While people object to books all the time - there are, apparently, cranks in the world with lots of time on their hands, as well as some controversial titles - only a few are found universally insulting enough to warrant the "Form 286" that brings it before the panel. if the panel rules against a book, it will in some cases be taken out of circulation and, in the case of Brooklyn, "tucked away in the Hunt Collection, which are kept in a vault-like room accessible only to staff members" and made available by appointment only.

If you worry that this sounds like shades of Fehrenheit 451 - or at least Banned Books Month - you're not alone: the ALA, after all, states on its site, "Policies should not unjustly exclude materials and resources even if they are offensive to the librarian or the user...Toleration is meaningless without tolerance for what some may consider detestable." But that's easier said than done, especially for those working with children's material: some public schools have rendered controversial titles to be "parent checkout book only" while one former librarian quoted in the piece claims that some of his colleagues would take such touchy titles out of circulation on vague pretexts. (Although this would be anathema, I should add, to the librarians I know, difficult as dealing with people can be.)

There are very few people who would argue that Tintin au Congo's relegation to the "Hunt Room" - especially in its original, unexpurgated form - is "unjust." By any standard, the portrayal of Africans is racist. And the truth is, a children's section should be a place of some safety. But it's a slippery slope; the article mentions that objections have been lodged to the presence of everything from Beloved to Eloise in Paris. And while obviously these complaints have been dismissed, censorship is always just that. The problem with the system is that you won't find such a book - indeed, know it exists - unless you look specifically. And a library should be about discovery, too, even if it is not always pleasant. Racism and ugliness existed, and exist, and hiding history somewhat arbitrarily is a form of white-washing. Tintin has come to people's attention because it's famous: how many other old books, as offensive, more offensive, remain on the shelves? No one thinks that this book should be where a child can stumble upon it (there's a difference between adult and kids' books) but even something so overtly ugly is an opportunity for questions, discussion, and facing the reality of cultural heritage. Maybe we have enough teachable moments in this world without needing to introduce more: but maybe that's a library's job.

A Library's Approach To Books That Offend [NY Times]

Krug was born in Pittsburgh and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in political science. She in received her masters degree in library science from the University of Chicago and worked at the John Crerar Library in Hyde Park and at Northwestern University before starting with the American Library Association. In 1967, she became the first director of the American Library Association's newly-formed Office for Intellectual Freedom, and in 1982 she founded Banned Books Week to promote the right to read without censorship. "For more than four decades Judith Krug inspired librarians and educated government officials and others about everyone's inviolable right to read. Her leadership in defense of the First Amendment was always principled and unwavering. Judith's courage, intelligence, humor and passion will be much missed - but her spirit will inspire us always," said Jim Rettig, ALA president, and Keith Michael Fiels, ALA executive director, in a press release from the ALA's website.

Throughout her career, Krug fought for the freedom to read, even though many of the books she worked to keep on the shelves were not to her taste. A true supporter of free speech, Krug refused to allow conservative groups dictate what can and cannot be read. Trevor Jensen for the Chicago Tribute reports that in 1992, Madonna's erotic coffee table book Sex led to an outcry from those who found it too racy for libraries. Krug felt that libraries should be able to carry any printed material that was legal, and she told the Chicago Times, "the book is sleazy trash, but it should be in every medium-sized library in the United States."

Krug recently claimed that the significance of her work was made clear to her when she read the children's book, And Tango Makes Three, to her granddaughter's class. And Tango Makes Three is a picture book based on the true story of two male penguins from New York's Central Park Zoo,who successfully raised a healthy young chick together. According to the ALA, Tango was the most challenged book of 2006-2007. After she was finished reading to the class, one girl stood up and began clapping. Krug later learned that the enthusiastic student was being raised by two women.

Each year, the ALA puts out a list of America's most frequently challenged library books. Krug took comfort in the perennial appearance of classic works like Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men. "That means that censors, real and would-be, are not making the headway they think they are," she said. "Books that matter are still in libraries."

Krug believed that the role of the librarian was to bring people and information together, as she explained in a talk in 2002. In her editorial on Krug's life, Dorothy Samuels from the New York Times quotes Krug:

"We do this by making sure libraries have information and ideas across the spectrum of social and political thought, so people can choose what they want to read or view or listen to. Some users find materials in their local library collection to be untrue, offensive, harmful or even dangerous. But libraries serve the information needs of all of the people in the community - not just the loudest, not just the most powerful, not even just the majority. Libraries serve everyone."

