And yet, other comments made it clear that librarians defacing library property is nothing new:

I once worked with a school library technician who took it upon herself to draw shirts on all the bare-chested people in National Geographic.

I’m a cataloger for a large school district and one of our high school librarians does this kind of thing all the time. We all just roll our eyes.

I’m a school librarian. My predecessor had a cache of “banned books” hidden away in a locked cabinet, including a book that contained a photo of a woman breast-feeding. When I took over, I re-shelved them all.

When I was in elementary school there was a book about Adam and Eve in our school library. The librarian had fashioned little “bathing suits” for them out of stickers. Kids were always trying to peel off the stickers to see what was underneath.

We considered the question of whether librarians are there to enforce community standards:

In her defense, the FCC demands that certain words be “bleeped” before a show can air. So you could argue that there’s a legal precedent for community standards being applied.

But she defaced the book before anyone complained! It wasn’t done in response to community concern.

Censorship is a slippery slope. What else offends (or scares) this librarian? And who put her in charge of community morals?

They do this kind of thing to foreign newspapers in Saudi Arabia. Not a good model to imitate.

The clear consensus was that good librarians don’t deface or censor books:

If somebody did this in my library, I’d buy a new copy and discard the damaged one.

I’m a school librarian at a Catholic school. We have The Night Kitchen, uncensored, in our collection. We also have science books about the human body, that have scientific drawings (at a kid’s level) of labia, penises, etc.

Kids need to learn about sexual anatomy. It’s “private,” yes, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

I’ve had parents complain about this book. It’s still on our shelves. Don’t like it? Don’t read it.

My favorite response? The librarian who cited Kurt Cobain:

When asked to alter the cover art of Nirvana’s Nevermind, which showed a naked three-year old (with penis clearly visible) swimming toward a dollar bill, lead singer Cobain agreed to only one compromise: a strategically placed sticker that would read: “If you’re offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile.” The original album art went out untouched.

Still, as happy as I am to replace the stereotype of the fussy cardigan-wearing librarian with that of an edgy, Cobain-quoting librarian, the final word has to go to librarian Cynthia Robbins:

I read this book over and over again to my daughter without any bad result. It was her favorite. Adults pass on their own bad feelings when they censor like this. Censorship is fear. As librarians, we are supposed to be fearless.

I agree. Although I am, by nature, quiet and mild-mannered, I want to be fearless when it comes to standing up for the books in our collection. Let’s face it —  if you can’t deal with defending Maurice Sendak’s right to draw a little boy without his clothes on, you’re probably in the wrong profession.

And if you’re a parent who doesn’t want her kid to see a fictional 5-year-old’s penis? You can buy yourself a copy and deface it to your heart’s content.

Of course, when your kid checks the book out of the school library, he’s in for a surprise.