"No ban on Israeli authors" says Dumbartonshire
<p>West Dunbartonshire council has clarified its position on its libraries' stocking of books by Israeli authors after concerns were raised by staff on the public library discussion forum LIS-PUBS-LIBS.</p><p>The council has a boycott in place on the purchase of goods produced by Israel and Richard Aird, senior officer for ICT and Learning, told the library forum that the ban "appears to extend to books written by Israeli authors." He wrote: "Whilst we support the principle behind the corporate decision, we are naturally concerned about the message this sends out about how our libraries are stocked and the implications this has."</p><p>But a council spokesperson said: "There is definitely no boycott on Israeli authors, the boycott is on Israeli goods. If a book was produced in Israel and exported from Israel it would fall under the boycott, but we would look at each book on a case by case basis."</p><p><em>The Bookseller </em>understands that concerned staff are continuing to press for commitment from the council's executive director of education to implement CILIP's policy on stock procurement and censorship, which requires access to all books unless a legal issue is involved.</p><p>Twenty-eight library authorities around the country are set to run a Banned Books promotion from 25th September to raise awareness of censorship. </p>