Librarians push back on Huntington Beach ‘obscene’ books plan
To the editor: I spoke on the Huntington Seaside Metropolis Council assembly in regards to the proposal by Mayor Professional Tem Gracey Van Der Mark to limit sure library books. Her plan goes past simply labeling books for youngsters or shifting disputed teen titles into the grownup part — she desires to limit any entry of stated books to anybody underneath 18 years outdated with out a dad or mum current.
One title at present shelved within the kids’s nonfiction part, “It’s Completely Regular,” is a really frank description of going via puberty and creating sexuality. If this ebook is to be restricted, are all the opposite titles coping with this topic to be restricted?
“Grandad’s Satisfaction” exhibits a baby’s grandfather hugging his accomplice and going to a Satisfaction parade. If this ebook is to be locked up, will different kids’s books which have LGBTQ+ themes or characters even be restricted?
The title that the majority issues me is the grownup nonfiction ebook “Gender Queer.” If this ebook is to be restricted as a result of somebody 17 or underneath may discover it and take a look at it, then will all the opposite grownup nonfiction books that take care of intercourse even be locked up?
Whenever you begin denying entry to those titles, are you denying the rights of those that can’t present identification or teenagers who imagine they’ve the appropriate to have a look at the books they need? Who will get to resolve what’s obscene when the library solely orders books which have been positively reviewed by dependable sources?
Until, in fact, it will all simply be an excuse to denationalise town’s library system.
Barbara Richardson, Huntington Seaside
The author is a former kids’s librarian for the Huntington Seaside Public Library.
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To the editor: For the 40 years I used to be with the Huntington Seaside Public Library, I knew many kids’s librarians. Their grasp’s levels in library and knowledge science compelled them to objectively and thoughtfully choose books to boost the gathering.
Our librarians weren’t very political, in contrast to the current mayor professional tem and metropolis lawyer of Huntington Seaside.
Many voters spoke eloquently opposing the council’s try to make ebook choice political. The council majority didn’t get it.
Due to this fact I shall be brief and discreet about their proposal so even the mayor professional time period and metropolis lawyer can keep in mind and perceive: It’s silly.
Ron Hayden, Huntington Seaside
The author is a former director of the Huntington Seaside Public Library.
