I’m not quite getting the “call to action” thing either. It was providing help to a probably confused poster who might then make a phone call to the state librarian’s office. I doubt anyone else would, seeing that the OP’s premise was quickly debunked in the thread.
If CairoCarol had posted the state librarian’s address and home phone number, that would’ve been a different story.
Carl Hiaasen might be amused at the thread’s premise and accompanying kerfuffle, and incorporate it into a future novel.
A friend of mine works at a public library, and talks about the decisions that go into which books to order and shelve (or not) at his library.
Assuming that your local library staff isn’t incompetent (yes, yes, I know), it may be that they just don’t see those books and genres circulating often (particularly as those particular authors, prominent as they are in their genres, have been dead for decades), and thus, don’t carry them, as they take shelf space away from the genres and authors that are in demand at that branch.
Libraries have to make these calls.
The library I volunteered at, when the Twilight series was big stuff we got 20 calls a day(small library) about getting on the wait list. (The phone was always answered with courtesy. And aid provided)
Our old, experienced Head Librarian would not order more than the 2 copies we had.
She wisely knew by the time we would get them the run would be over.
Sometimes, some librarians get in a kick of purging books and make weird calls. Sometimes management gets a weird idea and purges books.
But the guidelines generally follow circulation. Books that don’t circulate tend to get purged. Duplicates get bought when books are new and popular, but then get purged when the craze dies down.
I’ll admit, when I first quickly read CairoCarol’s post, I thought it was a not-so-subtle suggestion to call the library and complain about this supposed banning. After this kerfuffle, I reread the post and realized that was my misinterpretation based on my assumptions and reading too fast. She wasn’t suggesting that at all.
But I do understand how people could come away with that impression.
Broadly, that’s certainly true. My suspicion is that your local branch just doesn’t have a high demand for science fiction or mystery books (given how they shelve them), and, by extension, those authors.
Either that, or the chief librarian doesn’t personally like those genres.
This is absolutely 100% untrue. They have been dead for decades. They hang on at most libraries solely due to inertia. The circulation is not there anymore.
As for posting a library’s contact information as “doxxing”… while it is public information, in this particular case it was wildly inappropriate.
If someone is ranting about secret book bans, the only appropriate response is to tell them that that is not happening. In 2025, even entertaining that idea and telling them to talk to a librarian about it seems dangerous.
That list doesn’t say that. It asked for the greatest of all time, and included Frederik Pohl, who I bet most modern readers have never heard of.
You could find a list of the ten greatest American mainstream writers and I bet you could go to most local libraries and not find all ten.
Librarians know that most patrons want new books. They know this because they have circulation figures on every book and can see the books that sit on shelves for years without ever being checked out. Those get culled because bookshelf space is scarce and expansion is expensive.
Access to the books is still possible. I’m sure that virtually all public libraries are inside systems. All the libraries in my county share a single computer access catalog. Put a reserve on any book in the catalog and pick it up at any library and return it at any library. No cost, even though the city and each town library are financed out of separate budgets. The librarians get together and decide who is going to order which books to be sure that as many as possible get into the computer.
Robert A. Heinlein does not have a single book in my local city branch library. But there are 58 titles when I search the catalog (including books about him).
You are absolutely right. I got off on a tangent.I apologize. What my point was meant to be is that just because a library doesnt have a copy of a certain book, that doesnt mean they have banned it. Even if the whole of the LA County Library doesnt have a copy of say- the Moon is a harsh Mistress- it doesnt mean it is banned. There can be a dozen reasons why they dont.
And harassing a library , asking why they “banned” a book just because they dont have that title is a poor idea, which is why I agreed here with that Mod note. So i was agreeing with What_Exit, altho very poorly worded.
Posted this in the original thread just now. I missed it all somehow earlier in the week. Curious, I decided to see how long it took me to find out about St. Louis Public Library’s Hiassen holdings. In less than 30 seconds I found that there were 40 records in various formats. That’s 10 pages of holdings.
CairoCarol didn’t in any way suggest the OP should harrass the librarian or demand to know why a book was banned. Several posters made different suggestions to the OP, including showing that the book is available. The OP continued to argue that it wasn’t. CairoCarol posted:
But I bet if you call them, they can point you in the right direction"
with public work contact information for a professional who would be able to help the OP. Posters had already demonstrated that the book wasn’t banned and was available. Her post was one of a series of efforts to assist the OP, not a call to action and with no suggestion that the OP should confront the librarian about the book.
Having myself worked in libraries, I also say that librarians consider providing information about library holdings to be a pretty key aspect of their job. We certainly welcomed such inquiries.
As a librarian (and, in particular, one who has worked in my own state library in the past), I am of two minds about this. On the one hand, I agree that noting the contact information of a person which is published on the state’s own website is not really inappropriate, and it is true that librarians are generally happy to help people find information. On the other hand, I’m not sure that the State Librarian of Missouri is the best person to contact about this particular question.
The State Librarian (of any state) is for the most part an administrative position, concerned with things like budgets, long-term planning, grants, and things like that. In addition, while most of them are open to the general public, state libraries exist largely to provide data and information to state government. They don’t have any particular authority, or even knowledge, of the specific holdings of any given public library. Despite the grandiose title, the State Librarian is not in charge of every library in the state, not even indirectly.
Questions about what books are (or are not) available in a particular library are better directed to the reference department of that library. Reference librarians will be glad to help people find the books they’re looking for, and will usually be able to offer interlibrary loan services if their own library doesn’t have the book that’s needed.