ABFFE Protests Topeka Library Restrictions

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and other groups representing booksellers, publishers, writers, and librarians have joined the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) in urging members of the Topeka, Kansas, library board to restore The Joy of Sex and three other sex education books to the open shelves of the library.

Last month, five members of the library board ignored the pleas of the library staff, three other board members, and 14 of the 16 people who spoke during a public hearing and voted to remove The Joy of Sex, The Joy of Gay Sex, The Lesbian Kama Sutra, and Sex for Busy People from the library's health section because they are allegedly "harmful to minors" under Kansas law. The books are now to be made available only at the specific request of adult patrons.

"The board's action violates the central purpose of a library -- to provide the material that its patrons want, no matter how controversial," said ABFFE President Chris Finan in a statement.

The letter from ABFFE, NCAC, the Association of American Publishers, PEN American Center, and the Freedom to Read Foundation charges that restricting access to the books will discourage adults from requesting them. It also challenges the view that the books are "harmful to minors" simply because some people in the community may consider them so.