2/7/2016

ALA Think Tank

Peter Lawrence-Wehrle February 5 at 10:48pm · Madison, WI

I came across this ultra-conservative Catholic blogger who posted about "losing" library books and leaving "notes" in 50 Shades of Gray. I thought you might find it interesting. I know plenty of Catholics and people of other faiths who do not "hide" books that they find objectionable... but I'm wondering if you have run into this. In case you want to read the thread I'm referencing - it's here:

The innocence of children A couple days back, I nearly broke instagram with a little snap of a super special library book that snuck it's way into our weekly haul without a proper parental vetting, and then all of a sudden I found myself snuggled up on the couch with a 3… CATHOLICNEWSAGENCY.COM

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5 people like this. Mikah Kuspa No no no. You don't deface things that don't belong to you. We had someone who wrote all over a couple of books, describing any reference to God as basically BS. That's also unacceptable. I don't write in or hide books at the library about raising your child in a godly, straight, gender appropriate manner. Like · 

21 · February 5 at 10:52pm

Leslie Johnston I am Catholic, and I think this lady is living in a bubble. I went to a Catholic high school and a Catholic college, and guess what--several of my classmates were gay! Of course, I didn't realize it at the time. This lady's children will interact with a gay person at some point, which is why I don't shield my daughter from the subject. Rather, I answer her questions in an age appropriate manner. Like · 

17 · February 5 at 11:05pm

Ash Wolff I hope they made her pay for defacing library property! Like · 

11 · February 5 at 11:07pm

Kayleigh Septer If they did, she probably complained and told them that she was "doing other parents a favor" Like · 

4 · February 5 at 11:07pm

Stefanie Davis I saw something about "taxpayer" and had to stop there. Your pennies do not equal you get to do whatever you want. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ALAthinkTANK/permalink/1005069739565846/

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25 · February 5 at 11:16pm · Edited

Andrea Cummings Oof. I'm conservative AND Catholic. I also respect personal property, that we are all called to different walks of life, and the sanctity of personal property. Ughz Like · 

25 · February 5 at 11:24pm

Edward Pellaeon Amen! Like · February 5 at 11:31pm Peter Lawrence-Wehrle I really appreciate your perspective. Thanks for speaking up! I don't think these people are merely conservative and catholic... I think it is something more, like you said - a lack of respect for other's property. Like · 22 hrs Andrea Cummings That's exactly it. I think in this day and age, it's a perspective (on both sides, liberal or conservative, religious or non) of "Believe what I say or I'll hurt you, I'm right and you are WRONG!!!" Trust me - I know at some point I'll get flamed out because I'm a conservative Catholic and just being okay with admitting that will offend some people.  While I read 50 Shades, I didn't like the portrayal of the relationship as "okay" in terms of interactions between two lovers. My perspective had NOTHING to do with premarital sex, light BDSM, etc. It had everything to do with how I view love in general and how it bothered me that someone was that hurt and wounded. What goes on behind closed doors between two lovers is a "noneya" in my opinion - none of my opinion, and none of yours as long as laws aren't being broken. Like · 22 hrs · Edited Betsy Cutts I'm in a super religious community and see this kind of stuff all the time. People have even bragged to me about "cleaning up" some of our books "for the children". Like its they're responsibility to censor every book to their values just in case a kid, shared values or not, reads it. Like · 

7 · February 5 at 11:31pm

Reed David I, too, am Catholic, and I, too, can't get behind what she's doing. Like · 

11 · February 5 at 11:34pm

Peter Lawrence-Wehrle I hope you didn't take my post to slag against all Catholics... My parents are Catholic too and they would never do this either... Like · 

1 · 22 hrs

Reed David I didn't take it that way. Like · 14 hrs Stacie Scattergood Ugh. Wtf? Like · 

2 · February 5 at 11:34pm

Amanda Cintron Oh boy. We had a "censor" once that was caught whiting out words in books... Like · 

4 · February 5 at 11:34pm

Hope Bordeaux Yuck. And of course she relies on Google for everything, too. Like · 

5 · February 5 at 11:34pm

Laura Crow Sly I bet a librarian could've helped her find her quote... Like · 

7 · February 5 at 11:35pm

Hope Bordeaux Laura Crow Sly She's too busy with her Sharpie to actually ask about books for her demographic. Like · 

2 · February 5 at 11:36pm · Edited

Laura Crow Sly That whole post is infuriating, as are her holier than thou comments. I hope they made her pay for it and then put a shiny new copy in its place. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ALAthinkTANK/permalink/1005069739565846/

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15 · February 5 at 11:39pm · Edited

Jenny Mondor Well, that's the thing. I'm sure the library just spent MORE taxpayer money buying a replacement copy of the book. Hopefully she paid for the replacement copy, but who knows? Like · 23 hrs · Edited Charley Whalen She lives in Denver. I hope she is on DPL's radar in case she goes on a sharpie censor frenzy in the children's department! Defacing public property and then bragging about her crime online -- bright idea! Like · 

