[3 responses follow the original posting.]
From: "Jacoby, Beth" <bjacoby_at_hshsl.umaryland.edu>
>
> One year ago, we started a leisure collection (popular books and
> magazines) at the request of and funded by a former dean, who felt it
> was important for the library to offer leisure reading as an outlet
> for our students to "de-stress".
>
> This week we got a written request from one of our students to stop
> subscribing to one of the leisure magazines (a magazine for men)
> because he feels it degrades women.
>
> While we have a collection development policy for our academic
> collection, we do not have a policy for selecting or de-selecting
> material for the leisure collection.
> Also, we have never had any challenges to material in our collection.
>
> I would be interested in hearing from any academic libraries that have:
>
> 1. Written collection policies for leisure collections
> 2. Written policies for handling challenges to the leisure collection
> 3. Experienced this kind of challenge and how you handled it
>
> I perused the ALA web site and found information on intellectual
> freedom challenges, but these popular magazines aren't what I would
> call "intellectual".
>
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Beth E. Jacoby
> Head, Collection Development
> Health Sciences & Human Services Library
> University of Maryland
> 601 W. Lombard St.
> Baltimore, MD 21201
> Phone: 410-706-7760
> Fax: 410-706-8860
==#1==
From:
Karen L Jensen <fnklj_at_aurora.uaf.edu>
Wow I'd say 9/10's of the supermarket "leisure reading"
nonintellectual publications are degrading to women, but women keep
buying them! Tell your reader that the library contains something
offensive to everyone and that's part of your collection development
policy! And tell him to feel free not to read anything else that is
offensive to him!
*******************
Karen Jensen
Circulation/Interlibrary Loan Manager
Information Services Department, Rasmuson Library
University of Alaska Fairbanks
fnklj_at_uaf.edu
(907) 474-5364
*******************
==#2==
From:
Werner Lind <wlind_at_mail.bluefield.edu>
I would say that any item in your library is part of the library's
"collection," whether it is used for academic research or leisure
reading (conceivably, some material could be used for both purposes at
different times, by different patrons, depending on their
studies and interests). Unless your collection development policy
explicitly states that it doesn't apply to the leisure collection, I
would think it reasonable to assume that it does, and that whatever
procedures for challenges that are outlined in the policy apply to any
materials in the library. This seems like the simplest solution.
==#3==
From: Brian Coutts <brian.coutts_at_wku.edu>
Beth:
Your inquiry came just as we were having our annual meeting
of our "Leisure Magazines
Committee." Our collection has been around for about six or
seven years and complements
our Leisure Books Collection and our Leisure Films
Collection.
It started when an EBSCO vendor found a local sponsor for
about 15 popular titles which
were kept in those red binders typically found in doctor's
offices. When the gift expired
we set up a committee which consists of myself as chair, and
staff from serials, reference,
circulation, periodicals and at least one student. Our
collection which numbers about 45
titles is housed in a comfortable setting just outside our
cafe near the reference desks. We
keep the titles for a year and then discard. While we have
no written policy--we try to have
a balanced collection which includes: men's
lifestyle/fashion, women's lifestyle/fashion, sports,
alternative lifestyles, food, entertainment, and even
foreign titles. Our only rule of thumb has
been to avoid titles with outright nudity such as Playboy.
We do include Maxim, Out, Glamour,
etc. Our most controversial pick over the years has been XY
a gay youth magazine. No one
has ever objected to a title although many people have tried
to steal them over the years.
This year we have added: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery
Magazine, Azure (design), Chart
(Canadian pop music), Cargo (men's shopping), Entertainment
Weekly, Instinct (gay), Mantram
(India culture in the U.S.), Outlook India (weekly news
magazine from India) and Thrasher (skateboarding).
We dropped: Basketball Digest, Canoe & Kayak, Genre (gay),
Maximum PC, National Geographic
Adventure, League of American Bicyclists and Surface. If no
one is reading a particular title--we
usually drop it.
Hope this helps.
Brian
Dr. Brian Coutts <brian.coutts_at_wku.edu>
Head, Department of Library Public Services
Western Kentucky University Libraries
==
Received on Thu Apr 15 2004 - 13:48:13 EDT