Dispute Over Magazine Stirs Contest for Escondido Library Post

What normally would be a ho-hum decision--who to appoint to a city library’s board of trustees--has taken a controversial twist in Escondido, where discussion of the issue is mingled with talk of censorship, good taste and Christian-versus-atheistic values.

At its last meeting, the Escondido Library Board of Trustees--with one vacancy--was split 2 to 2 on whether to accept a free subscription to American Atheist magazine. The City Council on Wednesday will appoint the fifth member to the board--and one of the persons seeking that appointment is the atheist who offered the magazine to the library in the first place.

Word of his candidacy has piqued more than the usual interest about the operation of the library in Escondido, prompting eight other persons to seek appointment to the volunteer post.

For their part, members of the City Council say they are not particularly bothered by the introduction of the magazine to the library. “I’m a great believer in the First Amendment. If the atheists or any old group of folks want to have their magazine in the library, they have that right,” said Mayor Jim Rady. Added councilman Doug Best, “The library should accept the magazine and let the people decide if they want to read it or not.”

But the final decision on which books or magazines are accepted at the library rests with the board of trustees. And they’re flip-flopping on the issue. One member who originally voted to accept the atheist publication is now considering rejecting the magazine, while two others who originally voted to reject the magazine are now considering accepting it.

The problem, as one trustee said, is that the board is wary of rejecting the magazine for all the right reasons and being accused of all the wrong reasons.

“Every new magazine and book that comes into the library has to be catalogued and stacked and space has to be found for it,” said trustee Carol Kane. “If there hasn’t been a demand for it--and there hasn’t been for this one--then why should we take the time and space to handle it?”

But on the other hand, she conceded, “I’ve been contacted by several people and told that (rejecting the magazine) smacked of censorship. I don’t want to be tarred with the brush of censorship so now I’m thinking maybe we should be more open-minded. If someone wants to read something that might add to their education, why should we prohibit it?”

For that reason, Kane says that though she originally objected to American Atheist sitting on the shelves of the Escondido city library, she may now vote to accept it.

And trustee Virgil Bergman, who also originally voted to oppose the magazine, is having a change of heart. “It’s not too well put together as a magazine. It’s not terribly well-written and the articles in it are not indexed, so why should we have to mess around with it,” he asked. “But on the other hand, what’s the harm? This magazine is already in a lot of libraries.”

The magazine is accepted at several libraries in San Diego County, including the San Diego City Library.

Ruth Potts, another library trustee, said she originally voted to accept the magazine for fear of being branded a censor, but she now is having second thoughts. She said she didn’t initially consider the logistic problems and the expense of staff time in handling the free magazine, and those arguments make some sense to her.

Trustee Jeanne Linthicum leaves no doubt about her objection to the publication. “I’m against it because I’m a Christian and we don’t need that type of material in our library. This is America and we have our freedoms, and if they want to print it, fine, but in a library we deserve a better grade of material.” She said the cartoons were in poor taste “and they even had an article saying they were against the song, ‘God Bless America.’

“I don’t care if they call me a censor or whatever. If there are magazines with just one article on atheism, that’s one thing. But the same magazine, month after month? As a Christian, I’ve got to take a stand. There are better things to read,” Linthicum said.

Head Librarian Graham Humphrey is recommending that the board of trustees reject the magazine because even though the subscription is complimentary, it would nonetheless cost the city money in terms of staff time cataloguing and handling the publication, and the magazine isn’t worth it from a quality standpoint.

Humphrey said the library’s policy on accepting free books and magazines is, “Would we buy it if we had the chance?”

“We don’t accept gifts just because they’re free,” he said, “but because they fit into our general philosophy and meet our standards.

Those standards include whether the material is sought out by library visitors, whether it can handle the physical abuse to which library materials are subjected, and whether the material is relevant to local readership, has timelessness or timeliness.

“If the book is not in demand, then it’s taking up shelf space that could go to material that people do want,” he said. And he noted that the magazine’s articles are not indexed in the two standard indexes used at the library.

He said the library subscribes to several Christian theme magazines because their articles are indexed, and that persons interested in atheism can read more about it in a variety of reference books at the library.

For his part, atheist Steve Thorne, who sparked the brouhaha, accuses Humphrey of “making excuses” in order to rationalize how the magazine should be be accepted.

Thorne, president of the San Diego chapter of Madalyn Murray-O’Hair’s Society of Separationists, argues: “The library is a storehouse of ideas and a forum for those ideas. We should let those ideas be expressed, even if they are not necessarily those of two or three persons on the board of trustees.