Monday, July 13, 2009

In Most Area Libraries, these are Young Adult Books

Ginny Maziarka & Co insist that numerous books in West Bend Library's young adult section are "sexually explicit" and should be labeled as such and moved to the adult section, purportedly to reflect "community standards".

I decided to take three of the books Ginny highlights and see how other area libraries catalog them. Here are the results:






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The Perks of Being a WallflowerThe Geography ClubDeal With It!

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Beaver Dam

Non-fiction

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Big BendFictionYoung Adult

.

BrookfieldFiction

.

BrownsvilleYoung Adult

.

CudahyYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

DelafieldTeen FictionTeen Fiction

.

EagleYoung Adult

.

ElkhornYoung Adult

.

FontanaYoung Adult

.

Fort Atkinson
Young Adult

.

FranklinYoung AdultYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

GermantownYoung Adult

.

GreenfieldYoung AdultYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

HartfordYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

HartlandYoung Adult
Non-fiction

.

HoriconYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

Hustisford

Non-fiction

.

Jefferson

Non-fiction

.

KenoshaYoung AdultYoung AdultAdult

.

KewaskumYoung Adult

.

Lake GenevaYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

Lake Mills
Young Adult

.

LomiraYoung Adult

.

MertonYoung Adult

.

MPL AtkinsonYoung Adult

.

MPL Bay ViewYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

MPL Brown DeerYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

MPL Capitol
Young AdultYoung Adult

.

MPL Center
Young Adult

.

MPL CentralYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

MPL EastYoung Adult

.

MPL Forest HomeYoung Adult

.

MPL Hales CornersYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

MPL Villard
Young Adult

.

MPL Washington Park

Young Adult

.

MukwonagoYoung AdultYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

Muskego
Young Adult

.

Northshore
Young Adult

.

Oak Creek
Young AdultAdult (call no indicates "YA")

.

OconomowocYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

PewaukeeYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

RacineFictionFiction

.

Shorewood
Young AdultYoung Adult

.

SussexYoung AdultYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

TheresaJuvenile

.

Twin Lakes
Young AdultYoung Adult

.

WaterfordYoung Adult
Non-fiction

.

Watertown
Young Adult

.

WaukeshaFictionYoung Adult

.

Wauwatosa
Adult

.

West BendYoung AdultYoung AdultYoung Adult

.

Whitefish Bay

Young Adult

.

WhitewaterYoung Adult


As you can see, nearly every area library that holds these books places them in the young adult section, reflecting what appears to be standard classification practices for southeast Wisconsin libraries.

(Acknowledging that Deal With It! seems to be the one text that is also frequently placed in the regular non-fiction sections)

Are West Bend's "community standards" really that different than nearly every other southeastern Wisconsin community? Or, perhaps, must we realize that Ginny's opinions don't necessarily reflect the entire community?

4 comments:

  1. Nice post, and thanks for taking the time to research the stats.

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  2. Information = knowledge. 'Bout time someone providing some real information surrounding this debate.

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  3. Thanks for posting this. Just a bit of clarification. I live in Tosa. We don't have a YA section in the library, just children's and adults.

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  4. Before beesbees posted her comment, I wondered about that possibility. I wonder if there are more as well, like maybe Racine or Brookfield, that do not have a separate YA fiction section, or that perhaps don't separate YA nonfiction from adult nonfiction. That would narrow the list down even more.

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