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Like most libraries, Leonard H. Axe Library receives offers of gift books two or three times a week from a variety of sources. These gifts often present what most people would consider "controversial" political or religious perspectives. Because of the often provocative nature of the material, there is always an unasked question: "If I give the library this book, will it be added to the collection or will it end up in the book sale or in the dumpster?"
Many of these books are welcome additions to the collection. For example, in recent years we have added a number of gifts including Helen Caldicott's Missile Envy: the Arms Race and Nuclear War, Philip Morris, Inc.'s Clearing the Air: Perspectives on Environmental Tobacco Smoke, and Paul Findley's They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby. We have yet to receive any neo-Nazi propaganda or any really objectionable hate group material, with the exception of some violently graphic material from pro-life groups.
Some libraries may go out of their way to collect hate group publications. Elhanan Adler of the University of Haifa Library, Haifa Israel, reports that his library actively encourages gifts of anti-Semitic material for research purposes. Certainly it makes sense to know who one's enemies are! Some libraries also have special collections of certain kinds of "radical" materials, especially when they pertain to local history.
Despite the extra time and effort it takes to add gift books, it is difficult to accept the idea that a particular book has absolutely no redeeming social value. Gene DeGruson, the special collections librarian at Leonard H. Axe Library, often tells us, "There are no bad books, only bad writers." It is necessary, though, to set up some standards for what a library will or will not add to the collection. The material we refuse to add is usually poorly written, badly documented, or just plain muddle-headed. The books of poetry we get from the Salesian Missions fit the description of poorly written. For example, the poetic sentiment,
Purple crocuses peeping through the snow,
Bright against their comforters of white,
Heedless of the icy winds that blow,
Spring is on her way and all is right.
is already well represented in some of our poetry collections....