So, what titles did Sarah Palin attempt to censor from the Wasilla Public Library?
Short answer – I don’t know. I am going to need all your help with this one.
I do have a couple of leads
– The best bet would be if we could get Mary Emmons to make a statement. However, she appears to be very media-shy.
– Ann Kilkenny was active in the backlash against Palin during the censorship battle, and also reported that Palin brought up censoring books at a city council meeting.
- I have e-mailed Kilkenny to see if she can recall titles, and have invited her to visit the blog.
- Can anyone access the Minutes from the Wasilla City Council meetings? We’re looking in the 1996-1997 time-frame.
– Another lead is the Frontiersman article regarding the book banning from 12/18/1996. I have not had any success in getting the original copy of the article, or any articles from the paper. Does anyone have access to it? To our friends in Alaska – microfilm/fiche?
THANK YOU EVERYONE!
Librarians Against Palin! 
Palin asked about censoring books with Wasilla librarian
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1117009&srvc=2008campaign&position=6
Check out this post:
http://www.librarian.net/stax/2366/sarah-palin-vp-nominee/
Comment #11 in the post has a list.
Is this “THE” list?
Don’t know.
Consider it a candidate.
Rex,
Thank you for the suggestion. However, this list is not accurate. While it is a list of commonly banned books, notice that it contains multiple Harry Potter books, which were not published in 1996. Therefore, this list cannot be viewed as credible.
Not sure how accurate this is…but here’s what I’ve found:
http://www.cityofwasilla.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=516
If you need pre-computers articles from an old newspaper, use WorldCat and ILL just like our patrons do! You folks are supposedly librarians–don’t you know how to place interlibrary loan requests?
Surely it is one of these titles:
http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=alaska+ti%3Afrontiersman&fq=dt%3Aser+%3E&qt=advanced
Sheesh.
Let me urge great care in this matter, especially as to purported lists of books Palin wanted banned.
It seems unlikely that such a list actually exists on paper or other media; although few would be more delighted than I were a verifiable instance of such a list be found, I am very confident that her opponent in the gubernatorial race would have produced it ere now.
It seems more likely that a false-flag operation, or mere careless excitement, could produce one or more inauthentic lists, the subsequent debunking of which provides Palin supporters with “evidence” that she’s being unfairly attacked.
This may be an excellent example of the proposition that some things are simply not provable, because we don’t keep written records of everything. It is, perhaps, an argument for more thorough information retention.
This just appeared in Salon.com: List of books Palin wanted banned is fake.
Keep up the good work here!
—A former member of the Northfield (Minn.) Public Library Board
Hi, I’ve also worked with Mary Ellen, when I was a library intern, after she left Wasilla. I would like to reinforce that she is a very professional, nice, and I think private person. She is not someone I knew well personally, but whom I regard highly as a professional.
I think in a profession that guards patron privacy, it is only right that she remain silent about the details of any private interactions she may have had with Palin.
What’s public record, of course, is fair game. And that being the case, there should be no need of a statement from Mary Ellen.
Thanks to everyone still in Alaska who is busy unearthing bound and microfilm materials! Yes, we are information professionals and we will do what we can to get the most accurate information we can to anyone who wants it!
I think a call for the titles is beside the point, and only leads to “the list.”
You asked about access to Wasilla City Council minutes. You can make a public records request – see http://www.cityofwasilla.com/index.aspx?page=217.
“It seems unlikely that such a list actually exists on paper or other media; although few would be more delighted than I were a verifiable instance of such a list be found, I am very confident that her opponent in the gubernatorial race would have produced it ere now.”
You are correct. Such a “list/lists” does not exist. That is precisely why people who share your political persuasion were forced to fabricate one (them).
“It seems more likely that a false-flag operation, or mere careless excitement, could produce one or more inauthentic lists, the subsequent debunking of which provides Palin supporters with ‘evidence’ that she’s being unfairly attacked.”
Please. Do not insult the intelligence of all your readers. The very fact that there have been spurious “lists” of books Palin wanted removed from libraries IS evidence that she is being unfairly attacked. That is self-evident.
“This may be an excellent example of the proposition that some things are simply not provable, because we don’t keep written records of everything.”
