By DOUG CORRIGAN
A Salt Lake City woman recently protested the presence of two 'gothic culture' CDs in her public library.
This protest joins recent concerns about Internet access to children in public libraries. Utah County libraries have faced similar dilemmas.
Local libraries do not carry explicitly pornographic material. However, they all carry something that will offend someone.
Lynette Catherall, head librarian at the Springville City Library, purchases books for her library. Catherall tries to keep the community in mind when buying materials.
Music groups Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, both under protest in Salt Lake City, wouldn't be in Sprinville's library because there is no great demand, Catherall said. But if enough requests came in for a certain title she would probably get it.
There are no restrictions on what children check-out, Catherall said. Parents must take responsibility for knowing what their kids are checking out. The most recent complaint the library had concerned a recent book about Dennis Rodman, she said.
Any book under protest is brought before the city library council for review.
Catherall said they hardly ever reject a book. The council decided to leave the Rodman book in the library, but removed the cover picture of a nearly naked Rodman.
The Orem Library follows much the same philosophy.
Dick Beeson, director of the Orem library said the library adheres strictly to the Library Bill of Rights and The Freedom to Read Statement, exempting only Article 5. This means that Orem library will limit what young people can check out by allowing only children over age six to have a library card and having a 'restricted collection' available only to those over eighteen.
The 'restricted collection' contains mostly films rated 'R', he said.
Beeson said they would likely not carry bands like Manson or Nails because of budget constraints, not disapproval. He said much of their music is selected by what best historically represents a certain genre, not because they think it is good or bad.
Beeson said the only title he knows of that was recently removed from a library shelf was in Provo. The title was 'It's Perfectly Normal', a book about sexuality. Beeson said the book was removed by Mayor George Stewart upon request from a local citizen.
The Internet is available publicly in all local libraries. As of yet the librarians have received no major protests, and haven't observed children accessing pornography at the terminals.