[amyfk]

Hi shoshana,

I am currently a SAHM, but I am a children's librarian by trade, who is looking to get back into her field.

I can understand your dismay after your trip to the library today! By placing all of the adoption books next to books on incest and touchy topics, I think it gives the patron the impression that adoption is a touchy topic as well.

In my former position in the children's room all of the adoption stories were placed in the same section as the general picture books. We also had a plentiful selection of books which were also current. Lastly we had a booklist available to the public on books that talked about adoption. So anyone who came into the children's room could easily find where the adoption books are.

The only books that were in the parent/teacher section which related to adoption were basically geared towards the adoptive parent, for eg. how to discuss adoption related issues to your child, or how to manage an open adoption. etc.

I dont know if you know, but i would be curious to find out if the gal you spoke with is a general staff librarian, or is she is the head of children's services. Larger libraries often will have a person who is in charge of the children's dept. in addition to the library director. If so, you may want to get in touch with him/her also.

I think a good library with regards to adoption would be sort of like my former children's room(though I didnt like other things about them..) I think books on adoption should be plentiful and current, I think there should be picture books as well as books describing how to discuss adoption with your children. There may even be books for discussing adoption with the birth families. Lastly, a good library would have booklists of books available to the public which would point out where the adoption books are located in the children's section.

I'm sorry to hear of your experience. I hope that by getting in touch with the supervisory staff, you get answers and changes to your satisfaction. I think I would have been upset as well. I also hope they remedy the situation. The patron pays the taxes and the library's main job is to make the public happy and comfortable.

Keep me posted of the situation,
Amy K, NJ