KY Library Fires Circ Staffers for Refusing to Check Out Graphic Novel
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By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 11/4/2009 2:00:00 PM
Two circulation staffers at the Jessamine County Public Library (JCPL) in Nicholasville, KY, have lost their jobs for refusing to let an 11-year-old girl check out a book in the graphic novel series "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." Their reasoning? She was too young.
“Circulation to children cannot be judged or denied,” reads the library’s employee handbook, provided by Ron Critchfield, JCPL’s director, who cited it as the cause for termination.
The series, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, was started in 1999 and features a grand collection of signature 19th-century fictional adventurers covertly brought together to defend the empire.
While Critchfield wouldn’t comment directly on the firings of Beth Bovaire and Sharon Cook last month, he did say that the ultimate decision about what children can read really rests with their parents.
“It should be noted that at JCPL, parents must consent to allow their children to have a library card if the children are 17 or younger,” he says. “Juveniles cannot receive borrowing privileges without knowledge and consent of their parent or guardian—and no child under 11 should be in the library unsupervised.”
That’s a policy that the American Library Association (ALA) stands by as well.
“The library has made a very positive statement as to a parent’s responsibility to monitor a child’s reading and adhering to this policy is not taking away from a child’s right to read,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, acting director for ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “It’s a tough place to be for that library director, but it’s commendable.”
While attempts to reach the two circulation staffers were unsuccessful, they spoke with a local news channel in late October, stating that they felt the graphic novel contained lewd images and shouldn’t be circulated among children.
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The Jessamine County Public Library. |
Lori Gentile, manager at Amazing Fantasy bookstore in Frankfort, IL, which sells "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," says the series does deal with some adult themes and nude images do appear. But author Alan Moore says it was originally imagined as a “Justice League of Victorian England.”
Gentile finds it confusing that parents often object more to exposing their children to nudity than to violence.
“If the policy says it’s up to the parents, I applaud that,” she says. “It should be up to the parents. But some parents expect the world to shelter their children for them.”
