Get it together, Missouri

This is from Libraries Online, the news & updates portion of ALA's website. Seriously? Are they serious? Are we still banning books? Yes, they should have a collection development policy; however, that's clearly not the real issue here. I'm officially offended on behalf of graphic novels and the Midwest.

Missouri Trustees Pull Graphic Novels, for Now

The board of the Marshall (Mo.) Public Library voted 7–1 October 11 to remove from circulation the two coming-of-age graphic novels Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Blankets by Craig Thompson until trustees have codified a material-selection policy—a process that could take months to complete. “We will then have concrete guidelines for [the books’] appropriateness and for their placement if they are kept,” Board President Anita Wright explained to some 90 citizens who packed the meeting, according to the October 12 Marshall Democrat-News.

Explaining that trustees intended to craft “a lasting policy for any selections to be made in the future,” Wright asserted, “At no point will the policy be written with an attempt to ‘work around’ the materials in question.” Louise Mills, who made the reconsideration request, agreed, telling the Democrat-News, “The policy is definitely needed because currently anything can be brought in or taken out by [the library director].”

“Both board members and staff members will work together on the policy committee,” MPL Director Amy Crump told American Libraries, explaining that “for a variety of reasons” the 16-year-old library has never had written collection-development guidelines.

More time for words

I have to admit that as a former English major, I probably don't use the word "ironic" correctly. That being said, I think it's ironic that now that I'm in library school, I'm not reading very much. I read for class, of course (most of the time), but I miss reading books like The Unbearable Lightness of Being or White Teeth. Books that crack my mind open, that make me say "Holy crap, that's brilliant" or laugh out loud in public places.

And then there's time for writing, too. I feel that if I just scheduled myself a little better (and if Facebook died), I'd write more regularly. Ironically, I did write a poem last week in class. I'm going to post it, and I'm not exactly sure why. It's not quite finished; it's kind of like an in-class exercise (I guess, in this case, literally). It's not based on anything that really happened; I was just thinking about the phrase "gray area" and thought a sonnet would be accomplishable in two hours. Like my previous poem, it is as yet title-less.

[I removed this poem for various and sundry reasons.]

A comic.

I have Evan to thank for this. It comes from www.hingos.com/patches.

Good librarian, bad librarian

I'm reading for my reference class, and the chapter is basically about what is required to be a good reference librarian. Namely, the desire to help people, and a broad knowledge. I've always sort of felt ambivalent about the fact that I try and read about lots of things, but am an expert on nothing. Now here I am training for a profession in which this will be an asset. It's nice to be validated.

On quite the opposite end of the spectrum...here is a link to a "naughty librarian" Halloween costume on Target's website (which I must thank Amy for pointing out to me):
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_9/601-6616518-4856944?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000I6LYI8
It's pretty ridiculous. And expensive. For God's sake, just unbutton your shirt a little, put on your glasses, and carry around a copy of...I don't know, Lady Chatterley's Lover or something. Much more cost-effective.

Meant to be read on October 5

Maybe make a donation here today, if you're so inclined. This may not be an exciting issue, but these people do important work. I still remember the compassion they lent me six years ago.