The Librarian's Burden

A librarian friend of mine once said, "Sometimes theft is a librarian's best friend." We had been talking about "The Anarchist's Cookbook," and how libraries justify/deal with having it in their collections. She said that it invariably gets stolen, so the problem is moot. Other books that fall under a similar category are Madonna's Sex book, a while back; The Turner Diaries; books by science fiction writers cum religious nut; etc. Some books you order because you have to (i.e., a patron has requested you purchase it), and then there are other books that you want to order, but perhaps shouldn't. (And I don't know if there is a book that should never be added to a library's collection, ever. Any thoughts on this?)

Librarians are all about FREE ACCESS TO INFORMATION. We hold dear the concepts that censorship is bad, banning books is bad, and that the refusal of information or materials to patrons, based on subject matter, is bad. (The question of age of the patron is a little sketchier, so let's agree that I'm talking about adults here.)

I'm sure almost every collection development librarian has struggled at one time or another about adding a certain item to the collection. I buy the 700s, which includes Art, and comics/graphic novels. I had read a review of Lost Girls, by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie. From the reviews I read, it appeared to be a straight forward collection with stories that seemed to explore what erotic situations three famous literary characters (Alice, of Wonderland; Dorothy, of Oz, and Wendy, of Neverland) might encounter if they grew up a few more years. Publisher's Weekly gave Lost Girls a very good review, as did Booklist, the trade journal published by the American Library Association. I was intrigued by the idea of the book, and knew it would be erotic, but figured, "so what?" I ordered this three-volume set for my library's collection.

When Lost Girls arrived from the distributor, I got a call from the person in Technical Services who checks in the book orders. She asked if I knew how graphic the book was. Um...no. So she gave me the books, I opened one of them at random, and there was a teenage girl who was naked, riding the cock of some beastly man. I felt myself turn bright red. (I'm not a prude, but looking at graphic depictions of sex in front of a co-worker...well...it made me uncomfortable.) The book is filled with page after page of fucking, oral sex, masturbation, hand jobs, etc. Ok, I don't remember if there are hand jobs in there, but i'm sure there are. Take a look at the Amazon listing for a peek at some of the graphics. The books are actually quite beautiful. But...I really didn't want to go to the mat for this particular title. I knew there'd be an uproar, should the "wrong" person get hold of the book. And if I had to defend a title, I wanted it to be something that I felt was Important, with a capital I. So I made the decision to send the book back.

Last week I ordered a book that may be the one I have to fight for. I was looking through Booklist's list of Best Graphic Novels, and saw Daddy's Girl, by Debbie Drechsler. Originally published in 1995, it's been reprinted recently. I've only read the first story so far, but it is powerful and disturbing and sad. Daddy's Girl tells the story of the author's sexual abuse by her father, told from her point of view as an adolescent. Aside from the difficult subject matter, there is a graphic depiction of Lily in bed, being visited by her father, while her sister feigns sleep in the next bed.

I wondered whether a comic book about incest would draw outrage from the processors in the library's Technical Services department (trust me--you don't want to piss these people off, if you want your books to see the library shelves), or from the public, or from anyone at all. I gave the head of Tech Services a heads-up, lest his staff question my purchase. He said he didn't see any problem, and I trust his judgment. So, now it's wait and see. I'll keep you posted on what happens.