Kid gets adult manga out library. Father objects.

[MonkeyFunk]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...a-from-library

Check out the hilariously impassioned responses this is getting:

Yet once again, the violence to the mind is being hammered in by people who do not even think about how they grew up and what shaped them. Instead they want mindless automatons - great for killing machines, but they do not fit into society too well. It is time for people to wake up and get a clue about reality.

Censorship has to stop.

Loosen up, America. Please. You can't even take a damn picture of your own children anymore without being accused of child abuse and paedophilia!

Someday I pray American parents will learn what exactly the term "parenting" means!

[GWOtaku]

I don't mind libraries having this stuff around and parental oversight is key, but isn't it inconsistent that this kid was able to rent that manga when a bookstore probably wouldn't sell the same 18+ manga to him?

[Iridium128]

The story is pretty ridiculous but some of the replies are equally inane.

"Loosen up, America. Please. You can't even take a damn picture of your own children anymore without being accused of child abuse and paedophilia!"

Really? "Loosen up, America"? So this one incident is somehow indicative of the beliefs and morals of a whole country of 300 million people?

I bet I could very easily find a similar story in England, France, Japan, etc. but I wouldn't stereotype an entire freaking nation because of it.

[Naruto D.Luffy]

I was laughing at this the entire time.

[AlgeaX]

Over here in Ireland; public libraries have a separate card type for children and adults, meaning a child card will only allow you to borrow books from the children's section. I would have thought American libraries would use a similar system.

[GWOtaku]

Over here in Ireland; public libraries have a separate card type for children and adults, meaning a child card will only allow you to borrow books from the children's section. I would have thought American libraries would use a similar system.

I wouldn't be surprised if the policy varies state by state.

[Ducard]

Check out the hilariously impassioned responses this is getting:

Note to self. Next April fool's day, report some story about parents or 'soccer moms' abusing manga, and watch the knee-jerk reactions fly.

[Kitschensyngk]

Hey parents! Don't want your kid borrowing 18+ manga from your local library?

Well, here's a simple solution: SUPERVISE YOUR CHILDREN.

Is this not one of the foundations of proper parenthood?

[Swordfish_II]

Over here in Ireland; public libraries have a separate card type for children and adults, meaning a child card will only allow you to borrow books from the children's section. I would have thought American libraries would use a similar system.

It probably varies. I remember I had to use my dad's card to check out a movie once.

Oddly, the manga and graphic novels at my county's main library are in the non-fiction section.

[rubberchicken]

The complaint about a mature manga popping up in the children's section of a bookstore is at least reasonable. But as the update to the article says, libraries don't typically prevent children from checking out mature material. I was checking out Stephen King novels when I was nine.

[Classic Speedy]

Both parties are at fault. The father for not supervising his son's check-outs, and the library for checking out 18+ manga to a minor.

But I have to say, a few of those overreactions are pretty funny. Yeah, a father upset that his son is reading Battle Vixens means a Fahrenheit 451 situation where all freedom of expression is banned. Uh-huh.

[Movie06]

Stupidity strikes once again. Man, people are lazy when it comes to parenting.

[Daxdiv]

Okay, this make me question more why video games purchases and rental are apparently the only thing people enforce? Seriously, I think there should have been some restriction at that library on what someone can and can't check out.

[Timmay]

I wouldn't be surprised if the policy varies state by state.

According to the Article

The American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights says that the group "opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users." The Multnomah County Library's own mission and [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]philosophy[/COLOR][/COLOR] statement affirms this principle by stating that the library "will neither deny nor abridge a person's right to use a library because of his/her age, economic levels, beliefs, race, personal or physical characteristics."

I guess libraries are special.

[buttah]

If the parent doesn't want the kid reading it he should've looked at what he got before he checked it out.

[Mynd Hed]

Remember, kids, only one more month until Banned Books Week at your local library!

I love the ALA. I can't think of too many other organizations out there that still have the balls to give outraged parents the proverbial finger like that. "Sorry, buddy, but we lets whoever wants to check out whatever they wants, check out whatever they wants." Nice.

Full disclosure: I work for the Pima County Public Library system.

Both parties are at fault. The father for not supervising his son's check-outs, and the library for checking out 18+ manga to a minor.

I disagree. The only person with the moral authority to decide what reading material is appropriate for them is the person him- or herself, or that person's parent or guardian if they're under 18. It's not the library's job to decide what's appropriate for who to read, just to make it available. Slippery slope and all that.

[Rasputin]

Both parties are at fault. The father for not supervising his son's check-outs, and the library for checking out 18+ manga to a minor.

But I have to say, a few of those overreactions are pretty funny. Yeah, a father upset that his son is reading Battle Vixens means a Fahrenheit 451 situation where all freedom of expression is banned. Uh-huh.

Libraries don't discriminate on age because they consider themselves the righteous upholders of free and uninhibited social discourse. An attitude I applaud, as it happens. The library's charter specifically states that anyone can check out whatever book they want. Bookstores discriminate on age because they want to keep on the good side of their customers, think of books in terms of demographic targets and have an overhead to think about. Libraries are available to all as they have a public duty to be impartial dispensers of knowledge and literature.

Mind you, I'd question a local public library stocking books of this type. Not for reasons of moral prudishness but of intellectual snobbishness. Battle Vixens is many things, but fine literature it most certainly isn't. If this was a large city library, then stocking up on everything ever printed would be a worthwhile exercise. But a local public library needs to be more discerning, and just as they shouldn't pass over Mark Twain and James Joyce in favour of Mills & Boon bodice-rippers, I'd much prefer they stocked Nausicaa and the later Tezuka works than mindless fan service. I don't mind kids reading smut, but it should at least be literary smut...

[Antiyonder]

Check out the hilariously impassioned responses this is getting:

I agree that the first two were insane/melodramtic, but the third one is valid at least. The kid wouldn't have been able to check out the material if the father checked them out himself.

Sure the librarians could have been responsible, but going with my comment on parents complaining about The Dark Knight being too intense for kids: "Who brings the child into the world?"

The mother and father, therefore the majority of the child's entertainment should be monitored by the mother and the father.

[Classic Speedy]

I disagree. The only person with the moral authority to decide what reading material is appropriate for them is the person him- or herself, or that person's parent or guardian if they're under 18. It's not the library's job to decide what's appropriate for who to read, just to make it available. Slippery slope and all that.

Libraries don't discriminate on age because they consider themselves the righteous upholders of free and uninhibited social discourse. An attitude I applaud, as it happens. The library's charter specifically states that anyone can check out whatever book they want. Bookstores discriminate on age because they want to keep on the good side of their customers, think of books in terms of demographic targets and have an overhead to think about. Libraries are available to all as they have a public duty to be impartial dispensers of knowledge and literature.

Yeah, you're right. I wasn't thinking. Libraries and stores are two different entities with different enforcements.

[Sanosuke]

OMFG! Battle Vixens is the english name for Ikkitousen, one of my favorite anime series'. I should know, that thing is NOT for kids!

I can totally understand the father getting so angry seeing as I know how much non-kid friendly stuff that show/manga contains; the fact of the matter is that they shouldn't have let the poor boy check out the thing. Most of the covers for volumes of that manga have fanservice right on the front, so the librarians was a freakin' idiot.

Regardless, what was a 12 year old boy doing, getting out of the library(that, odds are, he was accompanied by a parent when going) with a book like that? Both the librarian and the parents are at fault here.