Kentuckians Take Sides about Graphic Nature of Graphic Novel

November 25, 2009

What began as a personnel matter in September involving the actions of two employees of the Jessamine County (Ky.) Public Library has grown into a local controversy about the artistic merit of Alan Moore’s graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier and whether two circulation clerks should be applauded for taking the moral high road or decried for violating library policy by withholding the title from an 11-year-old girl who had reserved a copy for checkout. The library employees were fired for doing so. 

Sharon Cook and Beth Boisvert lost their jobs September 23, the day after library officials discovered that Boisvert had removed the girl’s hold on the book to prevent her from borrowing it. Cook had asked Boisvert and another coworker for help after finding out the identity of the patron whose reservation of Black Dossier was interfering with Cook’s renewing the book yet again (as she had for almost a year) to prevent its circulation, according to the November 10 Lexington Herald-Leader.

Cook said that when she first took note of Black Dossier, which was acquired in late 2007 by patron request, “someone suggest we spill a cup of tea on it. Instead I checked it out.” Explaining that she objected to the graphic novel’s representations of sexual situations, Cook went on to say that she filled out a request for reconsideration; the review committee ultimately declined her request. “People prayed over me while I was reading it because I did not want those images in my head,” she told the newspaper.

As word spread about the women’s September dismissal, some community members began expressing concern about their firing while others supported the library’s action as upholding patron privacy and the First Amendment. Sentiment spilled over into the board’s November 18 meeting, where trustees heard  public comment from 22 individuals, according to the November 23 Jessamine Journal.

“We don’t want pornography in our streets; I don’t want it here,” Earl Lee Watts said, explaining that he evangelizes throughout Kentucky. Passing out photocopies of pages from Black Dossier, he added, “If you think anybody who is a sexual predator will not get excited by reading this, then I say you are blind and you are wrong.”

“I know those who disagree with this decision feel that they are defending families and children,” Sydney Ruth Smith said. “However, I believe it is much more dangerous to all of us to limit free access to materials than it is to expose young people to cartoon sexual images.”

“It is unfortunate that some people hear the phrase ‘graphic novel’ and automatically think it is bad,”library Director Ron Critchfield told American Libraries. Nonetheless, he noted, “JCPL has received four donated copies of Black Dossier from around the country, from people in Iowa, Colorado, Texas, and Massachusetts.”

Although Critchfield declined to comment on the personnel aspects of the incident, he wrote in an open letter in the October 27 Jessamine Journal, “As customers of a public library there is a First Amendment expectation to respect the rights of all persons—what one person might view as questionable might be quite important and relevant to another.” Several days later, notices appeared at both the brick-and-mortar JCPL and the library website (PDF file) titled “Parents and Guardians, Did You Know?” that stated “We believe it is essential for you to take an active role in guiding your child’s use of the library” and detailing parents’ monitoring options for keeping track of what their child has borrowed and put on hold. “You can even cancel [the holds] if you want,” the notice read.

Neither Critchfield nor board President Billie Goodwill specified in the Journal when trustees would respond to the public comments or a petition with 950 signatures that was presented to the board by area minister Darryl Diddle. The petition requests the removal of Black Dossier from the collection along with Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk, the DVD of the film adaptation of Palahniuk’s novel Choke, and the DVD Ron White: You Can’t Fix Stupid, because the titles “offended me in that they depict sexual acts and/or describe such acts in a way that in my opinion are contrary to the Jessamine County public opinion” and endanger the public because they encourage sexual predators. The board is scheduled to meet again December 16.

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