FWD: Re: [Publib] Threats Force SC Library to Cancel Summer Program -6/20/2007 8:00:00 AM - School Library Journal

[Sue Bowser]

In a time long,long ago in a library far, far away we did a patron survey.  One patron wrote that she was "tolerant" of the fact that we had books on other religions.  The next day the Booklist featuring books on religion arrived.  I took great delight in testing her tolerance by buying books on every religion I could find.

At that same library I had the bright idea one year for some children's programming.  There was a Friday the Thirteenth in July so we had a Halloween in July program - storyteller who slowly dressed herself as a witch, teen volunteers turning the meeting room into a haunted house, and spooky stories around a fire at dusk.  

When the press release came out my phone started ringing.  First I got a call at home from a man who was concerned because the Bible said it was wrong to scare children.  He did ask around and determined that I was "a good Christian woman," which was more than I could guarantee myself, so he was depending on my good nature to cancel the programs.  I finally convinced him that we would be very careful not to frighten the children and we really weren't doing anything Satanic.

On to the library where I got a call from a local pastor.  My secret weapon there was that I knew his children and knew they were fanatic Dungeons and Dragons players.  When I compared our programs to that game he backed down and even confessed that his church had a haunted house each Halloween to lead kids to Jesus.

Finally an assistant minister from a very fundamentalist church came to the library to protest. He was so clean cut he would have made a Mormon missionary look like a crack addict. If he had been Catholic he would have had his crucifix held between him and me to protect him from the devil. When he finally decided he could not change my pagan heart he promised he would be back the next day to picket the programs.  Wow, what great publicity for the library!  Our first protest picket!

Came the next day there was no picket line.  There were 20-30 small children thrilled by the witch storyteller. There were 100+ who had a great time going through the haunted house, although not half as much fun as the volunteers who created it, and we couldn't get the people to leave the camp fire.  We kept our stories low keyed but then the public started telling some pretty spooky tales. Oh, any scared kids?  Only one small child whose mother made her go through the haunted house after we tried to talk her out of it.

Well, that's enough reminiscing. Think I'll go and trash a nightclub on my lunch break.


Sue Bowser
Manager, Adult Services
Lancaster Public Library
125 N. Duke St.
Lancaster, PA 17602
(717) 394-2651 x117
Fax (717) 394-3083
sbowser at lancaster.lib.pa.us

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "myp_chan at yahoo.com" <myp_chan at yahoo.com>
Date:  Fri, 29 Jun 2007 07:26:36 -0700 (PDT)

Zen garden and yoga programs were objected to as
"promoting other religions." 

Should I take this to mean that the library should be
promoting one particular religion?

The only "threat" meantioned in the article was
picketing. Is that really serious enough to cancel a
program so many people would undoubtedly enjoy? What
next - are they going to pull all their Harry Potter
books from the shelves because a few nutcases object
to it?

Shame on them.

Linda



       
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