Editorial: Palin Strikes Fear in Libraries

My favorite Sarah Palin cartoon circulating on the web is one showing a huge moose, Alaskan no doubt, with a cartoon bubble saying, “BE AFRAID…BE VERY AFRAID!”

That pretty much sums up my feelings about the number two on the Republican ticket (and the number one as well), though we've been journalistically judicious at LJ about the censorship and other library-related allegations against Palin. Actually, a librarian I respect took us to task recently for not being quick enough to slam Palin because we waited to verify the facts about her censorship efforts. Nevertheless, News editor Norman Oder has tracked the developing story extensively, moving back and forth among the LJ Insider blog and news at LibraryJournal.com and in the magazine (see p. 14ff.), as the various threads came together and evidence emerged.

No matter what source you read, from the Alaska Frontiersman to the newspaper of record to the library press, there is strong evidence that Palin is no friend to libraries or to the values they represent.

Take censorship. Many of you recall the campaigns in the mid-1990s to remove titles like Daddy's Roommate (Alyson) and Heather Has Two Mommies (In Other Words) from libraries by groups like James Dobson's Focus on the Family. Both of those books sensitively and positively portray gay families in ways that children in either heterosexual or homosexual families can understand. As a Wasilla council member in 1995, Palin said Daddy's Roommate didn't belong in the local library, yet, according to a former campaign manager, Laura Chase, Palin not only never read it, she refused to do so. As a member in good standing of the Wasilla Bible Church, the wannabe VP presumably endorses the Focus on the Family conference that her church recently supported, “about how to help gays and lesbians 'journey out' of same-sex attraction” (New York Times, “Barbies for War,” 9/17/08).

Though former Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Emmons (now Mary Ellen Baker) has been circumspect, friends and other Wasillans have been less so regarding Palin's inquiries as mayor of Wasilla about library policy on removing books. Paul Stuart wrote in the Frontiersman (which recently posted the original article from 12/18/96) that “Emmons said Palin asked her outright [three times] if she could live with censorship of library books.” One Wasilla resident, Anne Kilkenny, also a PTA mom like Palin, alleges that “people who fought [Palin's] attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.” Throughout it all, Emmons/Baker remained the consummate professional.

Does Palin support libraries? According to a Washington Post report (“As Mayor of Wasilla, Palin Cut Own Duties, Left Trail of Bad Blood,” 9/14/08), Palin rejected calls for a new library, instead “building a sports complex with an NHL-size rink.” Current Wasilla librarian K.J. Martin-Albright commented on PublishersWeekly.com, “Wasilla outgrew the size of its library about 20 years ago.” It also serves residents of a borough roughly the size of West Virginia, she says. The Post reports that financing for the hockey rink came from a voter-approved bond to be paid for by a half-cent sales tax increase. Palin is antitax, and antigovernment, apparently only when it serves her agenda.

The reactions to Palin go to the core of library services, especially in small towns like Wasilla (whose population was roughly 5500 during Palin's mayoralty), where libraries are so often the heart of their communities. In an eloquent post to her blog (Free Range Librarian) on September 11, Karen Schneider said Palin “pushed [my] button” when she “mocked [Obama's] community organizing,” since libraries are all about “the power of communities.” As a “Christian, a veteran, and a librarian,” it really “bugged me,” wrote Schneider, that “[Palin] has no problem mocking those of us who have spent our lives building communities.”

As we get closer to Election Day, there will surely be other revelations to make us even more wary of Sarah Palin, but there are plenty of facts already to worry the library community. Let's ensure that Palin's treatment of libraries gets more, rather than less, scrutiny. American Library Association president Jim Rettig has asked librarians to press Palin on library issues by submitting questions to the presidential debate site www.mydebate.org. As that Alaskan moose warned, BE AFRAID...BE VERY AFRAID!