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Ashland library board challenged on books about sexuality

Community members present a statement regarding the display of books they contend are inappropriate for children in the library.

Tom E. Puskar, Ashland Times Gazette

ASHLAND Whether or not nudity should be allowedin children's books was debatedThursday among some patronsand board members ofthe Ashland Public Library.

The five books in question are still in circulation and willstay there,Heather Miller, the library's director, assured everyone during theregular libraryboard meeting.

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And the four Ashland County residents who visited the meeting made it clearthey considerthe books to be pornographic in nature, and that their presence in the library stacks createsan unsafe environment for children.

Thursday's discussion was the third to be held about the five new books,Sandra Hedlund Tunnell, president of the library's Board of Directors, explained.

Among the titles are "Own Your Period: A Fact-filled Guide to Period Positivity" by Chella Quint and "MakingA Baby" by Rachel Greener.

The books started causing a ruckus at the start of the year when they reached the new arrival shelf of the children's section. Since they are now six months old, the titles have recently been moved from that display and placed onto the shelves with all of the other books.

As far as Tunnell can remember, it'sthe first batch of books to trouble some local residents.

"I appreciate their concerns," Tunnell said. "I think censorship is a slippery slope. I don't want to start going down the road where we start just picking books off the shelf willy-nilly because a couple of people have complained out of the thousands and thousands and thousands of people who use our library."

The charge to have the books removed is being led by two pastors and a set of parents.

The first to speak was Laura Brenning, a mother of two who was accompanied by her husband, Jeremy.

"It makes me sad because this is the first year we have not been able to do the summer reading program," Brenning said. "I don't feel safe letting them peruse the children's section."

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After evaluating the content ofthe five new books, she's concerned what materialmight be in other books she has yet to screen.

Brenning said one book had"many pictures of genitals and also discusses masturbation." Another "shows a couple in the act of having sex," and the others contained nudity, profanity"and other adult themes."

She said the books were labeled as being recommended for children as young as 5.

The Rev. John Bouquet, pastor ofBethel Baptist Church, told the library's leaders thathe is"beyond shocked to find the following materials in our public library in a children's section."

He asked that the books be removed, or at least taken out of the children's section.

"Parents are entrusted with the right to teach their children about sexuality and gender, not the library and not our public schools," Bouquet said. "Protect their innocence."

He said the adult section of the library would be the appropriate place to store reference material that might contain "adult-level content."

"Making babies is the title, but the pictures in the book are pornographic and obscene," Bouquet said. "To display naked men with childrenin a shower exposing body parts is just plain wrong and should not be done for children ages 5through 9."

The concerned residents' evaluation of the books doesnot accurately depict their content,Mike Zickefoose, secretary of the library board, maintains.

He examinedthe five titles,initially concernedthere might be a photo of a nude man instead, he found an educational illustration.

"It's not a sexual depiction of a man," Zickefoose said. "It's a reference book. It's science. These books are talking about puberty and what people go through."

Zickefoose urged those concernedto read the text around the images and consider the educational content being illustrated.

Bouquet argued most young children would not be reading the books, they would be flipping through them looking at pictures.

"They're not drawn to the words first, and you know that. They're drawn to the pictures," he said. "There is a definite societal fallout to this."

Professionals evaluate new materials to ensure they are accurate and provide education to the public, the board president explained.

"If the parents don't want their children to read them or to touch them, that's up to them," Tunnell said.

She said the library's job is not to protect, but to makeinformation readily available to everyone.

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"We have children in our community who do not have parents available to talk to them about things like puberty," Tunnell said.

Of the more than 90,000 books in the library's circulation, she said, she isn't worried that only five might offend someone, and that the books willremain.

"That's the first step toward censorship," Tunnell said. "You talk about freedom and liberty, but I don't think censorship and freedom can coexist."

Reach Zach at 419-564-3508 or ztuggle@gannett.com

On Twitter: @zachtuggle

Read more from the original source:
'Censorship is a slippery slope.' Ashland library rejects call to remove five books - Wooster Daily Record