Librarian yields, books moved

An Editorial from Houston, TX, says the demand for removing two controversial books from the children’s section to the adults’ section in the Fort Bend County Libraries had a false start. It had the potential to ignite a political and ideological fight as has been seen in many parts of the country. But, it ended amicably with the librarian conceding the demand. The belated action, however, leaves some issues unanswered.

This Article explains what happened. Two controversial children’s books on sex education in Fort Bend County Libraries were moved from the children’s section to the adults’ section.

October 22, 2003 by Uncategorized 2

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2 Responses

  1. Fang-Face says:
    October 22, 2003 at 8:34 pm

    Bad call
    Off the top of my head I would call this a censorship incident. For one thing, It’s So Amazing targets the 12 year-old audience, and It’s Perfectly Normal is for the 14 year-old audience. Neither one belongs in the adult section at all. Secondly, the librarian was pressured into moving them before the review process was initiated according to outlined procedure. Conclusion: this is a case of one parent deciding what the children of other parents are not allowed to see.

    Reply
  2. tomeboy says:
    October 23, 2003 at 10:22 am

    Re:Bad call
    Technically speaking these are not children’s books, rather Juvenile/Young Adult. Most libraries make this distinction at or around 10 years of age for reasons such as this. A Juvenile/Young Adult collection would most likely solve the problem.

    However this is not censorship. Bad library management possibly, but not censorship.

    I would also submit that the change in location will not have a detrimental effect on the circulation of these two books. (assuming the change in the collection type does not affect the circulation matrices with the patron type) Will anyone be prevented from checking these books out? No. In fact, thanks to the hub bub, these books will be more popular than the Oprah stuff.

    Young adults/adolescents wanting these books will find them easily in the online/card catalog. It’s a good skill for these youngsters to develop. Perhaps they will have a little longer walk to the book but that’s it.

    The only real impact from this move is that kiddies (primarily those between 1 and 9) won’t pull this book out while looking for “The Early Bird” or “Arthur’s Family Vacation” thus saving parents from a potentially awkward situation if the book opens to a page that begs a question from little Joey.(young kids don’t use online catalogs, they just pull and look)

    Again, I’m not sure why this issue was/is such a big deal? A Juvenile/Young Adult section, which nearly all public libraries have, is a simple solution.

    If others consider this censorship, then again librarians, not parents are the primary perpetrators. Librarians hide material among different collections all of the time. In fact, this often a part of a policy.

    For example, books that are habitually stolen/mutilated/taken to bathrooms (Malcolm X, Witchcraft, Masons, Manson, Joy of Sex, etc..) must often be asked for behind a circulation desk.

    Obviously having to ask for the Masters and Johnson will have a negative impact upon Johnny High School’s interest in studying those pencil sketchings of the missionary position?

    Reply

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