Our Library System’s So Pitiful

…I’m not sure we’re faced with such choices.

Grisham En Espanol? No Mas for Ga. Library
The library system in this suburban Atlanta county says no mas – it won’t buy any more thrillers, romance novels or other works of adult fiction in Spanish.
The decision has angered Hispanic leaders and thrust Gwinnett County – where one out of six residents is Hispanic – into the nation’s immigration debate.
Last week, the library board in this fast-growing county of 700,000 people eliminated the $3,000 that had been set aside to buy Spanish-language fiction in the coming fiscal year. It offered no explanation, but the chairman said such book purchases would lead readers of other foreign languages to demand the same treatment.

But, having said that, with the nickel and a half they do spend in an attempt to keep us marginally literate, English would be a good choice.

categories Littrachure | | datetime June 21, 2006 4:08 pm

One Response to “Our Library System’s So Pitiful”

  1. John says:
    June 21, 2006 at 6:10 pm

    Exactly. My wife and I pay a pretty penny in shipping to keep our kids literate (well, as literate as a 3.5 year old can be) in Chinese. We don’t expect the library to carry Ching Ping Mei in the original, and Hispanics can spend their own money, too.
    Getting to watch Madagascar and Robots in Chinese is worth the shipping cost, for me.

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