Is the Library the Last Free-Thinking Enterprise?

Imagine if librarian Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System, had held a grudge against sewing. Beyond a personal distaste, Dewey found sewing to be evil, that it had no business on the shelves of a library and drops sewing from the arts classification category.

"Sewing is dangerous!" Says Mr. Dewey, "It cramps the fingers causing arthritis, it strains the eyes, and we all know what happens when you prick your finger with a needle! Sewing is no good and anyone reading about sewing is obviously up to no good!"

Then Mr. Dewey decides he has a problem not only with sewing, but with a great many things listed in his newly created arts category.
Philosophy and theory he sees as nonsense, not to mention landscaping, gardening, and sculpting being a complete waste of energy. Drawing, decoration, human figures and their parts are perversions!

Wait, there's more - photography, music, games, and sports, none of that is of any use, and now that so many subjects have been eliminated, with no argument, the entire 700 classification of the Dewey Decimal System has been eradicated.

Fortunately, for patrons of the library, Mr. Dewey wasn't a censor; he wasn't part of the FCC and never heard of the Patriot Act. He didn't hold a grudge against sewing. In fact, Dewey had a very open mind to all sorts of literature, devising a category system that gave books an address.

We take it for granted that an individual of any size, color, or nationality may check out books of any interest, whether it is cooking, computer repair, a biography, a science fiction novel, or the latest best seller. The public library's magnitude of information allows those seeking knowledge to do so uninhibited or impinged by fences, gates, or locks.

There is no do-not-cross tape, bars, or stop sign. Neither the library nor the librarian discriminates against an individual's taste or curiosity.
So it was surprising to me, when working part-time at a local library several years ago, to overhear the whisper of a board member stealing books off shelves because they felt the subject of witchcraft, sorcery, and phenomenon shouldn't be available to the public, especially not in the hands of children.

It was hard to imagine a member of the library family censoring material to such an extreme. Yet the remainder of us librarians, readily and without question, censored several books, such as The Joy of Sex and Final Exit, by keeping them behind the checkout desk. Determining that anyone reading these titles, without our approval, were up to no good.

Kim Antieau, author of Coyote Girl, a James Tiptree Jr. Award finalist, and librarian, has experienced the theft of titles by patrons who didn't want them on library shelves.

One patron going so far as to steal books and then pay for them!

"There are some things which many people want to use and we only can afford one copy so we keep it at the desk, sometimes Value Line and things like that," Kim notes, "But we absolutely don't keep things behind the desk so that children can't see them. That's censorship."

Today we've the Patriot Act and the recent crack down of the FCC against radio shock jocks as our censoring "board member". Readily removing material (or people) they find objectionable. Making decisions for everyone else of what is morally correct to read, talk about, listen to, or watch.

Who are we to argue? Do we want to argue? After all, the fiction of Dewey's discrimination against sewing did not stop with the removal of all sewing books from library shelves. He used fear to keep anyone from questioning or arguing its loss.

Remember Dewey says, "Sewing is dangerous!" and he gives what dangers it will cause, "It cramps the fingers causing arthritis, it strains the eyes, and we all know what happens when you prick your finger with a needle!" And then the warning that anyone with the smallest hint of a guilty complex will sweat over,

"Sewing is no good and someone reading about sewing is obviously up to no good!"

There was never a time in my six years as a library clerk that a patron requested The Joy of Sex. I don't know who'd have been the brighter shade of red had anyone asked, and I often wonder what my reaction would have been to someone requesting Final Exit.

Regardless, it wasn't my decision to keep anyone from either title, this is a library and this is America, home of the First Amendment!

As the witchcraft books continued to disappear and the two blackballed books gathered dust behind the desk no one questioned why a single individual, or even the lot of us librarians, was allowed soul determination of what was offensive to others.

Considering who was doing the theft, I certainly wasn't going to point fingers, afraid I'd lose my job, knowing well my place.

Amazing how censorship and fear can go hand in hand, how fear is a perfect emotion to use when enforcing and imposing rules upon people, without argument.