Am I the only one that is tickled by the fact that library assistance are called “pages?” 
Make that “assistants.” What in the FUCK is wrong with me?
It’s not just books on Wicca. It’s that whole section of the Library. We replace the almost the whole 133 Section (new age, occult, witchcraft, prophecy) ever two years. Not because of censors but because of people who find it easier to steal books than to buy them.
The censors are at the front desk yelling because the bodice ripper that they checked out, the one with a half naked man and woman on the cover, had sex in it. Or that the movie they’ve checkout four times still has a glimpse of a woman’s breast in it.
When I worked at Waldenbooks, this fellow came in, bought every copy of LaVey’s Satanic Bible we had - several, I don’t know why - and tore them up right in front of us. The situation’s quite different, since he was well within his rights to do so (and the bible itself ain’t worth shit), but I concur about the proliferation of craaaazies in the world he seem to want nothing more than to eradicate what offends them.
The fellow didn’t seem to care that we could just order more books, or that at worse he was drumming up artificial demand.
Yep, it’s far more likely to be people who can’t be bothered to buy books on this stuff, than people who are Censoring Evil Books (though that happens sometimes too). The other books that always disappear are the sex ed ones, esp. from school libraries–kids are too embarrassed to check them out, but need them desperately. Librarians just replace the books, knowing that they’ll vanish again.
If you speak with the librarian and she/he doesn’t seem very interested, like someone else mentioned (though for the parking thing instead) you could go to the local news stations. One might be interested in picking up something like that, and if the library comes under fire from the public, they might be more willing to keep an eye on things.
And I understand about the “unofficial” censorship crap… I stopped using the little local library because so many people stole “objectionable” books or marked them out. When I was little, a librarian even discussed one of my choices with my mother, stating it might not be appropriate.
(bolding mine)
Nothing wrong with that.
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
I would think they would do that if an emergency is actually in progress; not to do light shopping.
[quote]
What do you propose they do with their rig, park it in the “compact” spaces?
It is a “yes” on both accounts, both legal and “proper”. Chances are, that if they’re shopping at a local gorcery, they are the local emergency response team and can handle whatever emergency arises either in the parking lot, shopping center or the store itself.
For that matter, if they arrived there on an emergency call, they’d park there anyways and other emergency vehicles would have to navigate around them as well.
Of what? Of emergency vehicles using emergency parking?
Holy moses Kalhoun. I’d say you’re being a bit…ummm…uptight. It is “legal”, “proper”, and “customary” in most geographical areas. Parking as they did provides them quick access out of or into another emergency situation. Using provided parking for regular-sized non-emergency vehicles would hinder response time.
Sam
Cutting out the “naughty bits” of library books with a razor blade, huh? Normally, I’m not one for the old “eye for an eye”…
Basically, what I think that it boils down to is that it doesn’t feel “fair”. Yeah, yeah I know that these guys are out there saving lives and being brave and shit, but when I have been trolling the parking lot for 10 minutes looking for a spot and some dude just pulls up to a fire lane an gets out to go buy lunch a primitive part of my lizard brain seethes with resentment. This also holds true for UPS and FedEx. Not saying that it’s right, just that I can understand why it feels subjectively annoying.
Orbifold, that person then checked out the book I’m currently reading (Death Rites), as starting halfway through a patron used a heavy, bleeding, black marker to remove every cuss word.
Except I wasn’t little little. And it was for fairly innocent books, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Yep. Really makes things a pain for those of us who at least ATTEMPT to return our library books, too.
Ok, this line made me laugh, especially as I head out the door for four hours at the reference desk during a break between semesters. There will be two of us there - and although “pantingly eager” is perhaps not quite correct…it might be seen as fairly close to the truth!
One library’s response to censorship vandalism.
I find it really amusing that someone would go to the trouble only to give up so early in the game.
And inre the OP: damnit, tax dollars are paying for those books. Raise a stink with any and everyone you can find. In a sense, you do own those books.
Waste
You have to wonder about the mentality of these people. I can’t think of any motivation for it that makes even the remotest bit of sense.
Of course that’s not saying much people do things all the time that I don’t understand.
When I checked out Drew Carey’s book “Dirty Jokes and Beer” I found that most of the chapter entitled “101 Big Dick Jokes” had been cut out. Probably not a censor. More than likely it was someone too lazy to make their own crib sheet. :rolleyes:
Too much cartoon-watching, not enough library-visiting.
It happens with role-playing game books, too. I don’t think I’ve seen an actual AD&D rulebook on the library shelf in my entire life (33 years). They’re in the card catalog (now the computer database), but they just don’t exist on the shelves.
The sad thing is that I can’t figure out whether it’s fundie loons deciding to save the children from eternal damnation or the damn kids who are too cheap to actually buy the books.