A CALIFORNIAN CONTROVERSY:
BILL RESPONDS

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Following the initial reporting of the book ban, the local newspaper, The Victorville Daily Press, published a series of opinion pieces, beginning with a response by the offical who instigated the ban, Bill Postmus.

Bill Postmus Responds - 23 April, 2006
Suzanne Oliver, retired librarian - 23 April, 2006
Editorial, Victorville Daily Press - 23 April, 2006

Opinion: Protecting Children Should Come First
by Bill Postmus
Victorville Daily Press
23 April, 2006

Bill Postmus is Chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, and the individual who ordered the removal of Manga: Sixty Years Of Japanese Comics from the libraries within the San Bernardino County.

Many concerned county residents have written to my office recently as a result of the decision I made last week to remove an inappropriate book from the San Bernardino County Library System. While some who have contacted my office regarding this matter have been supportive of my action, some of those who wrote to my office complained about the removal of the book and accused me of interfering with the ability of adults to view the books. The books in question, which had been checked out by a minor from the Victorville Branch library, describes the history of Japanese comics and contains reproductions of pornographic cartoons.

I want to assure the citizens of San Bernardino County that I will not back down from my original decision to remove this particular book from the library. As an elected official, I have an obligation to respect the values of my constituents and to do what is right.

There is no doubt in my mind that my decision to remove this book was the right thing to do and that this decision has the support of virtually everyone the library is in business to serve. As a public agency, the county has an obligation to protect the public, especially children.

I personally viewed the material in question before making the decision to have the book pulled. I found it to be offensive and disturbing. The book contains explicit and violent sexual images. I saw nothing in those pictures that was instructional or that advocated a legitimate viewpoint. I am convinced that there is no way this material could possibly enrich our community.

Some have accused me of censorship. Removal of this book is not censorship. The County has discretion over what books we choose to include in our library collection and what books we choose not to include. Since a library cannot carry every book that has ever been published, it must decide to carry some books and not others. The county has decided to no longer carry this book.

That is not censorship. If someone wants to read the book, they can obtain a copy from another source.

The word censorship does not apply in this case. Censorship would be preventing the book from being published and read, which the county obviously does not have the ability to do. The County is not preventing adults from viewing what they choose to view.

However, I do not believe the county has an obligation to provide this type of material for them at taxpayer expense. And considering that the Library currently has no measures in place to prevent children from checking out these materials, I had an obligation to have the book in question removed.

In addition to removing the book, as Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors I made an executive decision to direct the County Library System to take additional steps to protect the children who use our libraries. I have requested that the library develop a method for protecting children by creating a policy or procedure for controlling which books are available to be checked out by children.

We have a responsibility to protect our children and this type of material should not be so easily accessible. We also need to take a closer look to ensure that tax dollars aren't being used to purchase any other kinds of filth such as was found in the book in question.

Opinion: Valley Voices
Of Libraries & Censorship
Dangerous Step On Fahrenheit 451 Road
By Suzanne Oliver
Victorville Daily Press
23 April, 2006

Suzanne Oliver is a retired Librarian, and served as the Branch Manager at the Victorville Library for 15 years.

Now I've heard it all - rewriting library policy based on the unfounded allegations that a book is a "porn comic." I just wanna say, "Get real." OK, so someone has accomplished something. According to my online library news, a couple of uninformed people have had their names spread 'round the world for what they've done, but not in a positive light. They are now laughingstocks, and sadly the Victorville Library is well known because of their foolhardy actions.

What started it all was Manga; Sixty Years of Japanese Comics, the book that was demanded to be removed from library shelves but is simply a history and criticism of a Japanese art form. Even the Japanese didn't like some of the comic characters and banned them. But this book discusses that and gives examples. It is not unlike the books on First Amendment rights which give examples of protected materials.

Needless to say, I was surprised when I read the first article (Good grief, Charlie Brown! Family stunned by porn comics at library - Daily Press, April 12). There are no comics in the 741.5 area - only books discussing comics and history.

However, I was dismayed at the follow-up story on Thursday (April 13). Miguel Gonzalez managed in 24 hours to stir up a bee's nest by spreading his misinformation. News is news but this is unwarranted trouble.

Here is how I see the stone rolling and gathering moss. The action will be to remove all offensive materials from library shelves. Remember that this is subjective - everyone in the community can demand his recommendations be recognized because precedent has been set. But librarians will do their best to accommodate.

