Animals
- Joan Karkos & Lysa Harding Steal Books To Keep People From Reading Them
JoAn Karkos said she was "horrified" by the content of an acclaimed sex education book, "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health." She has checked out copies from two libraries and refuses to give them back. Take...
- Book Returns To Circulation
The Library Board for the Jackson-George Regional Library System voted 3 to 1 Tuesday night to make a best-selling book by comedian Jim Norton available to library patrons again upon request. The book has been out of circulation since an Ocean Springs...
- Best-seller Called Obscene
It looks like censorship is alive and well in South Mississippi thanks to the complaints of an unnamed Ocean Springs patron a best seller has been removed from the Jackson George Regional Library shelves. The complaint was that the work, a collection...
- Jackson- George Regional Library System Pulls Book For Review
Michael Hamlett, director of the Jackson-George Regional Library System, plans to meet with one member of the Library Board before deciding the fate of a best-selling book by comedian Jim Norton, pulled from the shelves of the system's branches last...
- Summer Fun For Teens
The St. Martin Public Library is using a CSI theme for their TEEN PROGRAM. The Program will be on Thursdays at 2PM. June 7 ~ Secret Codes and CiphersJune 14 ~ Histories MysteriesJune 21 ~ FBI Teen Computer (you will need a library card with a computer...
Animals
The public library's role is to serve the entire community
Karpen said that removing a book from the public library has been considered constitutionally suspect.
"Many courts have noted that the public library's role is to serve the entire community," she said, "not to reflect or cater to any specific viewpoint. In the grand scheme of things, we at NCAC (The National Coalition Against Censorship) believe that this freedom is the indispensable condition of a healthy democracy."
In the case of the Norton book, she said, one patron does not have the right to impose his view on others or demand that the library policies reflect his or her own personal preferences, Karpen said.
That invites others to demand changes in the library's holdings to reflect their beliefs, she said.
"If individuals object to a particular work, they are free to read something else," she said. "When you ban one book because of a single patron's objection to its content, you put the whole collection at risk - you've opened the door for a barrage of challenges."
Karpen also said that relegating the book to a non-circulation status is a form of censorship as well.
"Many courts have noted that the public library's role is to serve the entire community," she said, "not to reflect or cater to any specific viewpoint. In the grand scheme of things, we at NCAC (The National Coalition Against Censorship) believe that this freedom is the indispensable condition of a healthy democracy."
In the case of the Norton book, she said, one patron does not have the right to impose his view on others or demand that the library policies reflect his or her own personal preferences, Karpen said.
That invites others to demand changes in the library's holdings to reflect their beliefs, she said.
"If individuals object to a particular work, they are free to read something else," she said. "When you ban one book because of a single patron's objection to its content, you put the whole collection at risk - you've opened the door for a barrage of challenges."
Karpen also said that relegating the book to a non-circulation status is a form of censorship as well.
- Joan Karkos & Lysa Harding Steal Books To Keep People From Reading Them
JoAn Karkos said she was "horrified" by the content of an acclaimed sex education book, "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health." She has checked out copies from two libraries and refuses to give them back. Take...
- Book Returns To Circulation
The Library Board for the Jackson-George Regional Library System voted 3 to 1 Tuesday night to make a best-selling book by comedian Jim Norton available to library patrons again upon request. The book has been out of circulation since an Ocean Springs...
- Best-seller Called Obscene
It looks like censorship is alive and well in South Mississippi thanks to the complaints of an unnamed Ocean Springs patron a best seller has been removed from the Jackson George Regional Library shelves. The complaint was that the work, a collection...
- Jackson- George Regional Library System Pulls Book For Review
Michael Hamlett, director of the Jackson-George Regional Library System, plans to meet with one member of the Library Board before deciding the fate of a best-selling book by comedian Jim Norton, pulled from the shelves of the system's branches last...
- Summer Fun For Teens
The St. Martin Public Library is using a CSI theme for their TEEN PROGRAM. The Program will be on Thursdays at 2PM. June 7 ~ Secret Codes and CiphersJune 14 ~ Histories MysteriesJune 21 ~ FBI Teen Computer (you will need a library card with a computer...