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Arizona Library Grapples with Four Separate ChallengesThe board of Chandler (Ariz.) Public Library unanimously decided November 15 to retain two items in the face of patron complaints, and is declining to move two others to different parts of the library collection. All four objections, which are unrelated to each other, were brought shortly before the September 29–October 6, 2007, celebration of Banned Books Week. The board had received a request from complainant Patricia Wira to remove comedian George Carlin’s audiobook When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? systemwide due to what Wira termed Carlin’s anti-Christian tone as well as his “sewer mouth and degraded mindset,” the Phoenix Arizona Republic reported October 3. Trustees also declined to pull the Phoenix New Times from the Hamilton branch as requested by area resident Larry Edwards, who had contended that the alternative weekly’s advertising and editorial content was inappropriate for students at Hamilton High School, which shares the joint-use library. Two other titles will remain in the same sections in which complainants first encountered them. Kathleen Subia had asked that Where Willy Went by Nicholas Allan be moved from the children’s shelves to a restricted parenting collection, explaining in the September 21 Republic that her 7-year-old brought the book to her during a library visit and “I don’t like being forced into having a discussion about sex.” Also challenged was an episode of Faerie Tale Theatre on DVD narrated by Robin Williams, which patron Sandy Ashbaugh wanted moved from the children’s to the adult section. Daniel Pochoda, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, wrote a letter to the board October 2 asking them not to remove or relocate any materials, arguing that “The fundamental right to freedom of choice and to receive all ideas would be violated by removal or relocation based on the current complaints.” No patrons expressed opposition to the titles at the meeting where the board voted, the East Valley Tribune reported November 16. Posted November 16, 2007. |
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