7 · February 5 at 11:42pm

Sarah Stumpf *gag* yeah I hope DPL nails her since she is bragging about vandalism Like · 

7 · February 5 at 11:44pm

Alison Mc Oh shit, yes. Censorship by theft. Like · 

1 · February 5 at 11:46pm

Kathleen O'Brien Blair Well bless her little heart. She's just a very very special snowflake, isn't she? I wonder which Dominionist prayer cell she's a member of. Like · 

8 · February 5 at 11:46pm

Carol Trujillo-Fay Wow...... Like · 

1 · February 5 at 11:53pm

Jeff Rothal She should try out for the Taliban. I hear that they like destroying things that conflict with their narrow view on religion. Like · 

11 · February 5 at 11:53pm

Robert McGrory Go to Mama Needs Coffee's page. I just had a bit of fun on it! Like · 

4 · February 5 at 11:55pm

Steph Fulton

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8 · February 5 at 11:57pm

Katie Karkheck I didn't even read the article because I've encountered this in a variety of ways - usually people leaving "commentary." The thing I find especially funny about "losing" books they find unacceptable is that they are likely paying for them for "losing" them!! I hope the bills are really high! Like · 

4 · Yesterday at 12:05am

Jennifer Stout "Thou Shalt Not Steal" is the 8th Commandment....but I guess if the item in question is a book about gay penguins, God looks the other way. Like · 

2 · 23 hrs

Jamie Elizabeth So she defaced public property...if you don't like it, don't check it out! But please don't ruin materials bought by taxpayer dollars for others! I even worked at a small academic library branch once where some lgbt and queer theory books would disappear or get pages ripped out of them. To me it was appalling that it happened on a college campus. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ALAthinkTANK/permalink/1005069739565846/

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3 · Yesterday at 12:06am

Lupita Garza-Grande I'm also Catholic and some of us are ultra-Catholic, while others - like me - are moderate. But I just have to shake my head at this one. If she really believed she had to share her opinions, she would've left a note, not write on the book. I wonder if the library charged her -- I'm sure they did. Like · 

6 · Yesterday at 12:13am · Edited

Carol Trujillo-Fay I feel so sad; I'm a Catholic, too. I hope TT does not think all religious people are like this. Like · 

6 · Yesterday at 12:15am

Lupita Garza-Grande Carol Trujillo-Fay I hope so, too! Like · 

1 · Yesterday at 12:15am

Carol Trujillo-Fay I've been chastised by Orthodox Catholics a lot in the past 10 years because of my conscience. It's been heartbreaking. Like · 

2 · Yesterday at 12:20am

Lupita Garza-Grande Carol Trujillo-Fay I've had that experience as well, and also by others that think that I'm too conservative. Well, can't please everyone.  Like · 

3 · Yesterday at 12:26am

Carol Trujillo-Fay I'll clink to that Like · 

2 · Yesterday at 12:28am

Julie De Reu As so many of us serve the public, I'm sure we all realize that no one person is representative of a whole group. Just as the Westboro is not representative of Christianity as a whole, nor is this woman a representative of all Catholics. Some, yes, but not all. Like · 10 hrs Abbie Anderson I expect that most of us have come across this. People will check items out in order to keep them out of others' hands; people will move or hide things within the library so that they go Missing. And of course there are the notaters (who can be billed for damage if we catch it when it comes back). Like · Yesterday at 12:34am Abbie Anderson There are also the people who "set aside" a book in the library for their, er, personal use. In my first library, we would find "The Big Book of Masturbation" and "The Joy of Lesbian Sex" in the most unusual places... Like · Yesterday at 12:37am G M Fulton Reilly I'm a Catholic & I got part of the way into this woman's rambling thoughts & gave up. I happen to love And Tango Makes Three. Thank God even though we both call ourselves Catholics we don't actually share the same faith. And an adult defacer of library books should be publicly ostracized. Like · 

7 · Yesterday at 12:49am

Jenna Zarzycki Ugh! This is just gruesome to read through. I can't understand how people could boast about defacing public property!! Like · Yesterday at 1:10am Dee Ann Redman In reality, she accomplished nothing. The library will pull that copy and replace it with a fresh new one. All she did was waste library time and money. With any luck they'll recoup some of that back from her. Like · 

5 · Yesterday at 1:19am

Sydni Abrahamsen I don't understand how hiding things from her children protects them? Couldn't she just explain that it's an opinion that their family doesn't agree with? She turns over magazine covers in the grocery store....just tell your kids that you think the images objectify women and that's a bad thing! Hiding it will only make them more curious! Like · 

