American LibrariesSearch American Libraries  |
||
Site NavigationLeft Sidebar ItemsOnline Features
|
||
Graphic Novels Draw Challenge in MissouriA crowd of concerned citizens filled to overflowing the Marshall (Mo.) City Council chamber to discuss local resident Louise Mills’s challenge of two graphic-novel titles in the Marshall Public Library collection: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel and Blankets by Craig Thompson. “My concern does not lie with the content of the novels, rather my concern is with the illustrations and their availability to children and the community,” Mills told the library board, which called the October 4 meeting, citing sexually explicit drawings in the two coming-of-age books.Mills went on to explain that her concern centered on children stumbling onto the explicit illustrations after being attracted to the comic-book style of the titles. With photocopies of some of the images projected onto the meeting-room walls, Mills cautioned that collecting such material would lead to the library’s eventually drawing the same clientele as “the porn shop down at the junction,” according to the October 5 Marshall Democrat-News. The majority of some 20 citizens who spoke seemed to back Mills. “I don’t want seedy people coming into the library and moving into our community,” local resident Sarah Aulgur remarked. “If it shouldn’t be on a billboard on I-70, it shouldn’t be in a public library,” agreed Mark Lockhart. However, area resident Claudia Milstead thanked the library for acquiring the Bechdel and Thompson works. “I hope that you will find a way to keep the two books without offending the people who have expressed what I think are some very heartfelt concerns,” she said. Jeani Wilson also supported having a diversity of materials, saying “If you have only things that you like in a library then it is a private library.” Board chair Anita Wright, who said the gathering was “what America is all about, to have a hearing to listen to views” wrapped up the two-hour session by assuring attendees that trustees “listened to every word, we are open-minded, we do care, and we want the library to be the best that it can be.” A decision is expected at the board’s October 11 meeting. Posted October 6, 2006. |
Right Sidebar
|
|
