Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been getting a lot of national press attention since Senator McCain’s surprise pick was announced, and among the stories that have surfaced is one in which library censorship issues were raised.  The story dates from 1996, around the time that Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.  Both the New York Times and Time Magazine have now reported the incident, in which Palin asked the town librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, how she would react to being asked to remove objectionable books from the library collection over content issues.  The librarian told her she would resist such requests from the Mayor.  Palin fired her along with several other city department heads, then relented after town residents protested. 

According to home town newpaper The Frontiersman, which had relatively complete, contemporaneous reporting on the issue, Palin asked Emmons about removing objectionable books on three different occasions, with Emmons resisting each time.  But no books were banned, and Palin later told the paper that the questions were “rhetorical,” and that she had no particular books in mind. 

Emmons stayed in her position for several years after the incidents, then left shortly before the beginning of Palin’s second term.