12 · Yesterday at 1:49am

Stefanie Davis And one day those same kids have to enter the real world that they've never been https://www.facebook.com/groups/ALAthinkTANK/permalink/1005069739565846/

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exposed to. Unless they join a convent or something. Like · 

2 · Yesterday at 2:00am

Alison Mc EXACTLY. Like · Yesterday at 2:31am Katie Moellering This! Like · Yesterday at 7:13am Alec McFarlane This reminds me of "The Way of the Bull". One of a nunber of books written by Leo Buscaglia, the University of California - UCLA 'Professor of Love' from the 70's, and how it relates to this parent of note. Leo sold everything he owned and set about to learn what he knew the least about. Part of his narrative is about how "the raw pain, suffering, and death in the streets" was so evident. Leo was not talking about depravity, he was talking about the same pain, suffering and death that we do not see in America. Set in Asia this was about seeing the reality of things where we "white sheet" them. The must see part is where he gets smacked over the head by this "non-violent monk". Like · 

1 · Yesterday at 3:15am

William Walker Knyth This article's author is really far too 'good old times' in their view of the past and the level of adult or sexually relevant material found in expressions of culture. This also reminds me way too much of the lunatics who leave fake 100$ bills with bible verses on them, clearly very few people care about hearing your views if this is how you resort to expressing them. Like · 

1 · Yesterday at 3:26am

Joslyn Bowling The comment section is even worse. And why is the picture representing the article or blog of woman's thighs and crotch area with short shorts or whatever is going on? The article and comments go into this whole tangent about sexualized images being shoved down the collective poor innocent souls of the world, so for a mom blog, I don't get that picture of thighs part in the Wholesome Crusade. Also she is dead wrong. What about families with two dads? Don't they have a right to see their experience reflected in children's books? I guess God only loves hetero, nuclear families. SMH Like · Yesterday at 6:03am Noreen O'Gara As a Catholic w 12 years in Catholic schools under the tutelage of nuns and Jesuits, I can assure you that the Catholic Church does not condone destruction of public property, vandalism, or theft. I can't imagine what her confessor thinks as she retells these crimes in the confessional. She missed many parts of the RC message. Like · 

10 · Yesterday at 6:54am

Nicole Langley My response was going to be virtually the same as yours, Noreen. Like · 

1 · Yesterday at 7:38am

Amy Whitfield Once I opened a children's book of classical paintings only to find that someone has taken the time to cover the nipples and other private bits with pieces of sticky note. This even included the nipples of cherubs. Their censorship is kind of what made it dirty and noteworthy. No one would've noticed without their help. Luckily they chose a method that was easily repaired. If you can't handle cherub nipples, you have some big issues. Like · 

15 · Yesterday at 7:03am

Jenna Zarzycki Oh man, you have a sticky-noter too? They hit our nonfiction section on Art pretty hard. Like · 22 hrs Erinn Black Salge If you want to make yourself really mad read the comments about a woman's duty to dress chastely so that way she doesn't provide the nearest occasion of sin for men. I have to say I work at a catholic high school and while I don't practice that religion the overwhelming majority of my coworkers would be horrified by this article Like · 

4 · Yesterday at 8:38am

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ALAthinkTANK/permalink/1005069739565846/

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Paula Wideman Wagner Our small public library is located in a community with a large number of Amish patrons. A local author who is ex-Amish wrote a book that detailed all of the abuses that she experienced during her years growing up in her Amish family. The local Amish community was so upset by this book that we received angry letters telling us to get rid of it and a couple of patrons admitted to burning it in the fireplace. They couldn't believe that they had to pay for it & that we were buying a new copy. Like · 

5 · Yesterday at 9:04am

Stefanie Davis And there are likely some books detailing sex abuse by priests. Like · 

1 · Yesterday at 9:09am

Paula Wideman Wagner Stefanie Davis, most definitely. Like · Yesterday at 9:11am Glenna Furbush Wisniewski I have found books hidden on the tops of book shelves, turned around binding in, slid behind other books & yes, plenty of notes, " reviews" etc written in & on items ( books & movies). I have a patron who writes reviews in books that has no agenda, just feels their opinion on a book is warranted I guess. And then there was the mom who didn't like the exercise videos displayed at child eye level because they were "provocative" Like · Yesterday at 9:21am · Edited Joey Merritt I think it's worse than this, she checked out a book that she doesn't like and now she blames the library. Let's send her to Sarah Palin so we can blame someone, anyone, for our failures to be responsible for our own actions and/lack thereof. PS I have no problem with the book or,that is it on the shelves. Like · Yesterday at 9:32am Stefanie Davis I had a patron try to debate with me about whether the library should own the book "Two Boys Kissing" or anything similar. I just said we collect for everyone and left it at that. Then said patron started asking me if we got government money and were influenced by it to purchase certain items. Like · 

