“[Prior Wasilla mayor John] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. ‘She asked the library how she could go about banning books,’ he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. ‘The librarian was aghast.’ That woman, Mary Ellen Baker [later Emmons], couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving ‘full support’ to the mayor.”
*I was originally gonna go with “Fuck Off, Sarah Palin,” but decided to focus on the positive.
Before I heard this news, I merely disliked Palin’s political/ideological stances. This makes me dislike HER. No one messes with my library books!
“We do not state these propositions in the comfortable belief that what people read is unimportant. We believe rather that what people read is deeply important; that ideas can be dangerous; but that the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. Freedom itself is a dangerous way of life, but it is ours.”
– from the Freedom to Read Statement, a joint statement made in 1953 by the American Library Association and the American Book Publishers Council
By: cate3710 on September 3, 2008
at 7:15 am
Fantastic quote.
By: LipstickLibrarian on September 3, 2008
at 7:53 am
I came across it in my reading for library school and immediately added it my favorite quotes on Facebook.
(Why yes, I AM a nerd.)
By: cate3710 on September 3, 2008
at 8:20 am
Mary Ellen – stand up for the right thing! Go on KTUU and tell the truth. One little issue…its a big one so lets get it out there!
By: come out Mary Ellen! on September 3, 2008
at 11:13 pm
This woman has sent me into too many fits of rage over the past few days, but when I read about this, it seriously sent me over the edge. Does anyone know what books she tried to ban?
By: sigourneyfever on September 4, 2008
at 6:39 am
SF, I haven’t been able to find a reliable report on any specific titles.
By: LipstickLibrarian on September 4, 2008
at 8:40 pm
Ms Palin did not fire the librarian. Ms Palin asked the librarian if requested would she pull books. The librarian stated she would not. Ms Palin sent a letter to the librarian and several other people that had been appointed by the previous mayor asking them to resign. The librarian did not resign. However she chose to quit in 1999. There were no specific requests for any particular books. That is why you cannot find a list. The librarian does not want to speak to the news media for personal reasons.
By: Justthefacts on October 19, 2008
at 3:36 pm