Swimsuit Issue Denied to Libraries

By Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 4/1/2007

In an unannounced policy change that quickly got librarians fuming, Sports Illustrated (SI) decided this year to withhold 21,000 copies of its risqué annual swimsuit issue from classrooms and libraries. SI spokesman Rick McCabe acknowledged to LJ that the publisher didn’t offer to let libraries opt out of receiving the issue.

McCabe initially said that the decision was based on feedback regarding the issue’s unacceptability. A few days later, after a story LJ broke online made national news and led to criticism from the American Library Association, SI backed down; McCabe said that the decision had not been vetted by senior management and constituted a mistake not to be repeated. Those institutions that didn’t receive an issue were invited to request it.

While libraries of all types have suffered from “Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue disappearance syndrome” and thus kept the issue behind the desk, that doesn’t mean librarians agreed with the move. Writing on the SERIALST electronic discussion list, Lynne Weaver of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Lynchburg, VA, reported that her customer service representative told her that the publisher decided it was inappropriate to send to “institutions.” She observed, “It seems to me that if one has a subscription to a title, all issues for that subscription period should be sent. It is up to the recipient to decide what to do with the issue once it is received.”