A Censor's Sensibility?

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin may not have banned any books as mayor of Wasilla or governor of Alaska, but allegations that she flirted with the idea and fired a library director for being disloyal has some librarians and others up in arms.

A blog launched on September 3 called Librarians Against Sarah Palin! (librariansagainstpalin.wordpress.com) offers interesting information—some speculative and personal—and lots of questions about what happened in 1996 between Palin, then mayor of Wasilla, and Mary Ellen Baker, former director of the Wasilla Public Library.

The local Frontiersman reprinted a December 18, 1996, article saying that Palin asked Baker if she objected to censorship. “I told [Palin] clearly, I will fight anyone who tries to dictate what books can go on the library shelves,” Baker said in the article.

The then-mayor said she had no particular books in mind when she posed the question to Baker, who, according to the Anchorage Daily News, later received a letter from Palin saying, “I do not feel I have your full support in my efforts to govern the city of Wasilla. Therefore I intend to terminate your employment.” But after a public outcry in support of Baker, Palin eventually reversed her decision and let the librarian keep her job.

“[Palin] essentially forced Mary Ellen out,” says June Pinnell-Stephens, chair of the Alaska Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee. Wasilla's city records show that no books were banned between 1986 and 2007.

Meanwhile, hundreds of anti-Sarah Palin protesters gathered in Anchorage on September 13 in front of the Loussac Library to support everything from free speech to abortion rights, reported the Anchorage Daily News.

Indeed, the story about Palin's flap with Baker, who then went by the name Emmons, has led to some misinformation. Librarians and others were circulating a bogus email in mid-September outlining a list of titles Palin allegedly tried to ban as mayor. It included Harry Potter books that weren't yet published when Palin had her exchange with Baker.