Libraries and the Reading Public in Twentieth-Century America

The Challengers of West Bend: The Library as a Community Institution

O n February 3, 2009, four months prior to giving her public testimony , Ginny Maziarka and her husband Jim sent a letter to the director of the West Bend (Wisconsin) Community Memorial Library. The letter, which was placed in the overnight book drop, requested that the library remove a link on its website that recommended gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender books for young adults. Two months later, as a direct result of the Maziarkas’ complaint, West Bend city aldermen refused to reappoint four members of the library board. Challenges to materials in libraries are quite common, and the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF)—which monitors challenge cases throughout the country—logged 348 challenges in 2010. The 200 The Challengers of West Bend  The Library as a Community Institution emily knox We do not agree with their disturbing standard of “all materials available to all ages.” With this said, let it be known that we vehemently reject their standards, we resent their presence, and we are repulsed by their insistence on holding the door open to sexually explicit, profane, and crude materials to the children in our community. We reject their standards and their principles. . . . This is a propaganda battle to insure children retain access to inappropriate material despite the law, common sense, and community standards. If you choose to reject your community’s request via petition . . . the loss . . . will be to the children you claim to serve and you will no longer be considered a safe library and we will strongly promote it as such. —Ginny Maziarka, Town of West Bend, Public Hearing Testimony, June 2, 2009 West Bend case received a large amount of press coverage, included high involvement of the local community, and was politicized, as demonstrated by the city aldermen case. These characteristics make the events in West Bend an ideal case study for examining challengers and the discourse of censorship in the United States. This study focuses on how challengers construct the library as an institution in society through their arguments regarding controversial materials. Challengers constitute a segment of the reading public that seeks to regulate and control what others read. Though not “readers” as commonly defined, they employ their own interpretive strategies when encountering “inappropriate” materials in libraries. The Escalation of a Challenge The saga in West Bend began on February 3, 2009, when the director received a letter of complaint from Jim and Ginny Maziarka, expressing their concern about the library’s online young adult booklist. It should be noted that the booklist had been added to the site five years earlier.1 The library board was scheduled to meet that evening, and the Maziarkas wished to be included on the agenda. Due to Wisconsin law, the agenda could not be changed, and the letter-writers’ concerns could not be heard until the next monthly meeting. On February 13, the library received another letter from the Maziarkas— addressed to the West Bend mayor, the library director, and the library board— requesting the addition of several “ex-gay” books to the collection. Along with the letter, the Maziarkas included a copy of the West Bend library’s Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials form and a challenge list of thirtyseven books. According to the library’s policy, the first step of the reconsideration process called for a meeting between the complainant and the library director. The Maziarkas, the library’s young adult librarian, and the assistant director met on February 23. The meeting ended without a resolution, as did a meeting with the Maziarkas and the library’s director and assistant director on February 25. On March 3, the library board met to discuss the challenge. However, the discussion had to be tabled and the meeting rescheduled for March 25, due to high interest from the local community. The Maziarkas informed the assistant director they would be out of town that day, and the meeting was again rescheduled for March 26. In the meantime, on March 13 the Maziarkas sent an e-mail to the library challenging additional materials and suggesting more titles that should be The Challengers of West Bend 201 added to the collection. On March 19, the library administration and the West Bend city attorney sent the Maziarkas an e-mail concerning the original challenge list that the library received on February 13. The letter stated that after discussion with the Maziarkas, the city attorney understood...