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A lot of controversy has surrounded Dr. Seuss for racial and stereotypical content in a handful of his books in recent weeks.

Bartlesville Public Library (BPL) Director Shellie McGill said there were six books that Dr. Seuss Enterprises decided to stop publishing. McGill said the BPL owns two of the six books. She said they've decided to pull the two books and make them available at their circulation desk.

"And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" and "McElligot's Pool" are the two books that were pulled.

People are welcome to come to the library and read the books. McGill said they found that the books they have were sometimes selling on eBay for thousands of dollars. Since they knew that they could not replace the books if they were checked out and not brought back, McGill said they decided to keep the books in a location where they're still available for patrons, but they can no longer be removed from the library.

A library is a community resource, and McGill said they have many books that may not be ideal for all people. McGill said people have different beliefs, customs, and ethnicities, so they have to be able to have some things that would not be acceptable to some people in circulation because they are a representation of our community as a whole. She said it would be wrong to remove the two Dr. Seuss books at the library from circulation all together, but they understand that they have to protect them as well.

McGill said Bartlesville has a diverse community. She said the oil companies bring in many people from different countries with different areas of belief, which has resulted in the diverse community.

The Bartlesville Public Library respects the fact that different cultures and different places have different beliefs. In the past 20 years, McGill said they have not dwelled on the idea of censorship a lot, but as a whole, libraries have a time called "Ban Book Week" where they look at different books that have been banned from other places because they're deemed controversial. She said it is in our history that we do have publications that become somewhat controversial.

All but a couple of patrons that have come to the library in recent weeks have been in support of Dr. Seuss. McGill said the patrons support the author because he wrote so many books and they've only isolated a few of them. She said they removed the books from the shelves because they didn't want them to disappear from their history.

McGill said the irony behind BPL's decision to pull the books was that they got an email from the Oklahoma State Department of Libraries that recommended that they take the same actions they took two days prior to receiving the email. She said this is a decision that was made across the entire State of Oklahoma.

If you are ever deeply offended by something that the Bartlesville Public Library has in its collection, McGill said they have a "Citizen's Request for Reconsideration Form" available to the public. She said the form allows citizens to take a book, a movie, a game or anything that they might find offensive and reprehensible, and tell the library that they believe that it should be removed. The BPL will then reconsider whether or not they should have the item available on their floor.

McGill said they don't make things available to the public without thought, but they make mistakes too. If there is something that someone believes should not be available, McGill asks that you let them know right away.