Krug worked bravely throughout her life for the realization of this democratic ideal. In December 1980, she observed that complaints about the content of books in public libraries had increased fivefold in the month since Ronald Reagan was elected president. In 1982, Krug started Banned Book Week to promote those books that the "Moral Majority" wanted to see go up in flames. More recently, Krug was a leader in the fight against internet censorship. Krug also was an outspoken opponent of the USA Patriot Act, which included a provision that allows federal investigators access to library records.

Krug's passion for free speech began at a rather young age, as the New York Time's Douglas Martin reports. Krug credited her parents as the inspiration for her life's work. She remembers reading a sex-education book under the covers when she was 12, only to be caught by her mother. "She said, ‘For God's sake, turn on your bedroom light so you don't hurt your eyes.' And that was that," Krug said.

Judith Krug, Who Fought Ban On Books, Dies at 69 [NY Times]
Judith Krug [NY Times]
Judith F. Krug, 1940-2009: Librarian Started Banned Books Week [Chicago Tribune]
Judith Krug, Librarian, Tireless Advocate For First Amendment Rights, Dies [ALA]

[Image via Jim Rittig's Flickr]

Here's the story: In 2005, FBI agents demanded that a group of Connecticut librarians on a committee of a librarian association present them with "any and all subscriber information, billing information and access logs of any person or entity". The agents didn't have a court order but something called a national security letter, designed to "protect against international terrorism" and rendering the librarians unable to reveal "to any person that the FBI has sought or obtained access to information or records." Admirably, librarians George Christian, Peter Chase, Janet Nocek and Barbara Bailey decided to fight for their patrons' privacy and challenge the constitutionality of this practice, becoming the unlikely center of an FBI investigation themselves. As Chase explains to Mother Jones, "People say very confidential things to our reference librarians...They have medical issues, personal matters. What people are borrowing at a public library is nobody's business."

About those national security letters: The MJ writers, Amy and David Goodman, describe them as "a little-known FBI tool originally used in foreign intelligence surveillance to obtain phone, financial, and electronic records without court approval." Since 9/11, they've been employed a lot — and, unsurprisingly, often abused. "An investigation last year revealed that the FBI had broken regulations governing NSLs in more than 1,000 cases... Even when an investigation is closed, information gained through an NSL is kept indefinitely in the FBI files," say the Goodmans. And because the four librarians had read the letter, they were now "a threat to national security", legally barred from appearing at the hearings or from speaking publicly, and had to be known as "John Doe" when they engaged the ACLU to challenge the NSLs and lift their gag order.

Although the Patriot Act was subsequently reauthorized, soon thereafter the Justice Department dropped the gag order case and was ordered by the Supreme Court to unseal the court documents in the case. Then, last September, a federal court ruled NSLs to be unconstitutional, calling them "the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values." Not shockingly, the Bush administration has appealed the decision.

Everyone loves a good "little guy takes on the Man" story, and this is a great one. In combination with Ms. Baker, frankly our profession-crush on the library sciences is growing by the second. Obviously it's not all heroics, but when you consider the cultural importance of the library in our history — it's a real trust, kids. It would have been so easy to have given up records that were,for the most part, probably pretty innocuous - the fact that anyone is willing to put themselves at this kind of risk for principle makes me actually choke up a little bit. (And for the first time, kind of get the point of Banned Books Week, which always struck me at my school as kind of preaching-to-the-choir-ish.) Sexy librarians, indeed!

America's Most Dangerous Librarians [Mother Jones]
Mayor Palin: A Rough Record [Time]
Sarah Palin, Book Banner? [MediaBistro]

Remember the big brouhaha over the Newbery Medal-winning, "scrotum"-plugging children's book The Higher Power of Lucky? Well there's a new controversy among suddenly publicity-hungry American librarians, but this one's over boobalicious Beyonce Knowles.

Consumerist is reporting that U.S. libraries do not have copies of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue because publisher Time Inc. decided it was inappropriate to send the magazine to "institutions". And American librarians aren't happy about it. Says one librarian from the University of Dallas: "It should be up to the institution to decide whether or not they choose to make the issue available to patrons. The publisher should send the issues we've paid for. If we throw them in the bin, that's our prerogative."

We wonder what The Higher Power of Lucky author Susan Patron has to say about all this.

Sports Illustrated Refuses To Send Swimsuit Issue To Libraries [Consumerist]
Sports Illustrated Withholds Swimsuit Issue From Libraries, Schools [Library Journal]