[Publib] Assault on Reason, Collection Development, and Censorship

[Theresa Grieshaber]

    It seems to me that there is a distinction to be made between the library that stocks only anti-Catholic materials, or only "Christian" fiction, and one which has a stupendous boating collection because its director is an avid sailor.


     I think there is a difference between selecting or censoring  AGAINST  something such as Catholicism,  or secular fiction,  and selecting FOR something such as boating.  

    We are all human beings, and our choices are inevitably going to reflect that.  I once worked in a library that had a number of Jewish people on the staff, and so we had an exceptionally strong Holocaust collection.  

    Someone recently said that if you want a great collection on boating, that you should save it for your own personal collection at home.   It was also said that  following good collection development policies would prevent such a thing from happening.

    Yet, we are all pleased when someone describes our library as having a reputation for a strong collection in  X subject.   Following  very strict collection development guidelines could result in cookie cutter collections across the United States.  

How do you think some of these collection strengths happened in the first place?  It was because interested, knowledgeable people acquired the items that everyone is now so proud of.   Within reason, there's nothing wrong with expressing the personality of the selector.  This is, after all, the age of interlibrary loan.  Having diverse collections is a good thing.  Otherwise interlibrary loan  would neither be possible nor useful.  


        Theresa Grieshaber
         Modesto CA