Hero Deloris Wilson

One of those very, very quiet heroes is Deloris Wilson, a high school librarian in West Monroe, LA.

Wilson's minor and certainly temporary celebrity came when she bravely resisted the forces of the academic dark side (the school's administration, of course) and refused to remove four books from circulation. Administrators were, apparently, afraid the students would find out about...gasp, sex, as that was the topic of the books in question. Later told to remove from the shelves all books having content dealing with sex, she began, as a protest, to pull many classics and even the Bible.

Authorities so often want to save everyone else from themselves. Wilson's case brought to mind an earlier such incident when members of the U.S. Congress ordered the Library of Congress to get rid of a list of offending books, which included "Make it With Madmoiselle." Turns out that was actually a book of sewing patterns. The LOC was also directed to get rid of the braille edition of Playboy magazine--that is, until librarians patiently explained that the only thing in braille was the verbal content.

Wilson entered a formal complaint in her matter, and the ACLU of Louisiana represented her. The books were returned to the shelves, Wilson kept her job, and a settlement was reached.