The Schaumburg Township (Ill.) District Library has set up an appeals panel to hear arguments from patrons who want materials added or removed from its collection. The new procedure was created in response to the library’s reluctance to acquire Michael Collins Piper’s Final Judgment, a 1993 book that alleges the involvement of Israel’s state intelligence service in the assassination of President Kennedy, according to the March 2 Chicago Tribune.
In November 1999, Christopher Bollyn, a patron from neighboring Hoffman Estates, offered to donate the book, but the library turned him down since the book had not been reviewed by any professional publication and was not held by any library in Illinois. At a board meeting in January, Bollyn charged the library with censorship, so it established a review board of three librarians who will read the book and decide whether to add it to the collections. Library officials indicated this process would be used on a case-by-case basis in any future disputes.
Posted March 13, 2000.