ASHLAND − Circulation at the Ashland Public Library has been on the rise in the four months since some patrons started calling a few children’s books pornographic.
The time period saw an increase of about 30% over last summer, Library Director Heather Miller said during Thursday’s Board of Trustees meeting.
A more fair comparison, she said, would be to the summer before the pandemic as circulation is up by 11% from 39,775 items in August 2019 to 44,014 items in August 2022.
“That’s all materials,” Miller said. “We don’t measure just books … we have some specialty items, too.”
Ashland Public Library getting news coverage
The increase could be attributed to many factors, the director said.
“People are getting out,” Miller said. “It could be, press is good press.”
Some parents started to vocalize their concerns in the spring about new titles to the children’s section at the library.
Their attention was focused on three books: “Own Your Period: A Fact-filled Guide to Period Positivity” by Chella Quint, “Making A Baby” by Rachel Greener and “Puberty Is Gross But Also Really Awesome” by Gina Loveless.
Four residents of Ashland County appeared at the board’s June meeting. It was estimated that 200 came to the July board meeting at the library, then another 200 showed up for the August meeting, which was held at the sheriff’s office.
No changes in books, placement at Ashland Public Library
Speakers at library board meetings have said the illustrated drawings depicting genitalia belong in the adult section, and that children should only see them with a guardian’s permission.
Others said the books are educational, and that keeping people from learning about their bodies is censorship.
At Thursday’s meeting, only a half dozen people were on hand. None spoke.
The library’s director told board members that, over the summer, she had received and evaluated a number of written requests about the books in question.
“It has been determined that all of the books are in their correct and permanent locations,” Miller said.
Board members get anonymous letter
The only public input during Thursday’s meeting came in the form of a handwritten letter, which the library’s director said had been given anonymously to a library employee.
“I want to make perfectly clear, this is not my personal letter,” Miller said before reading the message to board members.
The author explained they were a “young adult in Ashland who has recently come to terms with being queer.”
“I am not comfortable telling my family or community,” Miller read from the letter. “I am curious how my life could have been different if I had books normalizing same-sex relationships.”
The author wrote that they were “more confused” and felt “hurt and abandoned” by their limited access to educational materials about sexuality. They said they wish they had been given access at a younger age to books like the ones in question.
“I am not a parent, nor do I believe I have the best solution to this problem at large,” the author wrote, “but if it means anything, I hope you keep those books in a place youth can access them.”
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