Our very first suggestion to anyone who'd like to donate to your local public library is to first contact them and ask for their donation policy. Some will not take used books (or will only take them to sell as part of fundraising) and some will just not be taking any donations for a variety of reasons (including lack of space). In that case, you might choose to locate another local venue to accept your book/s or you might check out our Happily Accepting Books list, which includes a variety of choices.
What should you do if you've followed their policy, but the book is openly rejected because of it's Pagan content?
If you have been told that the library will not accept your book because they do not take books on the subbect of Wicca/occult/Paganism, etc., contact your local office of the ACLU. If you cannot get in direct contact with someone at your local office, contact someone here at nationalpaganbookday@gmail.com. The intake manager working in NJ was kind enough to give us her direct phone number, and offered to try and help facilitate with other offices if this situation comes up.
Here's hoping that it doesn't!
If a public library explicitly rejects a book for having pagan content, report it to the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (http://www.ala.org/offices/oif) as well; we aren't any more accepting of censorship just because one of our own is doing it. I doubt anyone will be that obvious, but it's not impossible.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice! I'd written directly to the ALA via their website to ask about this, but have not received an answer as of yet. In my experience, librarians are at the top of the "I might not like it, but I would never keep you from reading it" heap (thank goodness).
ReplyDeleteMy local libraries have nothing Pagan. I'm not sure if they just never carried them or if they were stolen over the years. Which is why I won't donate my books. Also, even if I did donate, they go the Friends of the Library book store, where they turn around and sale them for $.10 or 3/$.25 a piece.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I live in the South! Montgomery, alabama
Mikki, some libraries will not place donations in their collection unless they're ordered by the library (because it adds a considerable amount of work to the cataloging process) - ask your reference librarian about their procedures for making directed donations to the collection.
ReplyDelete