Posted by Kim Garrett on November 2, 2010 at 20:31
What are some of the disclaimers that you put in various books or even on DVD's? A friend's family was watching a new Pilgrim's Progress DVD and her 8 year old son was a little afraid. I'm also thinking of the "Luther" movie that briefly shows someone being burned at the stake. Or books that may not agree 100% doctrinally with your church. I'd appreciate any help. Thanks, Kim
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Gretchen Erhardt sent the following post for this discussion:
In reference to marking library reference books that we disagree with theologically--
When I first heard a reading from the Book of Mormon, it was in the home of a Mormon family where my husband and I were guests. Our children were friends of their children in school. It was natural for this family later to give us a copy of the Book of Mormon and to follow up with gifts of other books, like suggestions for Family Home Evening, all published by the Deseret Press. I thanked our friends for sharing their books, then put the books on a high shelf in my closet and read parts of them occasionally. I thought I might discover what the draw was for someone perhaps unfamiliar with the Bible. I could not find anything that would appeal to someone familiar with the Bible. What I didn't account for was that the books themselves might have a pernicious effect.
Our family began to experience sickness and mishaps to a greater degree than I thought normal for a family living in an apartment complex in a tropical climate. Eventually, I asked a British friend, a committed Christian who seemed to have a gift of discernment, if she could suggest any reason for this uptick in disarray in our home. After some thought, she responded, "I think that someone's praying for you who isn't a Christian." I said that was very likely true, given our friendship with this Mormon family. I told her about the books on my closet shelf. She suggested that I dispose of them. I did. Our sicknesses left, as did our car problems and my general sense of being under attack.
I say this not because that false-religion publications should be off limits to us, but because I wonder if they should occupy permanent space in our church libraries. I can't say I know for sure. But without good pastoral care and guidance--and some folks who use our church library may lack that--it seems the continuing availability of the books could be counterproductive. What if, instead, we'd provide direction to websites or books that offer clear, gracious teaching about the false teachings and comparisons of the false teachings with the truth?
Any suggestions for libraries wanting to provide food for thought regarding distortions of Scriptural truth?
Great questions!!
We have a children's DVD section, and an adult/teen DVD section. Patrons must be 18+ or have a parent-approved Teen/Adult membership to checkout the adult/teen DVDs.
We are in the process of putting the rating and reason for the rating in bold on the front cover of every adult movie above G rated.
We inserted our first book disclaimer last summer for The Shack - our pastor wrote it and we glued it into the front of the book. I can email it to you later if you'd like - I need to get it from the library computer and I am home.
Since then, we have added a Koran and a Book of Mormon to our Resources for Study section and both have disclaimers in the front about the need and value of these materials for study, but to use discernment as the theology is in conflict with our church's doctrine.
I have a poster on the shelf in the children's section:
While the library committee does its very best to make sure that the books and DVDs are appropriate for children only “YOU” know what your child is comfortable viewing or reading. Therefore it is important that any children’s book, video or DVD should be viewed or read by parents and/or grandparents before sharing it with a child.
And I also tape notices to the front cover of books stating that the content may be upsetting to some children.
For adults I also tape notices, for instance on The Shack I stated that this book is fiction and is not based on a true story, because so many people didn't know it was fiction.
I have used this disclaimer for books that may not agree doctrinally with our church and/or may be contreversial (our minister suggested these words)
This book does not represent the views and/or opinions of the library or our church community. That though such books as this may be controversial they set the context for our Christian belief.
Hope this helps
Kay
We color code our DVDs to correlate with our other color codes.
Our children's books have a blue (felt marker pen) edge along the right side of the card, our preteen/young teen book cards have a green edge, and a spine label with a green band. When the checkout cards are tallied, it's easy to sort and count them, then file them in the appropriate box.
Our young children's DVDs have a blue edge along the top of the spine label; "family" viewing for preteens , teens & adults, green; adult entertainment, orange; movies with teaching, historical or scriptural content, pink. We have a small chart near the DVD rack. Since we have designated them by color codes, we haven't had any problems. We expect that with those guidelines, parent will exercise good judgement. There may also be additonal information on the insert label from the movie producers as to appropriate audience.