First, they will remove some children's books (the pictures might be too scary), all fairytales will be tossed, occult, alien, paranormal, religion, First Amendment rights materials and many court cases, medical books, art books, and possibly some travel and history books will have to be destroyed, too. But that's just in the non-fiction section, and I might have missed some.

Let's "weed" the fiction section, it's ripe for picking - no more romance novels, foreign novellas, fantasy and science fiction, and definitely no contemporary westerns (have you seen them lately)? These titles would not be allowed in the recorded book section either. Videos would be heavily censored and magazines would be almost nonexistent - except for maybe crocheting, knitting and quilting.

I don't mean to bring up unexciting reading material, but everyone should go to the library and ask to read "The Library Bill of Rights" and "The Freedom to Read" adopted by the American Library Association Council many years ago. Also of interest is "The Freedom to View" drafted by the Educational Film Library Association's Freedom to View Committee and adopted by its Board of Directors in 1979. Plus, don't miss your own library's "Materials Selection Policy" - a well written document that does not and should not be revised. Included in the packet will be the "Materials Complaint Policy" and "Materials Complaint Procedure" as well as a "Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials" form. Above all, when you have a complaint, see the Manager. Be informed.

By the way, if you really want to stay away from offensive material, I can tell you where not to go... ah, but you probably already know that. Oh yes, there are shelves of Manga comics and others like them where I bought mine.

A parting thought: Have you read Fahrenheit 451 yet? Now is the time.

Editorial: Our Opinion - Silencing the library
by Steve Williams
Victorville Daily Press
23 April, 2006

Over on Op-Ed today, two people who should be familiar with the situation square off over allegations that the Victorville Public Library is in the business of distributing - or, to put it in its more proper light, making available - pornographic material.

The whole tempest in a teapot, which is what it is, began when a 16-year-old Victorville minor checked out a reference work on Japanese art (Manga: Sixty years Of Japanese Comics), and when he and his mother discovered some of the work depicted sexual acts, they complained to the county's public library system via a letter and demanded removal of the reference work.

The county refused to do so.

County Library Collection Development Coordinator Nannette Bricker-Barret was quoted in a Daily Press story detailing the confrontation that it is not up to the library system to determine what under-age members should view.

"It is the parents' responsibility, since the library does not act as a parent," was her comment. She added, "It is the library's responsibility to offer a broad spectrum of materials, not to exclude materials," then pointed out that it has been placed in the library's adult collection. We're trying to understand what's wrong with that but can't. The work, said in a Daily Press story to be filed with other "comics" in the library, was, in fact, separated and on a higher shelf from other "comics."

A follow-up to the first story came when the county's First District Supervisor, Bill Postmus, inserted himself into the middle of the dust-up by ordering that the offending material be removed from the library. That was followed by letters to the editor of the Daily Press - one from Suzanne Oliver, who served as the branch manager of the Victorville public library for 15 years. The letters properly decried what is, in the writers' view and in our own, improper censorship on Supervisor Postmus' part, an intrusion into library matters prompted by what seem clearly to be political considerations.

But back to the Op-Ed page today and further commentary from Mr. Postmus and Ms. Oliver. Mr. Postmus, in defending his order to remove the material, argues, "As an elected official, I have an obligation to respect the values of my constituents and to do what is right." He also says his order to remove the book was not censorship because it can be purchased and read by the public elsewhere.

Which brings up the whole question of why taxpayers should fund public libraries in the first place. Aren't the libraries there to serve the literary interests of the general public. And if that's so, does Mr. Postmus have an obligation to "respect the values" of all his constituents? Or just those with whom he agrees?

As for Ms. Oliver, her fear is that Mr. Postmus' action "will be to remove all offensive materials from library shelves. Remember that this is subjective - everyone in the community can demand his recommendations be recognized because precedent has been set."

Exactly.

Soon, if people who objected to the work in question get their way, we will see the library's shelves stripped of such works as Lady Chatterly's Lover, the Tropic of Cancer, most of the works of Shakespeare (those who've been enlightened about his double and triple entendres know that old Will was pretty pornographic himself) and most other writers of the last century or so.

All of this, of course, will eventually lead to empty shelves - except for the occasional Superman comic book and a few of the Nancy Drew mysteries - and, inevitably, empty libraries. And if the libraries are empty, how long will it take city, county, state and federal government busybodies to declare they're no longer needed and simply shut them down? Not very long, we're here to guarantee.

Will that be a loss? Only to those who love libraries, literature and liberty. Count us among them.

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