Electronic Brown Wrapper: Hustler via ILL

[Gilbert, Richard A]

>----------
>From: 	Donald Barclay[SMTP:dbarclay at Bayou.UH.EDU]
>Sent: 	Friday, June 06, 1997 8:12 AM
>To: 	Multiple recipients of list
>Subject: 	Electronic Brown Wrapper: Hustler via ILL
>
>David Burt wrote:
>
>     . . . .you would not only would not fill an ILL request for Hustler,
>     you COULD NOT, because no library carries it. That's the point: it's
>     out of bounds. Sorry, but that's the truth: some information is out
>     of bounds to public libraries and their patrons, always has been. 
>
>However, according to FirstSearch's WorldCat the following libraries do
>carry <<Hustler>>.
>
> DLC   LIBRARY OF CONGRESS                                
> UIU   UNIV OF ILLINOIS                                   
> BGU   BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIV                           
> OSU   OHIO STATE UNIV, THE                               
>
>
>Three of the above libraries are indentified as ILL suppliers, so a
>public library could fill an ILL request for <<Hustler>>. 
>
>To quote one of Mr. Burt's favorite expressions:"Wrong." 
>
>
>Donald A. Barclay
>Coordinator of Electronic Services    always the beautiful answer
>University of Houston Libraries       who asks a more beautiful question
>DBarclay at uh.edu                               --e.e. cummings
>

How many libraries would actually go ahead and request this for a patron
(or for that matter, even check on OCLC to see if it was available for
loan)?

I would have to agree that many libraries and librarians practice a form
of censorship based on society's perception of the value of certain
types of information.  This censorship has been justified in the past by
budgetary restraints or lack of patron interest in such materials.  For
many this is an uncomfortable thought, and may explain the many violent
reactions to the suggestion.

Richard Gilbert