A gay activist from San Francisco has donated Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate, two books that help explain homosexuality to children, to the Wasilla Public Library, AK, in response to reports of former Mayor Sarah Palin’s inquiries about banning books and also because the library lacks those books. (As a City Council member, Palin had expressed dismay about the presence of Daddy's Roommate in the library, but wouldn't read it, according to the New York Times.)

Whether the donated books from Michael Petrelis actually make the library collection is another story. Library Director KJ Martin-Albright told the Frontiersman that donated books are either put on the shelves or sold, and library officials decide based on factors including the author’s reputation, importance of the subject matter to the library’s collection, and space. 

Recently, in a comment on the Publishers Weekly web site, Martin-Albright explained: "At one point, Heather Has Two Mommies was challenged at the Wasilla Public Library and it was decided to keep it on the shelf. So, why is it no longer there? Well, Wasilla out grew the size of its library about twenty years ago. Although it is a municipal library, it serves residents in the Mat-Su Borough, an area roughly the size of West Virginia. Along with the fact that library collections are dynamic and not static, anything on the book shelves has to earn its real estate. If it isn’'t circulating, it doesn''t stay. I know this is not the ideal, but it is our reality.”

Petrelis told the Frontiersman that circulation may not measure whether such books are actually being read. That is a not uncommon argument regarding library materials, but I'm not sure it applies in this case. A librarian friend with experience in the children's department tells me that young adult books on sex, rather than a children's book, are more likely candidates to be read in the library but not circulated. Then again, the recent publicity about such books surely has increased interest in Wasilla.