Supervisor Pulls History of Manga from San Bernardino Library

-- Library Journal, 4/17/2006

Responding to complaints from a parent whose 16-year-old son was offended by explicit sex scenes in a history called Manga: Sixty  Years of Japanese Comics (Laurence King Publishing), San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, CA, Chairman Bill Postmus has ordered the book removed from the library system. (Postmus said the book had "obscene images," including "reproductions of pornographic cartoons depicting sex acts, including sex with animals," though obscenity must be determined by a court.) County Librarian Ed Kieczykowski told LJ that the book was purchased because of a positive review in LJ and that more than 20 other library systems in the state bought it. He said he explained the library's selection and reconsideration policy to the supervisor and they looked at the book together. Kieczykowski estimated that less than two percent of the book was sexually explicit, but Postmus "particularly didn't like the page the cartoon character was having sex with the hamster. He said, 'Do you think this is acceptable for our community?' I said that we take the book as a whole, but I could understand why people would be upset."

So Kieczykowski agreed to withdraw the book. "This is one of those books that could go either way," he said, adding that because the library system shares a catalog with the Riverside County Library System, residents could still access the book. Postmus also was concerned that the book, though in the adult section, was near collections of comics that minors might seek out. Postmus also called for the library "to draft a plan to protect children from inappropriate books and other materials." Kieczykowski said that most residents have no quarrel with the library's procedures, but the library would look into the concept of a J-card. Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, said this was the first manga-related book withdrawal that had come to her attention. Librarians have asked for more finely   grained descriptions of the content and age-appropriateness of manga.