The controversy over the termination of two Nicholasville, Kentucky library employees who violated library policy to keep a child from checking out League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:  Black Dossier continued this week at the monthly meeting of the Jessamine County Public Library Board.  Speakers on both sides of the issue, some with petitions, weighed in on the contents of LoEG, whether it should be accessible to children, and whether it should be in the library at all.  Opinions were divided about equally, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. 

 

Video of the exchange was included in the report from local station WKYT.  “Anybody on this board please tell me this is not pornography,” a man identified as an evangelist by the Herald-Leader said to the board, waving copies of pages of the book. 

 

A woman responded, “It becomes dangerous to democracy, to our way of life, when an individual or special interest group tries to impose their values on our whole community.”  

 

Another asked whether the board was “desensitized as to what is lewd, to what is disgusting.”

 

The board began by explaining its policy, which requires parental consent for a child to receive a library card, and then assumes the parent is monitoring the child’s reading choices.  After hearing the public comments, the board said that it might or might not take action on the library policy on under-age users. 

 

Black Dossier had already survived a challenge brought by one of the library employees that was terminated, so was not being considered for removal from the collection.