Why libraries are important
Summer 2007: I had just graduated from college and found myself unemployed and living with my parents. I knew that I liked libraries, spent a lot of time in my college’s library, and was considering applying to library school. Before I took the leap, however, I decided to spend some time volunteering at some local libraries in order to determine whether it was really what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. So I started volunteering at the book sale place at the Free Library of Philadelphia. With some other volunteers, I helped shelve, sort and sell books to the public for like, $0.50 each. Unfortunately for me, I had to deal with the volunteer from hell: she had a tendency to over share (no, I really don’t want to know about your cold sores), was rude, lazy, and just a general pain to deal with. One day, she went wandering through the shelves and noticed there were a ton of Scientology books there and this sent her on a rant about how Scientology is a cult and how dare the library sell books about it, etc. According to the volunteer coordinator, these books are donated to the library from a Scientology organization. Now, I know very little about Scientology other than that Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. I’ll admit that I think he’s done some crazy things, but I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say that Scientology is a cult because of one person’s actions. What I’m saying is that I’d like to know more before I pass judgment. Furthermore, I’d like to defend FLP’s selling of Scientology books by saying the following:
- The Scientology books weren’t treated any differently then donated books of any other subject.
- Nobody was forcing anyone else to read said books on Scientology.
The Free Library of Philadelphia is a public library, supported by tax dollars and as such, no book should be censored from the library. My stance is that if I’m paying my taxes, the library sure as hell be willing to hook me up with whatever book I want to read, if they don’t own a copy they should be willing to get it through inter-library loan. Libraries are not about telling people what they can read or what they should think. Libraries are about making information avalible to people so they can make informed decisions for themselves.
Sue. 20-something. Unemployed bum. Philadelphian.Plans on attending graduate school and hopes to be a librarian. Likes 
