As a result of the protests, more than 6,500 of the “fotonovelas” have been removed from shelves and sent to City Hall for inspection to determine if their content is obscene, at least in the eyes of city officials.
The flap started when a local right-wing disc talk radio host ran a segment called “Shocking Content Found on Denver Public Library Shelves.”
The radio program failed to mention that many of the books, tell stories primarily with pictures rather than words and average between 50 and 100 pages, have been available at half a dozen library branches throughout the city for more than 13 years without a single complaint. The books were in the adult section but could be checked out by anyone.
Then, a second conservative radio personality, Michael Corbin, got in on the action by rallying people “concerned about illegal immigration issues” to gather at the Central Library branch and hand deliver a letter to librarian Rick Ashton demanding his resignation. Unfortunately for them, Ashton was away on vacation.
“It’s outrageous that we’ve got the library of all places peddling porn,” Corbin said.
While Corbin and his cohorts also criticized the library’s expansion of Spanish-language collections. The Colorado Minutemen, a group who earlier this year led vigilante style campaigns along America’s borders with Mexico, were among those on hand.
A leader from the group, Robert Copley, said the library’s expanding Spanish-language offerings are part of a policy that pulls illegal immigrants over the border to “kill, destroy our work opportunities and demean our quality of life.”
Library supports countered with signs that said, “Censorship is un-American.”
The city of Denver purchased more than 300,000 titles last year, and Mayor John Hickenlooper said some questionable material is bound to slip past library commissioners.
“We can only assume they were purchased in error,” Hickenlooper said.
Commissioners are expected to rule early next week on whether the books should be returned to the libraries or discarded.
