[5][6] She announced that, once removed, the books would not be discarded, but instead offered to other county libraries in California.

"Banning books is so utterly hopeless and futile," she wrote in a letter to the Board.

"[7] In 1941 she announced the availability of another controversial title, Jan Valtin's Out of the Night, a bestselling autobiography said to contain "lurid tales of violence and horror" by an ex-spy.

[14][15] Schenk was presented with the second Beta Phi Mu Award in 1955, for "distinguished service to librarianship".

[9] Gretchen Knief married German-born dairy farmer Franz Schenk in 1942.