Indeed. And some things are not “provable” because they are false. “We” cannot keep written records of fictional lists. Or fictional conversations. Or fictional motives. But that doesn’t seem to stop “us” from discussing them, does it?
“Yes, we are information professionals…”
Really? How nice that you think so.
How nice of you to be so snidely condescending. Just because some overexcited Internet trawler made up a ‘list’ is not, in itself, proof that Palin is being unfairly attacked. It is NOT self-evident, and even saying so makes it obvious that you failed Logic 101 in school.
Don’t insult the intelligence of those here by trying to deal in absolutes.
And really, why come to a site like this and make these comments anyway? You persuade no one, offer no evidence, and sound like a troll.
What a waste of your time, and the time of those who read your inane argument.
Here’s what I’ve been looking at:
1) Paul Stuart, former reporter and managing editor for ‘The Frontiersman’ (from April 1995 to December 1999), knew Palin and Mary Ellen Emmons. He was interviewed by Tom Eastman for the Conway Daily Sun (9/9/08) regarding an interview he had done with ‘Good Morning America’. In the interview, Stuart said he ‘told ABC-TV about Palin’s attempts to have three books removed from the Wasilla town library because she felt they were not appropriate. “I don’t remember the name of the third book, but two of them were ‘Pastor I’m Gay’ and ‘Go Ask Alice,” explaining they were pro-gay books. “I’m not sure if they came out or not, as Wasilla wasn’t my town beat at the time, but she was furious,” Stuart said.”
The above-referenced ‘Conway Daily Sun’ article has been archived and can only be accessed by paid prescription, however, the title is: Local journalist who covered Palin interviewed by ‘Good Morning America’ Segment slated to air Tuesday, Sept. 9 – by Tom Eastman. There is also brief mention of this ABC News piece cited below.
Stuart has made this statment about the librarian: “Mary Ellen told me Palin asked her directly to remove these books from the shelves. She refused.” (This statement can be googled for sourcing – there are several sites.)
2) From a NY Times article, ‘In Office, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes’ by Jo Becker, Peters S. Goodman and Michael Powell, 9/13/08:
“But in 1995, Ms. Palin, then a city councilwoman, told colleagues that she had noticed the book “Daddy’s Roommate” on the shelves and that it didn’t belong there, according to Ms. Chase and Mr. Stein. Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms. Palin read it.
“Sarah said she didn’t need to read that stuff,” Ms. Chase said. “It was disturbing someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn’t even read it.”” (from page 3)
3) From Boston.com, “Wasilla besieged by researchers” by Brian C. Mooney, September 10, 2008:
…one complaint was raised during Palin’s six years as mayor, in 1997, but the book “Heather Has Two Mommies” by Leslea Newman, remained on the shelf, the report states.”
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/09/wasilla_besiege.html
4) Pastor Howard Bess, author of ‘Pastor, I Am Gay’ claims the Assembly of God (where Palin was a member) was pushing to remove his book from local bookstores.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5766173&page=1
(Mavrodaphne note: I’ve read Bess would give the library copies and have to resupply them because they wouldn’t be returned.)
*****
The only book mentioned here that doesn’t have a homosexual theme is “Go Ask Alice” – that’s about a teenage girl and drugs (and entails casual sex). I’m not sure how much we rely on Stuart’s claim there were 3 books Palin wanted banned based on him saying “Go Ask Alice” was a pro-gay book and he couldn’t remember the name of the third book. That leaves “Pastor, I Am Gay”.
The remaining books, “Daddy’s Roommate” and “Heather Has Two Mommies” follow the homosexual theme. So if there really were three books Palin wanted banned, there’s documentation for it.
Finally, a quote from Charlote Glover, Alaska Chapter Councilor of the American Library Association:
“I can tell you that the facts coming out about Sarah Palin are absolutely true. I know the librarian in question and the entire story may never be told as the librarian is guarding her privacy for several reasons, but IT IS EVEN WORSE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE.”
…”the facts speak for themselves and that you need to know that they are indeed, facts, and not tabloid gossip.”
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6593135.html
*****
I am not computer saavy and this has literally taken me hours to compile. I hope you will be able to use some of the material and wish you the very best of luck.
Harry Potter is for sure one of the greatest movie franchises ever. I seriously cannot get enough.
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