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New York Board Rejects Labeling for Explicit YA BooksGuilderland (N.Y.) Public Library board members June 9 rejected 7–1 a proposal that would have required staff to label new teen books containing sexually explicit passages with an orange “PG” label.Trustee John Daly initially proposed an amendment to the library’s collection-development policy that would require staff to read all 1,600 teen books added to the collection each year and flag any containing graphic sexual content, the Albany Times Union reported June 10. When the board’s policies and procedures committee rejected that proposal, Daly suggested asking staff to read just 5% of the new books each year and identify any with “descriptions of sexual intercourse, oral sex, transgender masturbation, or other physical contact with genitalia.” “We have an obligation to help the parents,” said Daly, who was the only trustee to vote in favor of the amendment. “I’m a strong believer in intellectual freedom . . . I’m hopeful that at least raising this discussion is going to be helpful.” Nearly 100 local residents attended the three-hour meeting, and a majority of the approximately 30 members of the public who addressed the board spoke against labeling. “With books, you can close the books,” said high school freshman Lily Rowen. “Just because we’re teens, it doesn’t mean we’re not Americans, and Americans have rights.” “If you start labeling books for one type of content, there are lots of other things that people can find objectionable in books: racism, anti-Semitism, violence,” Library Director Barbara Nichols Randall said in the June 2 Times Union. Posted June 10, 2005. |
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