Children's Librarian Fights Challenges,
Loses Job
Six months after the Mexico-Audrain County (Mo.) Library District board backed the inclusion of It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris in the library's juvenile collection, Kathy Herrin has lost her job.
The coordinator of children's and youth services told American Libraries that she and the board had been subjected to constant pressure from a local Family Friendly Libraries group to remove all materials related to "sensitive family issues" including "sexuality, the death of a loved one, or the birth process."
Herrin said that the board took disciplinary action against her without warning and told her in January: "You will be fired or you will resign." She resigned under protest February 16 but is considering legal action. "My job performance has been exemplary," she said. "If Family Friendly Libraries succeeds with this tactic, every children's librarian in the country is at risk of being fired for doing his or her job."
Posted February 23, 1998.
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