Norman Oder

Librarians Against Palin Blog Emerges, Plus a Response from Wasilla
September 5, 2008

A new blog set up by anonymous sponsors, Librarians Against Palin, is set up by a Sarah Palin opponent who asserts that the vice-presidential candidate, when Mayor of Wasilla, AK, attempted to fire the library director when she "would not ban books without going through the formal book challenging process." I haven't seen any solid evidence of that, so it's unclear whether Palin was having a "theoretical" discussion, as she was reported to have said, or was putting undue pressure on library director Mary Ellen Emmons. 

(And, yes, a bumper sticker has emerged.)

The fact that Palin raised the issue three times may suggest undue pressure, but we still need to know more. Meanwhile, Emmons, now Mary Ellen Baker, is on vacation, as noted in the blog and news reports, and, I suspect, is weighing whether to go public and discuss her work with Palin. It likely would be a personal hardship, given the inevitable media firestorm, but it would help answer some important questions. Perhaps Baker could issue a written statement.

Meanwhile, Baker is getting some strong defense from colleagues and friends in Alaska. June Pinnell-Stephens, chair of the Alaska Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee, tells our sister publication SLJ that she opposes Palin "partly because she [forced out] a very competent and wonderful director.”

Wasilla responds
Also, the city of Wasilla has issued a response to the multiple requests for information about "banned or censured" books at the Wasilla Library during Palin's mayoralty. "We have no records of any books being 'banned or censured' ever, the city states, describing the systematic process that unfolds when a library cardholder requests the reconsideration of a library item. 

Before 1986, one challenged book was placed in a new Young Adult section. Subsequently, three books, one in each of 1986, 2005, and 2007, were challenged, and each remained on the shelf. Palin's mayoralty was from 1996-2002.

Posted by Norman Oder on September 5, 2008 | Comments (6)