The right to read

Jace Radke

Friday, Jan. 14, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

The two-month long discussion of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District's open access policy on library materials including Playboy magazine continued Thursday with debaters evoking everyone from Ted Bundy to William Shakespeare to make their points.

Whether the issue was something that could lead a young person down the path to becoming a serial killer or simply "Much Ado About Nothing" went undecided at last night's library board meeting, but the trustees did decide to continue a no-restriction policy.

By a 5-4 margin the trustees voted down a staff recommendation to move the minimum age a child can apply for a library card without parental consent from 14 to 18.

Trustee Mel Pohl was among the five to vote against the age change, saying it was not the library's responsibility to determine what a child reads.

"We can't enforce every parent's desire when it comes to content, even though that would be nice," Pohl said. "As many people as there are complaining about this, I would bet we'd have just as many complaining when their child comes home and says they were denied access.

"Our policy does not please everyone, but that's the way it is. If a parent is concerned, they need to go to the library with their child because we can't take on that responsibility."

Joining Pohl in voting the age change down were Gloria Sturman, Orlando Sandoval, Barbara Robinson and Linda Dougan. The four voting for the change were Moises Denis, Tim Wong, Lamar Marchese and Doris Masek.

"I think it should be the parent's responsibility, and by changing it to 18 we keep the message we are sending consistent," Denis said, referring to the board's standing policy that children under 18 must have parental permission to use the Internet at the library.

About 40 people showed up for the meeting at the Spring Mountain Library, including Las Vegas City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald and Lucille Lusk, co-chairwoman of the Nevada Concerned Citizens.

At times the discussion, which lasted more than two hours, wandered with one man mentioning that Ted Bundy read soft-core pornography.

Earlier a library staffer had explained that keeping children out of the adult sections of the library would end access to Shakespeare as well as Playboy.

The debate over open access at libraries was sparked in November when a Clark County schoolteacher spied three middle school-aged boys reading a Playboy in the Sahara West Library.

According to library records, no minors have asked for a copy of Playboy at a library since that incident, District Executive Director Daniel Walters said.

In fact only four of the district's 23 libraries even carry Playboy at this time, and all four keep the magazine behind a desk manned by an employee. Playboy is kept behind the desk because it is one of a number of library materials with a high theft rate, collections department staffer Marie Cuglietta said.

At the Sahara West and Rainbow libraries Playboy is requested an average of once or twice a week, while at the Las Vegas and Clark County branches it is requested between three and five times a week, Cuglietta said.

"Our records show that the majority of our Playboy readership are males over 30 years old, and it gets about the same amount of requests as Vibe, Vanity Fair or National Geographic," Cuglietta said.

Playboy meets several criteria to be a part of the district's collection including a literary reputation, news articles, interviews with national and international newsmakers, and its status as one of the country's best-selling magazines, Cuglietta said.

She cites the January 2000 issue with articles by William Buckley, David Halberstam and Ray Bradbury and November's interview with Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.

The change in the application age for a library card without parental consent was placed on the agenda to give the trustees a chance to discuss the issue in a public forum, Walters said.

Even if it had passed, the change wouldn't have solved concerns about materials like Playboy being available to children, Lusk said.

"I came expecting to support the proposal of changing the age," Lusk said. "But in the discussion tonight I've learned that even without a card children can still go to the library and have access to Playboy. I can't believe that the board does not recognize that a parent's decision should be followed on or off the library premises, if they have a card or not."

Walters explained that with or without a library card, once someone, no matter their age, is in the library they have access to all of the materials collected there.

"The library is a First Amendment forum, and restricting access is in conflict with the fundamental mission of what a library is," Walters said. "If a parent has a problem with library material morally because of faith, sexuality, politics or another reason, we invite them to accompany their child here."

Lusk, Boggs McDonald and others commenting at the meeting said they hoped some sort of compromise could be reached suggesting different colored library cards with access restrictions for minors or installing a red light at the desk where the Playboys are kept that would flash when a child approaches.

"I'm hearing an all-or-nothing proposal," Boggs McDonald said. "We live in an era technology where you can order a pizza or buy a car on the Internet. It's very hard for me to believe we can't be creative enough to find a solution to this problem."

Trustee Robinson said she would be willing to work on a solution, but she wasn't optimistic.

"The ideas are nice, but they aren't workable," Robinson said. "I'm open to workable solutions, but there aren't answers for every problem."

Concerns about access for emancipated minors and children who may not be able to get parental permission played a large part in Robinson voting against the measure.

"We have children who are raising themselves out there or who have parents who are on drugs and can't be relied upon," Robinson said. "These are the children that need the library the most, and now we're going to restrict them because they don't have a mommy and daddy like the families we see on television."

KKVV radio personality Ken Wilson said the trustees were shifting their responsibility onto parents and that they were making pornography available to children.

A brochure that includes information on the district's collection as well as how to use the library will be mailed out to everyone with a library card to help parents understand what is available to their children, Walters said.