A public-library system in New Jersey is coming under public scrutiny following its decision to remove an anthology of writings from gay youth from its shelves.
The Burlington County Library System pulled “Revolutionary Voices” this past spring, but details about the decision weren’t made public until a recent open-records request by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
The agency’s deputy legal director, Jeanne LoCicero, explained that the organization submitted a series of such requests for area libraries following the decision by the Rancocas Valley Regional High School to remove the book from its shelves.
LoCicero said that while some of the information is still coming in from the records requests, thus far she believes Burlington is the only other library that has decided to ban “Revolutionary Voices.”
The book started making headlines through a campaign earlier this year by Lumberton resident Beverly Marinelli, a member of Glen Beck’s conservative watchdog group 9.12 Project. Marinelli told the Philadelphia Inquirer in the spring that the anthology is “pervasively vulgar, obscene and inappropriate.”
The book, edited by Amy Sonnie, was published in 2000 and, according to its bookjacket description, is meant to counter the “isolation and alienation of queer youth.”
“In silence and fear they move from childhood memories of intolerance or violence to the unknown, unmentored landscape of queer adulthood, their voices still ignored. No longer,” the description said.
The Rancocas library voted to remove the book in early May, but the ACLU request found that the Burlington library had already decided to pull the book by that time.
According to e-mails the ACLU obtained, Marinelli contacted Burlington County Library Director Gail Sweet about the book in March, and Sweet directed her to complete a Request for Reconsideration Form.
In a letter Sweet sent to employees that she recently provided to PGN, she noted that Marinelli did not submit the form, but contended the library had already been in the process of reviewing the book when she complained.
The two corresponded throughout April and apparently met in person April 8.
On April 27, Sweet recommended to the Library Commissioners that the book be removed, and sent an e-mail to Marinelli later that night telling her that the commissioners “supported” her suggestion.
The letter to employees said the drawing of two men having sex while a young man looks on, held a “similarity to illegal child pornography,” warranting the book’s removal.
The discussion about “Revolutionary Voices” was listed on the commissioners’ meeting minutes from April 27, but in future e-mail correspondence with other library employees, Sweet wrote that the commissioners did not take a formal vote on the removal.
“There was no official challenge, no actual vote by the commissioners,” Sweet wrote May 24.
According to the library system’s collection-development policy, after a member of the public submits a Reconsideration Form, “a committee of staff selectors as designated by the library director will review the material in question” and make recommendations to the director, who will make the final decision.
If the person who submitted the form is dissatisfied with the decision, he or she can appeal to the Library Commission.
Sweet said that she and four other staff members with materials-selection responsibilities reviewed the title, which had been donated a few years prior.
LoCicero said the ACLU is still evaluating whether the policy was followed.
“We haven’t made a determination as far as whether they followed the process or not,” she said. “It looks like there could be some problems with that, but we’re still assessing it.”
LoCicero said the ACLU has not yet determined its next steps, but that book-bannings are always causes for concern.
“Libraries are supposed to be places where the public can have access to information, and if we start removing books because of one person’s objections or one group’s objections, then libraries aren’t going to have many books on the shelves,” she said.
The collection-development policy states the general criteria for inclusion in the library system includes such elements as “literary, artistic or technical quality” of the work and “educational, informational or recreational value.”
The policy notes that works are “not normally excluded because of language or explicit text or illustrations if they meet previously stated criteria.”
“The Burlington County Library has a responsibility to provide a comprehensive collection representing the widest range of ideas and viewpoints and has a commitment to the right of free access to information for all individuals,” the policy states. “Therefore, the library has a responsibility to consider the addition of materials that some may find controversial or disagreeable because they are a reflection of our free and pluralistic society.”
Sweet said this is the first book the library has removed in the eight years she’s been director.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].