We were gratified to learn of a kind mention last week from librarian Lizzy Burns in her thoughtful blog A CHAIR, A FIREPLACE & A TEA COZY concerning one example of the kind of work the NCAC does every day. You can find the original post here.
The latest wrinkle in the story: Revolutionary Voices has been pulled from not just the Rancocas Valley School library but now also from the Burlington County (NJ) library system. It’s not just “about the children” (as one enthusiastic book-puller allegedly put it); simply stated, no adults can read Revolutionary Voices in the Burlington County (NJ) library either. The forces of reaction are having their way.
Our sources tell us that a female member of a local “912” group approached the Burlington County Library staff to complain about Revolutionary Voices and push for its removal there too, sometime close to when the book was pulled from the Rancocas Valley school library, since “kids might find it in the public library also.” Instead of following the BCLS formal challenge procedure, the staff (under director Gail Sweet and library commissioners including Patrick Delany, whose name appeared on and then disappeared from a local 912 group member list earlier this spring) quietly pulled all available copies of the book off the shelves.
Today there are no available copies of Revolutionary Voices in the their system; it was pulled without fanfare so that readers simply wouldn’t notice. It is said that “free people read freely.” That is not the case today in Burlington County, NJ.
Many thanks to Lizzy Burns for spreading the word about this important issue (and for the kind mention, ditto!)