A Pasadena resident’s query about the purchase of books that some consider racially biased and insensitive has opened the door for a discussion on how the Libraries and Information Services Department selects books for the city’s libraries.
In correspondence to the City Council earlier this month, Pasadena resident Phyllis Chestang expressed concern about the content of the department’s collection as she noted that books that appear to reflect racial bias, including “Little Black Sambo,” “The Lone Ranger,” “Tarzan and Jane,” and Charlie Chan mysteries, are included in the collection.
Chestang brought the matter to the attention of the council after she initially questioned why there was no competitive selection process associated with the department’s proposal for a $750,000 contract with Overdrive Inc. for the purchase of electronic books and electronic audiobooks.
During the meeting, Councilmember John Kennedy asked City Manager Steve Mermell to review the department’s book selection policy, saying Chestang’s comments were worthy of the City Council’s consideration.
“We do not want to acquire books that are patently offensive to members of our community,” Kennedy said.
Councilmember Tyron Hampton remarked that this is not the first time the public has had issues with some of the books the city has purchased.
“I think it would be kind of hard to figure out all the books that have issues, but there are some that are extremely offensive —[including] the ones that Ms. Chestang mentioned,” Hampton said.
Despite concerns expressed by Kennedy and Hampton about the book selection process by the department, the council voted 7-1 to approve the recommendation to authorize the city manager to enter into a contract for the purchase of $750,000 worth of electronic books. Kennedy was the sole dissenter.
Director of the Libraries and Information Services Department Michelle Perera detailed the Pasadena Public Library’s policy in response to the council’s discussion. Perera will present her memo to the Library Commission on Wednesday.
Addressed to Mermell, Perera’s memo says books are purchased based on criteria such as popular interest, currency information, local emphasis, appropriateness of subject to the needs of the intended audience, reputation of the author, and creative, literary or permanent value, among the others.
Perera said members of the community may make suggestions and recommendations to staff for inclusion and removal or relocation of books in the collection.
Once suggestions are submitted to the department, they will be reviewed by the library director and staff in relation to the library’s mission statement and the selection criteria pursuant to the Collection Development Policy, said Perera.
Perera said the process of adding materials to the library collection “needs to be unbiased as possible to ensure a well-rounded collection that has something for everyone.”
According to her, the Pasadena Public Library provides a broad choice of materials to meet the “informational, cultural, and recreational needs of the Pasadena community.”
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4 thoughts on “Resident’s Query About Books With Bias at Pasadena Public Library Prompts City Council Discussion On How Books Are Selected”
When I was a child, I enjoyed reading Little Black Sambo, Uncle Remus books, The Lone Ranger, Tarzan and Jane Books, and I love mystery books, especially Charlie Chan books, and Ellery Queen books. Thank God, I was able to broaden my literature interest by being able to read those books, and more regardless of being political correct or offensive. I read those books for fun. I am
an avid reader Let the children and young adults broaden their literature background. By the way, I am 73 years old and enjoyed reading those books for fun and enjoyment.
I am Chinese and see no problem with charlie chan books. I also think it’s patently offensive to exclude books based on what some people think are offensive, Asians are not a monolith. The idea of excluding books based on their content reeks of censorship and erasing / rewriting history. Books are a reflection of the times they were written in, and hiding them discourages critical thought about why something isn’t considered OK now, or trying to determine for themselves the mindset and social attitudes of people from a prior era.
In addition, many if these books are just fun to read. For example, little house on the prairie series is a great look into the mindset of settlers from that time period, and is a fun read to boot. But apparently there’s controversy due to the treatment of native Americans in the book — that however, was actual history. In addition, we should be allowed to form.our own opinions about whether it is offensive instead of being told.
Please keep the classics. Standards of what is taboo or not changes year by year, and picking books shouldn’t be based on what a minority *today* considers “biased”.
It’s hard to have a discussion on why texts are biased of you don’t have them available. Little Black Sambo is a cute story. Reading it and discussing it is the only way we can learn from past mistakes. Not having it is white washing history. People need to know that our history is not pretty. It’s filled with horrifying acts to all people of color. Knowing what happened and how things have changed is the only way to move forward.
I agree with the previous reader comments. If every book deemed objectionable by someone, by anyone, were removed, there would be few books left and they would be without history, without the broadening effect of reading non-censored material, without the fun of finding a perspective of life different from the one we have been immersed in.
As a life-long reader, I know some books are life changing, many more are simply enjoyable and some few aren’t ever finished because the material does not resonate as true. I am horrified at the thought libraries might select books based on any “politically correct” point of view. The library is where so many of us learned about a wider world – a world so different, so amazing, so exciting and at times so brutal we were motivated to learn more, sometimes to take action, often to adjust our sense of ourselves in the context of a world much larger and much more varied than we could have imagined without the exposure to books.
The fact a book is on a library shelf still leaves the choice of reading it or not reading it to the reader. Removing that book removes that choice and forces readers down a narrower reading path not necessarily of their own choosing. It seems to me that one of the life’s most important and most ignored lessons is the one that says those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. History that is not available is indeed doomed to be repeated.
Citizens who object to certain books have the right to choose not to read them; they do not, in my opinion, have the right to keep me from reading them and deciding on my own what value they do or do not have.
The Pasadena Library has been a community asset for so many years. I earnestly hope that the current upheaval in our society will result in many positive changes. Censorship at the library would not be a positive outcome.