(no subject)

[the_rck]

I have sent an email to the library about that book. I wasn't sure to whom I should direct it, so I tagged it as 'other' in the topic box. The text is under the cut below. I tried to be reasonable rather than making it sound like an attack.

This title just got added to the catalogue yesterday: https://aadl.org/catalog/record/10387540 and I wanted to check whether a person reviewed the purchase decision or if it was a vendor auto-buy based on topic/collection development policy.

I'm dubious about the quality of the book and concerned that the actions and policies advocated by it are actively dangerous to vulnerable people. The reviews that come up via Google are serious echo chamber territory. I went six pages in and only found one review (from Think Progress) that wasn't from an organization that persecutes trans people.

Does the library have a policy about books like this in the collection? How robust is the collection in terms of books that give more neutral or encouraging information for kids and teens who're questioning (or certain but not in a position to safely tell anyone)? Is it possible to change the subject headings to be more clear that this is propaganda rather than research study/science based?

The attitudes and policies in this book kill people. Trans kids and young adults are at high risk for homelessness and suicide and as potential victims of all sorts of violence. I'm very unenthusiastic about anything that adds to those risks.

Thank you.

[my wallet name]

ETA: The library got back to me. They're buying the book due to a patron request and plan to shelve it as politics rather than science or psychology or sexuality. Given that someone specifically asked for it, that's the best I'm going to get because policy is to buy any new title that's requested by patrons.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Thank you :)

[muccamukk]

I guess the best way to counter that is to order an awesome trans book they don't already have. Or three.

I'm glad you e-mailed them.

[melannen]

That sounds like a better response than the one I recently sent questioning whether the *entire* Pern series was supposed to be on the school-recommended shelf for 8th graders, or if the list-writers could have possibly intended it to be only the Harper Hall Trilogy when they said "Dragonsong (or series)"?

(the response: we don't censor the books in our collection, and we didn't make the list. not exactly a reply to my actual comment there!)

[evalerie]

I loved the Pern books when I was a kid. As an adult, I read them out loud to my kids, only to be stunned to find some extremely weird sex scenes, and one scene where a beloved character rapes another character who ends up much happier(!) for it. Ugh. So I do find that a weird choice of books to be giving to 8th graders.

Though on the other hand, I was probably 8th grade-ish when I read them, and the sex scenes all just bounced off of me as "weird stuff that grownups do." But still, it seems like a weird choice of books to give to kids.

[evalerie]

Thank you for doing this!!