Why don't public libraries have more books on the different pagan religions such as Wicca?

Question

I am an assistant librarian in a small rural library. I can understand why we don't have many as there is not many Wiccans in my area. There are Native American shamans and such but even for them there isn't much research materials.

There is something called inter library loan where we can order or check out books from other libraries around the U.S. But even when we try to do this we find the supply is very limited as what we can access. Why? Surely there are more books in larger libraries where the population of Wiccans and other pagans are larger. But we are finding that that isn't true. These public libraries don't have any more books than the small ones.

Can theft be to blame? Or is it just the bias of christian librarians who control the information and book acquisitions? There are more and more books out there being written by Wiccans and Pagans about thier religions and beliefs. Why aren't the public libraries reflecting this?????

What are your thoughts?

Answer 1

There are three "Christians" who pretty much seem to make up the mentality of most libraries. I had to show ID in order to even look at a Wiccan book in a huge Albuquerque library. People think that it has to do with money and lack of interest, but that isn't always the case. I donated several books on Wicca to a library and found them out back in the trash the following week. The woman won't bring in any book that is not Christian based. So if people say don't blame Christians and that Wicca is evil in the same breath, you know who to blame. And it has nothing to do with lack of donations nor money. You can get discounted books on Wicca for very little and the books are in decent shape. If the Librarian isn't willing it will NOT go on the shelves.

Answer 2

Gotta question. As an assistant librarian you may know this. What does a library have to do to get on the inter-library loan system? Could a privately funded public library get in on that system?



The reason I ask is I know that there are many reasons why those books are not on the shelves. One, could be religious discrimination. That is probably the main reason. There are lots of people who use their positions to block materials that offend their religious ideas. Another reason is money. Most libraries are very limited on funds and cannot stock every single thing in the world. That is sad but most libraries have to spend to get the most bang for the buck. Stocking up on books that only a few or maybe even none at all would be interested in is not the top priority. There could be some theft but I do not see it as a major contributing factor.



On the donating books thing, my family has had a small private library for years that is composed of thousands of books. We are book hounds. I personally like the non-fiction stuff myself. We have quite a large variety. At one point we thought about donating this to the local library. We were told that we could but most of the books would probably end up in the dumpster. The person at the library said they would go thru and pick out the books they wanted to add and then trash the rest. We did not think this was a good policy so we changed our minds about donating the books.



So we come back to how to get into the inter-library exchange program. Start a non-profit organization and get some donations in and start to build a large library to hold the books that some people would like to block and have them on the loan program. It is harder for a librarian to block someone from borrowing a book from another library. They would have to have a decent reason or they could be sued. If a public library refused to let a patron borrow a book based on religious reasons then it would be a blatant 1st Amendment violation.



Also, just for fun check your library records for the book called the Necronomicon. I would not be surprised if it were checked out to a Mr. A. Alhazred. That used to be an old library joke. Actually, I am not sure if it is still around today since stuff is handled by computers. It was more of a card catalogue kind of thing.

Answer 3

When I was checking lots of "pagan/occult/wicca" books out from our metro library system nearly everything I wanted was listed as available but a good percentage of my reserves ended up being hard to claim because the books turned up missing at this or that library or too badly damaged to check out meaning I'd have to put a reserve on another copy in another library. Even so I was eventually able to get most of the basic "must read" stuff and "must read" authors and I was checking out two or three books a week for several years. All of the books were shelved in the religion section not someplace weird and nobody monitored who was checking what out. In fact we've had self checkout for years which probably explains how stuff that might be "popular" goes missing. Funding has gotten tight in the last three years but they cut hours and "surplus" employees not books and media. Maybe it's just your region.

Answer 4

If you know how acquisitions works, you should have your answer.



I don't believe it is a matter of a Christian conspiracy (certainly not in places like New York, San francisco, etc.)



The biggest problem I can see (after finances) is informational --

How does a librarian decide what books to add?

Who are respected authors on Wicca and who are "bogus"?



Actualy -- before that -

Do Wiccan book publishers get them CIPs?

If there is no CIP, the book is largely invisible to the libraries.

