The board of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, informed the county commission October 16 that the library will offer concerned parents the option to restrict children under 13 from borrowing items cataloged in the adult collection.
The proposal is the culmination of some five months of study by the board. It was anti-pornography crusader Martin Davis’s actions at a series of live, government-channel-broadcast county commission meetings, where he would read sexually explicit excerpts from books held by PLCMC, that prompted county officials to order the library study.
“We will be able to maintain the delicate balance between remaining sensitive to community needs and fulfilling our mandate to provide materials and services to a diverse community,” PLCMC Executive Director Robert Cannon stated. Characterizing the change as “a good first step,” commission member and library critic Bill James said in the October 17 Charlotte Observer, “We can look people in the eye and say we’re not going to censor anyone; but you know what, we are going to protect children.”
Posted October 29, 2001.