and placed in the library. Because the book espouses creationism, the controversy was about whether it should be classed in the online catalog with science or with religion; where it would be physically shelved in the library is a separate issue.

A few excerpts (entire blog entry from DeweyBlog available here- http://ddc.typepad.com/025431/2005/11/dinosaur_dilemm.html)

The publisher’s blurb states:

“In art quality and detailed information on these mysterious beasts, this book [written for a juvenile audience] rivals that of any secular source. However, the strong Biblical theme makes it unique among dinosaur resource books. Offers plausible explanations for believing that man walked with dinosaurs.”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0890511659/sr=8-1/qid=1141619994/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-8562168-5489615?%5Fencoding=UTF8

The folks at Dewey conclude:

“[W]hen a religious author is trying to enlighten scientists on a specific scientific matter, class the work with science, while if a scientist is trying to enlighten the religious on a specific religious matter, class the work with religion. The correct classification is determined by the intent of the author, and the interest of the readers that the author is seeking to reach, not by the truth, falsity, or validity of interpretations and premises.” On this basis, we’re ready to concur that the most helpful main class for a work that presents a creationist, faith-based explanation of a specific natural phenomenon that is normally explained using the scientific method is science.

On the basis of the idea that the author’s “intent” was to create a science-based book, I can see the science ruling. However, since I’m tired (but hopefully still making a modicum of sense), I can also see an interpretation of the book’s “intent” as promulgating the ideas of “intelligent design” and attempting to make a stab at the theory of evolution. (Please, no debate on that in this post.) My thought: if you were browsing in your library catalog, would you look for this book under “creationism” or “science”? If you were going to classify this book in your head, is it about “religion” or is it about “dinosaurs”? I think that this speaks to the other books mentioned earlier as well– does the use of a obscene words tarnish the message of the book? Is the book actually ABOUT rampant sex, or is it one small scene that’s making you (general) squeamish? Does the book have literary merit?