JACKSON (AP) - The director of the Teton County Library has staunchly defended carrying a book about marijuana growing.

"The Marijuana Grower's Handbook," written by Ed Rosenthal, is a valuable source of information and adheres to the library's selection policies, director Betsy Bernfeld said.

"While some question whether public money should give voice to an idea that is objectionable to that public, a better question might be, 'Who else should provide it?"' she wrote in an opinion piece published in the Jackson Hole News&Guide this week.

Last month, Wilson resident Robert Gathercole had complained in a letter to the paper that providing the book is a misuse of public funds.

"I do not understand why, when so much of our county resources are devoted to dealing with the problem of substance abuse, you have chosen to spend tax dollars to purchase a how-to-crime manual," Gathercole wrote.

The book is an instruction manual for setting up a commercial pot farm, he said.

Bernfeld said the library's job is not to control thought but provoke it.

"There shall be the fullest practical provision of materials presenting all points of view concerning the problems and issues of our time," she wrote.

She suggested parents and law officials concerned about drug abuse could use the book for research.