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NEWS: Washington Library Responds to Complaint About Child Borrowing Yaoi Manga

Our system in the library provides an option for the children's cards to be restricted from borrowing adult material; parental consent is required in order to remove that block so if anything happens we won't be accountable for it.

I'm just wondering why it was apparently placed under "Adult Non-fiction"

Wah wah wah the library is stupid. Kids shouldn't be able to check out adult books. Blah blah blah

A variety of viewpoints are represented in the library collection and the library upholds the right of the individual to obtain information, though the content may be controversial, unorthodox, or unacceptable to others. The existence of a particular viewpoint in the collection is an expression of the Library's commitment to intellectual freedom and not an endorsement of the particular point of view.

A person's right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

Article V of the Library Bill of Rights states, "A person's right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views." The "right to use a library" includes free access to, and unrestricted use of, all the services, materials, and facilities the library has to offer. Every restriction on access to, and use of, library resources, based solely on the chronological age, educational level, literacy skills, or legal emancipation of users violates Article V.

Libraries are charged with the mission of developing resources to meet the diverse information needs and interests of the communities they serve. Services, materials, and facilities that fulfill the needs and interests of library users at different stages in their personal development are a necessary part of library resources. The needs and interests of each library user, and resources appropriate to meet those needs and interests, must be determined on an individual basis. Librarians cannot predict what resources will best fulfill the needs and interests of any individual user based on a single criterion such as chronological age, educational level, literacy skills, or legal emancipation.

Libraries should not limit the selection and development of library resources simply because minors will have access to them. Institutional self-censorship diminishes the credibility of the library in the community, and restricts access for all library users.

Children and young adults unquestionably possess First Amendment rights, including the right to receive information in the library. Constitutionally protected speech cannot be suppressed solely to protect children or young adults from ideas or images a legislative body believes to be unsuitable for them.1 Librarians and library governing bodies should not resort to age restrictions in an effort to avoid actual or anticipated objections, because only a court of law can determine whether material is not constitutionally protected.

The mission, goals, and objectives of libraries cannot authorize librarians or library governing bodies to assume, abrogate, or overrule the rights and responsibilities of parents. As "Libraries: An American Value" states, "We affirm the responsibility and the right of all parents and guardians to guide their own children's use of the library and its resources and services." Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents-and only parents-have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children-and only their children-to library resources. Parents who do not want their children to have access to certain library services, materials, or facilities should so advise their children. Librarians and library governing bodies cannot assume the role of parents or the functions of parental authority in the private relationship between parent and child.

Lack of access to information can be harmful to minors. Librarians and library governing bodies have a public and professional obligation to ensure that all members of the community they serve have free, equal, and equitable access to the entire range of library resources regardless of content, approach, format, or amount of detail. This principle of library service applies equally to all users, minors as well as adults. Librarians and library governing bodies must uphold this principle in order to provide adequate and effective service to minors.

The Association believes that parents and legal guardians have the right and responsibility to guide their own children in the exercise of their rights of access.

The library seems to be treating this as a book target at adults, rather than an adult book. I wouldn't be too terribly surprised if the folks who responded didn't know anything about it beyond what their catalog says.

Libraries give the same old defense when a parent or adult call them on having kids view things that weren't meant for kids. If the libraries can't manage their collections properly, then it shouldn't be there.

I am all for free access to information and yes it is the parents responsibility to say what is or is not appropriate, but lets make somethings clear

1) the 10 year old girl in question probably had no clue what the book was about.

2) the parents where not involved but a grandmother who probably saw it as a comic book if she looked at all

3) this is not the adventures of tom sawyer and huckle berry fin this is a gay love prono at least to some extent

4) there are far better and possibly more edgy manga that she could have read. for example koi kaze

Lots of input

The way mine is set up is that the tame stuff like Bakuman & Naruto gets put in the Teen section. While stuff that has nudity, graphic violence(like Claymore) or profanity in it gets put in the adult section(and for some reason, mine list it under Adult non-fiction).

this is a gay love prono at least to some extent

[...]there are far better and possibly more edgy manga that she could have read. for example koi kaze

Actually, by all reports this was an ILL book, so she actually requested it and it was sent over from another branch.