Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by David Hakala, Denver, CO on May 11, 2009:

OTOH, the lad may grow up to be a great civil rights activist. Great medical careers have been launched by tragic deaths. Every phenomenon spawns both good and bad karma.

"Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write." --John Adams

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Could be, and I wish the kid the very best. -rc

Posted by wendy, north carolina on May 11, 2009:

Wow Randy. It's a good thing he wasn't doing a research paper on serial killers.

Posted by Charles, McKinney TX on May 11, 2009:

I think Laura Bush needs to be sent up there and "Shush" Ms. Perito.

Posted by Sarah - Melbourne, Australia on May 11, 2009:

It's been said that "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". Although I do not want to try and justify or even excuse this librarian's behaviour (let's face it - she was bang out of line with what she did), I wonder if she was thinking about that quote, or something rather like it, when she went ahead and reported that student. And if that's the case, then do we need to ask ourselves the question - is it better to have situations like this one where sometimes people do speak up and get it wrong, if the alternative is that nobody ever speaks up about things that they think are potentially dangerous etc? I really don't know, but I wonder what others think - can there be a perception of validitiy in her decision, or am I just looking at this from a totally skewed perspective?

As per normal Randy - you've given me something to think about, and I love your column because of it (that and the fantastic laughs!)

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As I noted in my essay, I'm sure she had Columbine (or similar tragedies) in mind. However, the way to fight possible "evil" is decidedly not to commit actual "evil"! That's why there are professional standards, in writing, for her and her fellow professionals to follow. If she wasn't such a coward, she could have talked to the kid herself if she had concerns. But she didn't have the courage of her own convictions, nor the backbone to stick to her professional standards. There is certainly no refuge in trying to pretend that it was her duty to violate the very tenets of her profession. -rc

Posted by Cory, Topeka Kansas on May 11, 2009:

We are a scared people ruled by more scared people. We irrationally fear so many things and so strongly desire our own safety and security that we look beyond good measures and take extreme actions to protect ourselves.

The irony in all of this is that this irrational fear is putting us in more danger than we are capable of realizing.

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Just so. Or, as Benjamin Franklin put it, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -rc

Posted by Jonathan, Ohio on May 12, 2009:

Cory in Kansas hit it right on the nose here. The problem is indeed fear, and as Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Posted by Kim, Indiana on May 12, 2009:

The thing that saddens me the most about this is that people like that are the ones who will encourage kids to avoid libraries in the future - or at least regard them with a wariness they didn't have before encountering the Vigilant Librarian.

She has put another stumbling block in the path of that young man's path toward thinking for himself, rather than allowing the predigested "news" on the crawlers and newsburps between vapid "reality shows" to dictate his thinking and opinions.

People like this are the ones who are the real danger - because they try to rule from behind, not having the courage to stand up for their convictions, not having the courage to say, "Hey, are you doing the wrong thing? Maybe you want to re-think that," and not having the courage to find out that they might be the ones in the wrong after all.

By reacting instead of thinking, that librarian has done a massive disservice to Real Librarians everywhere - and to thinking, reading, intelligent human beings.
Think on that, Ms. Reactionary.

Posted by Jorn, Germany on May 12, 2009:

While I think the actions of the librarian were certainly wrong, I would like to take a moment to applaud the school - they did not expel or suspend him immediately on receiving the "tip", they did not strip search him. They talked to him, and then proceeded based on the outcome of their discussion. Wow. Actually talking to kids, and then making a rational decision. Let's hope it catches on....

Posted by John, Pennsylvania on May 12, 2009:

Put me in the anti-gun column, but this is just wrong. I understand "not doing something" when presented with a crisis (which this wasn't) can be a challenge to decide, but big brother (i.e.a librarian) can't remotely have the right to look over anyone's shoulder and decide whether it's "o.k." for them to read about a particular topic.

Posted by Stephanie, Philadelphia, PA on May 12, 2009:

As a librarian I find this upsetting. In library school one of the things that is emphasized, and then emphasized again, is that patron privacy is one of our top priorities. One of the other top priorities is equal service to all, regardless of personal opinion on the materials being read/checked out.

There are times when I totally disagree with the materials a person is looking for but it not my place to tell them, or anyone else, about these materials. I even force myself to purchase books and materials on both sides of issues, no matter how wrong I think one side is.

I agree that you were too easy on the librarian - I can understand where she was coming from with her fear - but she violated the standards of her profession and that is not OK. If people get to decide it is OK to bend the rules and standards for certain things, who gets to decide when we have gone too far? There is always someone who will say it is OK in this one case, no matter what the case is. Are we next going to start notifying parents when teens are looking at books on pregnancy? Where do we stop 'being helpful'?

I'm all riled up. Privacy is an important matter to me.