Library: “No Girls Allowed”

By Staff -- School Library Journal, 9/1/2007

You’d never expect to see the sign “No Girls Allowed” at a library, but that’s exactly what the Natrona County Public Library in Casper, WY, is pushing as part of a boys reading club.

The words are a definite attention-grabber, says reference librarian Kevin Kocur, who’s in charge of the program, which debuted in August.

But isn’t banning girls just a teensy politically incorrect? No, says Kocur, adding that it’s one of the library’s several initiatives focusing on the literacy needs of boys. That focus was prompted by a visit last March by Michael Sullivan, a former library director whose book Connecting Boys with Books (ALA Editions, 2003) pointed out that young boys have such little interaction with men because most elementary school teachers are women and less than 20 percent of children’s librarians are male.

“Fathers often don’t fill the bill, either,” says Kocur, pointing out that boys never see their Dads reading; and if they do, it’s a newspaper.

“No Girls Allowed” features games such as Runescape and chess. Participants, who are in grades three and up, are also encouraged to choose their own books. But the library wants to avoid any school-like book discussions. Instead, activities will move outdoors and follow the themes of various boys’ books.