The library board of the Weld Library District in Greeley, Colorado, rejected two challenges to their video policies with a 7–0 vote in their September 16 meeting.
One challenge asked that a BBC video production of Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary be removed from the library even though it lacked an R-rating. In the other challenge, Tracy Selanders asked the library to add a note to her child’s patron record stating that he could not check out R-rated videos, after her 10-year-old son checked out the R-rated film Training Day.
Library board members said censoring the materials or limiting access based on age would go against core principles that public libraries in America hold dear, according to the September 17 Greeley Tribune. Rosalie Martinez, a member of the two-person committee that reviewed both requests, said she “fully understands” Selanders’s concern as a parent of five children. Martinez encourages parents to be aware of their children’s library selections.
Library board members did agree to consider creating family membership library cards that would give parents access to information about what their children check out of the library. The library staff was instructed to research the issue and report back to the board.
Posted September 23, 2002.