Chapter Nuts and Bolts
By Holly Smith, Advisor,
NRL Field Coordinator
Have you been to the library lately? If not, now is a good time to peruse the stacks and comb the collection to see how much up-to-date, accurate pro-life information is available.
Libraries are immensely important sources of information within a community. If they are falling down on the job, it's up to us to ensure that they balance pro-abortion titles with information from the pro-life perspective.
So, the basic question boils down to this: Does your library have an adequate number of books and literature to accurately convey the pro-life message. Or is the public only being offered pro-abortion information?
What You Can Do
First and foremost, treat library staff with the kind of respect you would want extended to you. Librarians are notoriously sensitive to having their selection of materials scrutinized. Be polite. If there are problems, start by giving staff the benefit of the doubt.
Librarians frequently purchase materials based on patron requests.
Second begin by examining available pro-life books, literature, and audio-visuals in your local libraries. Be sure to check vertical, pamphlet, or clipping files, as well as shelf material. Start doing this on a regular basis. If the library carries publications produced by pro-abortion organizations, you have a strong case to ask that they also carry National Right to Life News. (See page 18.)
If the pro-life viewpoint and facts are not fairly represented, politely suggest to the librarian how important it is to have multiple points of view represented in the collection. Appeal to her or his sense of fair play and civic obligation. After all, libraries have a responsibility to offer all viewpoints, especially on such unsettled and controversial issues as abortion, infanticide, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and euthanasia.
Beyond observing the principle of balance, you can gently remind them that even in the Internet age, the library is the first place many students and adults go when looking for information for research papers or delivering a speech for high school or college. It is a public service to have materials available that allow the patron to read both sides.
Provide local librarians with a bibliography of pro-life books and encourage them to purchase as many as possible. If you see no action within a reasonable period of time, encourage other individuals to request the particular pro-life books recommended to the librarian. Librarians will often purchase requested items, and customer requests can serve as a polite reminder.
Donating pro-life books and materials to the local library is also a safe route, especially when budget concerns are cited for out-of-date collections or failure to order new books. Be sure to check first to make certain they will accept the donation. Hardbound books are preferable for library use.
A few good titles to recommend, request, or donate include Who Broke the Baby, by Jean Garton; Death as A Salesman, by Brian Johnston; Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation, by Ronald Reagan; Whatever Happened to the Human Race?, by Francis A. Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop, M.D.; To Rescue the Future, edited by Dave Andrusko; Abortion: The Silent Holocaust, by Fr. John Powell; Not My Own: Abortion and the Marks of the Church, by Terri Schlossberg and Elizabeth Achtemeier; Abortion:Questions and Answers, by Dr. &Mrs. J.C. Willke; The Unaborted Socrates, by Peter Kreeft; Aborting America, by Bernard Nathanson; Abortion and Healing, by Fr. Mike Mannion; Thinking Theologically About Abortion, edited by Paul Stallsworth; Holy Abortion, by Michael Gorman and Ann Lohr Brooks; Abortion and the Christian: What Every Believer Should Know, by John Jefferson Davis; and Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum, by Karen Garver Santorum.
You can also recommend pro-life educational videos, and don't forget that National Right to Life News provides invaluable educational material. Annual NRL News gift subscriptions for libraries can be purchased for only $10. (See page 37.)
In addition to shelf books and audio-visuals, most libraries have vertical, pamphlet, or clipping files that are often used by students doing research for papers. It is important to check these files to be sure they contain pro-life material. Vertical file subject headings that are most important to check are Abortion, Euthanasia, Birth Control and Sex Education.
Other files to check are ACLU, Aged; Assisted Suicide; Birth Defects; Children - - Law/ Legislation; Death; Deformities; Disabilities; Feminism; Genetics; Handicapped; Health; Hospitals; Human Rights; Infanticide; Medical Ethics; Mentally Retarded; Pregnancy; Population (U.S.), Suicide; U.S. Health; Education; and Welfare; U.S. Supreme Court; Living Wills; and Women's Liberation Movement.
And in the information age, computers and the Internet cannot be overlooked in examining your library's collection. Library terminals are often secondary source of information for student research.
The librarian should be made aware of the valuable information available at www.nrlc.org so that she can direct inquiring students to National Right to Life's web site. Any other internal ways the library advertises particular web sites should also be explored and taken advantage of, whether they maintain a list of good sites or link to them from the "favorites" folder.
Generally there is considerable policy variation among library systems. A sympathetic librarian within a particular library system can be of great assistance in suggesting the best approach to a particular library. Persistence pays off, and our successes save lives, so whether you have a helpful insider or someone who tries to thwart you at every turn, the value of educating your community by providing accurate information through your public library will be enormous.