The Marion County (Fla.) Commission announced December 5 that it would be the final arbiter in all materials challenges at the Marion-Levy Public Library System. The decision came in the wake of library Director Julie Sieg declining trustee Eddie MacCausland’s request to remove the sex-education book It’s Perfectly Normal.
Sieg defended the Robbie Harris work during the four-hour meeting, which was attended by some 300 people, as not intended “to titillate, whereas one would say Playboy does.” But Marion County Commissioner Randy Harris, who pressed the policy change, said he was “quite shocked” by the illustrated book, whose subject matter includes masturbation, homosexuality, and abortion, and accused the library staff of having used “no discretion” in shelving a copy in the children’s section. “My child is not going to see a book and become that book,” countered area resident Herb Williams. “If that was so, I wouldn’t let them read anything.”
The commission is scheduled to decide the book’s disposition on January 23.
Posted December 11, 2000.