or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk



Patron Refuses to Return Book

   September 19th, 2007

It's Perfectly Normal coverCurrently happening at the Lewiston Public Library in Maine, a library patron has checked out two copies of the book It's Perfectly Normal, by Robie H. Harris, and refuses to return them.

The book, subtitled Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health, offended the patron because she was "sufficiently horrified of the illustrations and the sexually graphic, amoral abnormal contents, I will not be returning the books."

Lewiston Library Director Rick Speer did not accept a check from the patron to cover the cost of the book. Instead, he returned the check and enclosed the library's Reconsideration of Materials form - which, opposed to outright theft, is the proper approach for someone to challenge library materials.

More information via the Portland Press-Herald.

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One Response to “Patron Refuses to Return Book”

  1. Rick Speer Gets It Right « Wearing Scarves Year Round Says:

    […] October 9th, 2007 I was catching up reading the H20boro library blog  and I found an entry on the theft of two copies of the sex ed book It’s Perfectly Normal from the Lewiston Public Library in Maine. Here are two more links about the issues: in herzogbr.net blog and an article in the Portland Press Herald. […]