why the.effing.librarian avoids politics

There are many national issues, but there is only one that concerns me: big business screwing the little guy. Who's going to fix that? If I find someone who can solve that problem, then this might turn into a political blog.

But because of the selection of Sarah Palin as the Presidential running mate for the Republican party, many librarians have felt the need to express some opinion: in 1997, as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin tried to fire the city librarian.

Yeah, I think that sucks, too. The only real news report I can find from that period is a story that says the librarian was a supporter of Palin's opponent, and doesn't give any other reason for the attempted termination.

Additionally, I've read several accounts of Palin wanting to ban books from the library. But I haven't seen any evidence that any books were ever removed. And I saw this list:

Books on Palin's Banned List from Wasalla Library Board Minu

Books Palin tried to ban
(This information is taken from the official minutes of the Wasilla Library
Board).

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It's Okay if You Don't Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz

by Trainer12 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 49 comments) on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 10:35:31 AM

to which someone replied:

A link please
Please provide a link to the minutes please.

by Mad Jayhawk (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 229 comments) on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 8:54:27 PM

And this my same feeling: please link to or cite your sources. Where did this list come from? Is this the standard "banned books" list? Do you think the Wasilla library really had all those books? In 1997? Before some were even published? I don't think our library has all those books.

Some articles say that the Frontiersman has all of these original news stories but has not digitized them. Hell, any reporter with a laptop can scan or photograph the pages and get them on the Web in twenty minutes. Where are the stories?

Again, I only find stuff like this:

“All questions posed to Wasilla's library director were asked in the context of professionalism regarding the library policy that is in place in our city. Obviously the issue of censorship is a library question... you ask a library director that type of question,” Palin said.
[FROM THE ARCHIVE: Palin: Library censorship inquiries 'Rhetorical' By PAUL STUART. Published on Friday, September 5, 2008 5:18 PM AKDT]

I like to make my decisions on my own. If I choose to support or oppose Palin (or any of the people actually running for President), then I'll do it because I have facts. I don't need someone to tell me she banned books if she didn't.

I'm a librarian; I can do research. I don't need bullshit to help me decide.