Puritan wrote:Many libraries don't carry this book and those that do have trouble with people destroying or loosing the thing, so I am unsurprised, although I am a bit troubled that it is so difficult to read a book that had a large place in the Oklahoma City bombing. I would also agree with you, AnimeHeretic, that a temporary ban would be appropriate while the library corrects its lapses, but I would find it unfortunate if the temporary ban becomes permenant because the library is unwilling to deal with this type of material appropriately.
Well, if it's a problem with the staff, then certainly some disciplinary action should be taken, though I suspect it was more carelessness than willfull negligence. I think the proper safeguards should be in place first though before returning it.
Technomancer wrote:Given the subject matter of the book, I didn't find the picture to be out of place. It's part of a perfectly valid, survey of manga and manga culture, in other words it's essentially a history of a popular art form. Documenting these comics without illustrations would leave the book entirely incomplete]
Actually according to the description of the incident:Although the book in question was not located in the children’s section of the Victorville library, it was on a shelf next to other books including comics popular with children.
so clearly there were no safeguards in place at that library. I don't deny that there can be legitimate works that deal with graphic content, but when they exist, access needs to be controlled to prevent minors from accessing them.
Finally there are community standards. I can't speak for what CBC and TVO allows, since those are from a different country (Canada) than the county of San Bernadino. But I think that is the issue. Standards in one part of Canada and standards of San Bernadino can be different in what is acceptable. In the United States, community standards are the key to what is acceptable and what is not. The content of a Public library reflects those standards.
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