The controversy over the termination of two Nicholasville, Kentucky library employees who violated library policy to keep a child from checking out League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier continued this week at the monthly meeting of the Jessamine County Public Library Board. Speakers on both sides of the issue, some with petitions, weighed in on the contents of LoEG, whether it should be accessible to children, and whether it should be in the library at all. Opinions were divided about equally, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Video of the exchange was included in the report from local station WKYT. “Anybody on this board please tell me this is not pornography,” a man identified as an evangelist by the Herald-Leader said to the board, waving copies of pages of the book.
A woman responded, “It becomes dangerous to democracy, to our way of life, when an individual or special interest group tries to impose their values on our whole community.”
Another asked whether the board was “desensitized as to what is lewd, to what is disgusting.”
The board began by explaining its policy, which requires parental consent for a child to receive a library card, and then assumes the parent is monitoring the child’s reading choices. After hearing the public comments, the board said that it might or might not take action on the library policy on under-age users.
Black Dossier had already survived a challenge brought by one of the library employees that was terminated, so was not being considered for removal from the collection.
Video of the exchange was included in the report from local station WKYT. “Anybody on this board please tell me this is not pornography,” a man identified as an evangelist by the Herald-Leader said to the board, waving copies of pages of the book.
A woman responded, “It becomes dangerous to democracy, to our way of life, when an individual or special interest group tries to impose their values on our whole community.”
Another asked whether the board was “desensitized as to what is lewd, to what is disgusting.”
The board began by explaining its policy, which requires parental consent for a child to receive a library card, and then assumes the parent is monitoring the child’s reading choices. After hearing the public comments, the board said that it might or might not take action on the library policy on under-age users.
Black Dossier had already survived a challenge brought by one of the library employees that was terminated, so was not being considered for removal from the collection.
3 comments:
So the board assumes the parent is monitoring the child, which is why the employees can't censor who borrows what, but does the board then allow the library to let parents know what children have checked out, if they ask, or do they talk about customer privacy then?
(I deleted my previous response because of a link error in the post. The excerpt text remains unchanged.)
The following is an excerpt from what the American Library Association has to say on the matter, quoted from their website at "Questions and Answers on Privacy and Confidentiality":
The rights of minors vary from state to state. [...] In all instances, best practice is to extend to minor patrons the maximum allowable confidentiality and privacy protections.
Parents are responsible not only for the choices their minor children make concerning the selection of materials and the use of library facilities and resources, but also for communicating with their children about those choices. Librarians should not breach a child’s confidentiality by giving out information readily available to the parent from the child directly. Libraries should take great care to limit the extenuating circumstances in which they will release such information.
Parental responsibility is key to a minor’s use of the library. Notifying parents about the library’s privacy and confidentiality policies should be a part of the process of issuing library cards to minors. In some public libraries, the privacy rights of minors may differ slightly from those of adults, often in proportion to the age of the minor. The legitimate concerns for the safety of children in a public place can be addressed without unnecessary invasion of minors’ privacy while using the library.
The rights of minors to privacy regarding their choice of library materials should be respected and protected. More information on the privacy rights of children can be found on the Office for Intellectual Freedom's page "Privacy Resources for Librarians, Library Users, and Families."
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