Our check out rules say that children 8 and under must be accompanied by an adult to check out books, and must be 16 and over to check out DVDs. Our registration form has a "Stewartship agreement" that states that adults will not allow children to handle the DVDs because of their delicate nature.
Replies
Gretchen Erhardt sent the following post for this discussion:
In reference to marking library reference books that we disagree with
theologically--
When I first heard a reading from the Book of Mormon, it was in the home
of a Mormon family where my husband and I were guests. Our children were
friends of their children in school. It was natural for this family
later to give us a copy of the Book of Mormon and to follow up with
gifts of other books, like suggestions for Family Home Evening, all
published by the Deseret Press. I thanked our friends for sharing their
books, then put the books on a high shelf in my closet and read parts of
them occasionally. I thought I might discover what the draw was for
someone perhaps unfamiliar with the Bible. I could not find anything
that would appeal to someone familiar with the Bible. What I didn't
account for was that the books themselves might have a pernicious effect.
Our family began to experience sickness and mishaps to a greater degree
than I thought normal for a family living in an apartment complex in a
tropical climate. Eventually, I asked a British friend, a committed
Christian who seemed to have a gift of discernment, if she could suggest
any reason for this uptick in disarray in our home. After some thought,
she responded, "I think that someone's praying for you who isn't a
Christian." I said that was very likely true, given our friendship with
this Mormon family. I told her about the books on my closet shelf. She
suggested that I dispose of them. I did. Our sicknesses left, as did
our car problems and my general sense of being under attack.
I say this not because that false-religion publications should be off
limits to us, but because I wonder if they should occupy permanent space
in our church libraries. I can't say I know for sure. But without good
pastoral care and guidance--and some folks who use our church library
may lack that--it seems the continuing availability of the books could
be counterproductive. What if, instead, we'd provide direction to
websites or books that offer clear, gracious teaching about the false
teachings and comparisons of the false teachings with the truth?
Any suggestions for libraries wanting to provide food for thought
regarding distortions of Scriptural truth?
Gretchen Erhardt
We have a children's DVD section, and an adult/teen DVD section. Patrons must be 18+ or have a parent-approved Teen/Adult membership to checkout the adult/teen DVDs.
We are in the process of putting the rating and reason for the rating in bold on the front cover of every adult movie above G rated.
We inserted our first book disclaimer last summer for The Shack - our pastor wrote it and we glued it into the front of the book. I can email it to you later if you'd like - I need to get it from the library computer and I am home.
Since then, we have added a Koran and a Book of Mormon to our Resources for Study section and both have disclaimers in the front about the need and value of these materials for study, but to use discernment as the theology is in conflict with our church's doctrine.
I hope this helps,
Deanna
While the library committee does its very best to make sure that the books and DVDs are appropriate for children only “YOU” know what your child is comfortable viewing or reading. Therefore it is important that any children’s book, video or DVD should be viewed or read by parents and/or grandparents before sharing it with a child.
And I also tape notices to the front cover of books stating that the content may be upsetting to some children.
For adults I also tape notices, for instance on The Shack I stated that this book is fiction and is not based on a true story, because so many people didn't know it was fiction.
I have used this disclaimer for books that may not agree doctrinally with our church and/or may be contreversial (our minister suggested these words)
This book does not represent the views and/or opinions of the library or our church community. That though such books as this may be controversial they set the context for our Christian belief.
Hope this helps
Kay
Our children's books have a blue (felt marker pen) edge along the right side of the card, our preteen/young teen book cards have a green edge, and a spine label with a green band. When the checkout cards are tallied, it's easy to sort and count them, then file them in the appropriate box.
Our young children's DVDs have a blue edge along the top of the spine label; "family" viewing for preteens , teens & adults, green; adult entertainment, orange; movies with teaching, historical or scriptural content, pink. We have a small chart near the DVD rack. Since we have designated them by color codes, we haven't had any problems. We expect that with those guidelines, parent will exercise good judgement. There may also be additonal information on the insert label from the movie producers as to appropriate audience.
Our check out rules say that children 8 and under must be accompanied by an adult to check out books, and must be 16 and over to check out DVDs. Our registration form has a "Stewartship agreement" that states that adults will not allow children to handle the DVDs because of their delicate nature.