St. Louis Library Accuses Patron of Creating Controversial Display
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Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 10/9/2007 2:00:00 PM
The St. Louis County Library in Missouri says it believes a patron recently created an unauthorized YA book display of controversial books—and then accused the library of distributing pornographic materials to minors.
A local resident allegedly pulled books from the stacks recently at the Daniel Boone branch, created a display in the teen section, and took photographs. A photo of the display subsequently showed up on a Web site called Community Library Watch, which was created by local mother Laura Kostial to lobby for the removal of specific books. The titles that Kostial point to include: Growing Up Gay in America (Franklin St, 2002) by Jason R. Rich; Homosexuality: What Does It Mean? (Capstone, 1999) by Julie K. Endersbe; and Making Sexual Decisions: The Ultimate Teen Guide (Scarecrow, 2003) by L. Kris Gowen.
“The branch manager [Eric Button] has assured me that this is not a display he or his staff created,” wrote Charles Pace, director of the St. Louis County Library, in a letter to Charlie Dooley, the chief executive of St. Louis County. “Instead, we have reason to believe that a patron came into the library at a time it was very busy and pulled the books and posed the pictures.”
Kostial, who has a history of run-ins with the library, also sent an email to the local West Newsmagazine, saying she was concerned about the sexually explicit materials available at the library for teens. Her Web site contains photographs of excerpts from several books, including sections dealing with anal sex, sexual fetishes, and masturbation.
“I was shocked,” Kostial told West Newsmagazine. “[The books are] a recipe for bad stuff. It did not seem appropriate for teens between the ages of 11 and 16.”
On her Web site, Kostial also includes an email she sent to Ed McSweeney, prosecuting attorney for the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office, asking whether any of the books were considered obscene for minors.
McSweeney responded by saying that his office would not take any action because the books were educational and did not qualify as “pornographic for minors as defined in the Missouri statutes.”
Although Kostial hasn’t filed a formal challenge to have the books removed from the teen section or the library, a reconsideration committee has already determined that 15 out of 17 titles are appropriately placed in the YA section, says Pace. The committee is reviewing two titles, What Are the Causes of Prostitution? (Gale/Greenhaven, 2007) by Louise Gerdes and Growing Up Gay in America, to determine if they should be relocated to the adult section. “But no books will be removed from the library,” Pace adds.
Joan Bertin, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, says, “If parents have concerns about their own children’s reading choices, it is their responsibility to direct and supervise them, not to expect library policies to reflect their views about parenting.”
