Who Decides What America Reads?...Continued from page 1

Carmen Rockett

If, however, we consider the library as a social force with the power to direct to some extent man’s demand . . . we will not be content to leave demand our only consideration.

It is a matter of deliberately privileging some documents over others . . . The books placed in the shelves, in the reader’s face, so to speak, carry an implicit endorsement: These you should read; these are good books for you . . . Other materials, those not selected for (or weeded from) the collection, are actively (though implicitly) treated as less suitable for readers. (London: Grafton, 1925)

How does this affect unknowing library patrons? Mike Davis explains the impact by putting it in terms of an impressionable child left by his parents to browse in the library. Not only will he pick up and absorb what is placed before him in the library, but he will unconsciously begin to make value judgments about what is not on the shelves. “It must not be important if it’s not in the library.”

Great minds, including ministers and statesmen, built our earliest libraries for the purposes of improving and serving the public. The library belongs to the public and should represent fairly the needs and beliefs of the population. What does our population believe? In 2001, according to the American Religious Identification Survey (http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm), 77 percent of Americans consider themselves Christians. That means that 77 percent of the taxpayers in this country hold these Christian values. Library collections simply do not reflect the flavor of the American public, nor do they indicate that our tax dollars are being spent in a way with which we agree.

The implications extend beyond the obvious. Ephesians 6:11-13 puts this into perspective: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Satan wants our hearts as well as the hearts of our children. He will use every tactic possible to snatch a soul, and what better way than through entertaining or educational books?

Consider this

quote by Nobel Literature Prize winner, Saul Bellow: “There is only one way to defeat the enemy, and that is to write as well as one can. The best argument is an undeniably good book.” This statement holds true whether the information you present is truth or fiction, whether it is uplifting or demoralizing. Words move people’s souls and change value systems. European dictator Adolph Hitler realized this while striving to bring East Germany and all of Europe under his iron grip. He believed firmly in the power of the written word, as is seen in this quote from his autobiography, Mein Kampf (www.hitler.org/writings/mein_kampf): “For even propaganda is no more than a weapon, though a frightful one in the hand of an expert.”