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Re: RARA-AVIS: Introduction 

According to William Denton:


> : One reason I signed on (thanks Bill) was that in the past year our
> : library system received several complaints about books and videos
> : that could be termed hard-boiled, noirish or black humorish. All the
> : materials were retained in the collection. But it has been noted
> : that of the very small number of complaints received there is a bit
> : of tiny trend...
> 
> What kind of complaints?  The usual?  I've never heard of these kinds
> of books being complained about, or banned; those people still seem
> stuck on Judy Blume and Mark Twain.  Were there any particular writers
> they complained about the most?  I can see Ellroy causing trouble, but
> I wonder if Mike Hammer's anti-commie anti-invert violence-fests
> bother them.  

Nationally, the trend is towards complaining about new
age/occult materials, and gay materials or materials which
feature gays.  But sex and violence still push buttons.
Materials for kids (goosebumps, everyone poops, sex ed books,
etc) are likely to bother some folks. 

Miami Purity was one that was complained about - "pornography".
If anyone needs any info about Vicki Hendricks or Miami Purity.
just let me know, I have a file of reviews and interviews.  
No problems with Ellroy or Spillane, so far.  We are getting more
requests to reconsider videos - Paris Trout, Being
There, Clockwork Orange. None of these are hard-boiled, but the
reviewers tend to throw some of the same words around - dark,
raw, noir, black humor, etc. 


We have over 600,000 items and
 receive maybe 18 formal requests per year for us to reconsider
materials.  Way less than 1% of the collection.
 Most folks are understanding once we explain that
we select materials to appeal to a wide range of tastes. I've
always liked the libraryland adage that a good library should
have something for everyone and something to offend everyone.

Ann

-- 
Ann Chambers Theis
Collection Management Supervisor
Chesterfield County Public Library
P.O. Box 297,Chesterfield, VA 23832
atheis@leo.vsla.edu 
Book Links:
http://freenet.vcu.edu/education/literature/bklink.html
Mystery Page:
http://freenet.vcu.edu/education/literature/mystpage.html
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