Oklahoma City Commission Limits Certain Minors’ Books

-- Library Journal, 09/08/2005

After a close 10–7 vote, the Metropolitan Library Commission, Oklahoma City, overruled the recommendations of library staff and decided to set up a special collection of children’s books, including those with gay themes, which only adults could access, according to The Daily Oklahoman. A library memo describes the topics as including “death, bullying, and human sexuality, sexual and physical abuse.” However, a staff memo, Document 14, pointed out that the best way to protect children is to encourage parents to visit the library with their children, and that segregating books would be “contrary to the mission of the public library.”

A commission committee, which will gather input from library staff but also apply community standards, will help decide what books would be included in the special collection. The decision was triggered by complaints that kids had access to a book about gay marriage, King & King. State Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City), who sponsored a resolution the House passed urging libraries to segregate gay-themed books and other age-inappropriate material, praised the library commission and said she was developing a nonprofit organization “for library accountability.” Earlier, the Tulsa City-County library had created a new, open-shelf parenting section for controversial texts.