Answer 5

perhaps there is not much of a demand for them so funds aren't spent to acquire them and maybe wiccans also don't tend to donate thier books to libraries (maybe they trade them among friends instead- i don't know).



i think it has less to do with christian bias- and more to do with wiccans bieng such a specialty community that might be more open to sharing information amongst themselves and possibly the type of person who would rather buy and own a book than borrow it from the library.



also think about it, many use books from libraries for school reports and such- which generally are not going to be "go out and write me a report about wicca class". so there wouldn't be additional demand for the books from other sources and such.



some local libraies might restrict the order if a particular librarian is biased but that doesnt' explain libraries in major cities.



also mabye your head local librarian is restricting informaiton from you.



EDIT:



you discount the money aspect very readily, but the inter-library trade only would except your local library. if a major library had less demand, they might not stock the books. also i would imagine that religious books in general make up a low % of books the library acquires as a whole too.



i don't know- its all just specualaiton, but you asked us to specualte on a possible reason so....

Answer 6

Ms Crone, I have 5 bookcases, 7 shelves high stuffed with books. Many of them are 2 books deep, with the dreck in the back and the better ones in front. doing a rough count, I put it at around 300 to 400 books on Witchcraft, Paganism,or other, non-Christian belief systems. The overwhelming majority are specifically dealing with Wicca/Witchcraft with a lot of History of Witchcraft in that mix. I have read every single one of them all the way through and many several times over. A fair number, are books that I refer to on an almost constant basis. What would be the point of acquiring a book if one was not going toread it?I have also lost about half that number through loaning them out or outright theft, by aspiring students. Brightest Blessings, Raji the Green Witch

Answer 7

There are 310,000,000 Americans. Roughly half self identify as Christian in one flavor or another. This makes it cost effective for Libraries to purchase books on Christianity, those books will get used.



Roughly 300,000 self identify as Pagan, Heathen, Neo-Pagan, or something similar. I've been in cities with larger populations. Really, when scarce funds need to be allocated, catering to this small group isn't cost effective.



However, I currently live in a city of 250,000, with a library of 5 million books, and Pagan and Heathen authors are well represented here.

Answer 8

How about the fact that there is no one single modern Wiccan movement. Most books written for and about it are available in alternative book stores, and libraries have limited resources to go out and buy everything. There are obviously going to focus on books that are more likely to be checked out from the local library.

Answer 9

Donate some of those types of books to the library so that they will have more. Much of the books in libraries are due to being donated, or having funds donate to buy those specific type of books.

Answer 10

answer: Theft, destruction, vandalism, bias = all of those. That's been going on since the early 80s. I've also found that problem with Jewish books but not to the same degree.

Answer 11

Look what the media is pimping today! Vampire-ism! I mean, look at what is on TV?! Vampire Diaries! Harry Potter has proven to be a big screen seller as well as the Twilight series!



All of this is on a broad scale!



We live in a society where good is evil, and evil is good!



So all that is not enough for you?! Brothers Grimm, Goose Bumps, Harry Potter, and The Twilight Series is not!



Your type blame Christians for everything, and you shout "there is no God" but yet you will let daughters wear a birka, and your sons face Mecca on a Friday all in the name of "tolerance!" What gets me is the fact that you also paste witches (Wiccan) on the wall every October for Halloween, and you tell the story of 'Twas the night before Christmas which main character is a man name Saint Nicklaus AKA Santa (spanish for SAINT) Claus!



What hypocrisy!!

Answer 12

You're right...Wicca is a religion that is still not accepted by many...they think it is Satan worship. They're wrong, but as long as people have misguided beliefs, they won't seek to understand anything different.

Answer 13

Reading a good e book provides a richer experience and can leave you with stories that can last years

Answer 14

Reading the e book instead of seeing the movie is the ultimate way to see what the author planned. Reading uses your imagination, hones your reading skills, and can transform your vocabulary.

Answer 15

Ridiculous, when people will find them interesting. The book buyers can't all be fundamentalists, can they?

Answer 16

people don't return library books. native Americans don't discuss are beliefs with outsiders.

Answer 17

Wicca is a sad made up 19th Century nonsense. No decent texts.