1 · 23 hrs

Steph Fulton ummmmmm...... Like · 21 hrs Andrea Legg Well, that was horrifying.  Like · 23 hrs Maurice Baldgeekinmd Coleman Religious extremism of any type is scary. Your right enforce your beliefs stops at the end of your fingertips. Don't like the book, don't open the book, don't read the book. Everyone wins. Like · 

3 · 23 hrs

Katie M. Lewis Yikes. She should censor, I mean select, her books before she takes them home from the library since she is so easily disturbed by the world. Sorry if that sounds harsh. But her perspective is so narcissistic. Like · 

1 · 23 hrs · Edited

Darcy Gaudette Too bad that a book that was vandalized is just discarded and a new one purchased to replace it. A for effort though. Like · 

1 · 23 hrs

Ana Cuprill Censorship is more than publicly banning books. This kind of censorship is the worst: Books going "missing", or "edited" with black marker. Like · 

2 · 23 hrs

Robert McGrory Your rights end where my religion begins. Like · 22 hrs T Moshi Ren-Tsu Ugh. Catholics have a rich tradition of scholarly study, and at best an ecumenical, tolerant worldview. Obviously none of this has breached her sanctimonious little mindset, however. It simply never occurs to her that there may be other people who would want to have a book like that for their own families, of whatever structure, and that she has no right to tell others what they should read. This is not a theocracy, and even if it https://www.facebook.com/groups/ALAthinkTANK/permalink/1005069739565846/

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were, she's not the mullah, so she doesn't get to decide for others. I so loathe this act where people plead oppression while they try to stamp out other people's freedoms, freedom to read, freedom of religion, etc. Like · 

4 · 22 hrs · Edited

Daniel Lane Intentionally losing or defacing library materials is theft. Catholicism, along with all Abrahamic Faiths consider the 10 Commandments sacrosanct. "Thou Shall Not Steal." Like · 

5 · 22 hrs

Andrea Cummings Exactly!!! Who in their God fearing, right mind would justify that? and how? Someone, somewhere loved that book. And just because your tax dollars paid for it and you disagree with it, my tax dollars paid for it too, and I want equal access for all! Like · 

2 · 22 hrs

Meg Schiebel One of the comments is really great. The commenter mentions the fact that she struggles with the post because as a catholic and mother, she would hate to have had that happen to her. On the other hand, she has a gay friend and recognizes that it is a public library and that family would've probably been overjoyed to find a book that relates to their family just in with the regular books and not in a special place.  Obviously, we as librarians are outraged. My mouth literally dropped when she casually mentions that she defaced a library book. And luckily, I have never had pushback on that particular title. I did have a GLBT display in my children's room for almost all of June last year and only had one complaint. I feel lucky that I do not have patrons like her who feel entitled to deface library property. Like · 22 hrs Steph Fulton I didn't sleep much last night as for some reason, this really got to me. I am currently having a similar (although not as extensive) "discussion" with one of my volunteers who says they may have to stop volunteering. I have calmly explained numerous times that we cannot bring our own personal beliefs and/or prejudices to work. I sincerely hope DPL charge her with criminal damage and then revoke her library card, but I have a feeling that won't stop her. What a role model for her children...pfft. Like · 

1 · 21 hrs

Carol Trujillo-Fay I think she frequents the Arapaho county public library. Like · 

1 · 10 hrs

Laura Wettersten I commented. I couldn't help myself. It's just horrible. Like · 

3 · 19 hrs

Kayla Kim Those comments! I need a drink. Like · 

3 · 19 hrs

Steph Fulton She has absolutely no self-awareness. The self-righteousness is nauseating. I've said my piece and will not give her more oxygen. Like · 

3 · 18 hrs

Linda Prussein I am sure that a century ago, she would be against women voting and a supporter of slavery Like · 

2 · 18 hrs

Christine Yvette Gods, nothing I could say hasn't already been said. I'm mostly sorry for what she's doing to her poor children. Talk about innocent victims... Like · 

1 · 16 hrs

Kerry Dwyer I so wish this post hadn't compelled me to read her nonsense and up the stats on her post. Like · 

3 · 13 hrs

Beth Saxton Yeah, when those books need replacing I buy two, so keep trying lady. Like · 

7 · 12 hrs

Christine Yvette In a more positive vein, I adore this book! It's such a sweet story, all the more so because it's something that really happened. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ALAthinkTANK/permalink/1005069739565846/

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3 · 11 hrs

Stacie Scattergood You all give me hope for the future of our country. Thank you. Like · 

5 · 11 hrs

Carol Trujillo-Fay I just commented on her Facebook to ask for a reconsideration of materials form and to ask the librarians for help in finding appropriate books for her family. I hope I wasn't too snarky. Like · 

3 · 10 hrs

Sonja Barfoed Laughed and laughed: "...sexualised and demonic..." (disgusting comments too) Like · 7 hrs

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