NC Library to Give Parents More Say

Charlotte and Mecklenburg's public library to issue cards that may curtail children's choices

Rick Margolis -- School Library Journal, 12/1/2001

It won't be business as usual for much longer at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County's (PLCMC) children's and young adult sections. After a five-month county-mandated study of children's access to library materials, PLCMC's Board of Trustees recently decided that parents should have more control over the books their kids borrow from the library. Beginning early next year, says Robert Cannon, PLCMC's executive director, the North Carolina library will distribute new cards that will let parents specify what kinds of resources their children may have access to.

Here's how the new card system will work. Parents of children 12 years and younger will be able to select one of two options: (a) an unrestricted card that will let their kids check out books and audiovisual materials from the adult section; or (b) a restricted-usage card that won't permit their children to borrow adult materials. Parents will also be given the option of barring adolescents under the age of 18 from taking home movies rated PG, PG-13, and R. Parents who don't want their kids checking out adult materials will be required to sign a borrower's agreement, says Cannon. But he adds the following caveat for cautious parents to consider: "If you want only a [juvenile] collection choice for your child, you have to understand the child can't check out any adult material, including the Bible and encyclopedias."

The library board decided to study its children's policies after Martin Davis, a local resident, objected to the sexually explicit language used in some of PLCMC's adult books. Earlier in the year, Davis appeared on live televised broadcasts of Mecklenburg County commission meetings, reading aloud off-color passages from various library books. Davis's TV appearances eventually prompted county officials to order the library study… and to consider purchasing a tape-delay device to edit out the anti-pornography activist's comments.