The Springdale (Ark.) Public Library has been asked to remove the works of three Western authors because their writing includes “pornographic, sexual encounters,” in the words of a complaint filed by local resident Mark Weaver. The library board plans to discuss the request at its September 12 meeting, according to the August 19 Springdale News of Northwest Arkansas.
Writers Jon Sharpe, Jake Logan, and Tabor Evans are among about 48 in the library’s Western-authors collection. Director Marcia Ransom said, “We don’t restrict books into the collection based on sexual content. There are a lot of alternatives to those.”
In May, Starhawk and Hilary Valentine’s Twelve Wild Swans, which deals with the Wicca religion, was challenged on the grounds that the book is a witchcraft manual. The board voted not to remove it. The library, which filters Internet stations in the children’s area, has in the past moved books from the children’s shelves to the young-adult section in response to complaints.
Posted August 27, 2001.