Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994 TAG: 9404210239
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The controversial illustrated book, which depicts a child being raised by a gay male couple, will remain in the children's section of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library system following a 5-3 vote Wednesday by the library board.
Before an audience of 24, the board backed a recommendation by Ida Comparin, interim library director, to keep the book where it is.
The library system's senior staff "strongly opposes the establishment of a special collection to house `Daddy's Roommate,'" she wrote.
Comparin, along with four current or former library officials in Virginia and California, did a literature search at Virginia Tech and inquired at the American Library Association. Nowhere, she said, could she find criteria that could be used to justify setting up a separate, special collection housing "Daddy's Roommate."
The library board decided last month to keep the book but asked Comparin to study the best location for it. But Blacksburg parent Nita McNerlin and others, including self-described born-again Christians, asked that book be moved to an area where it wouldn't be accessible to youngsters.
"I was hoping so much that it would end here," McNerlin said afterward. "I just felt that what we were asking for was reasonable."
McNerlin said she will start a petition drive to present to the Montgomery Board of Supervisors, which appoints library board members and appropriates most of the library budget.
But according to Chairwoman Nancy Hurst, the supervisors cannot change a library board policy or personnel decision. "We're quite independent of them," she said.
The library board sets policy for the system, which includes a main branch in Christiansburg and branches in Blacksburg and Floyd. The book is available in all three.
The vote came with little discussion. The two Floyd County representatives, Betty Lineberry and Joyce Pugh, voted against Comparin's recommendation, as did Curtis Jones of Christiansburg.
Member Sarah Mackie of Blacksburg introduced the resolution. Floyd Childress, Mary Ann Hinshelwood, Jim Johnson and Barbara Wheeler, all of Montgomery County, backed her.
Comparin, who retires next month, said the staff favored keeping the book where it is based on its adherence to the American Library Association's "Library Bill of Rights" and "Freedom to Read" documents, which both include strong anti-censorship statements.
McNerlin had based her objection to "Daddy's Roommate" on legal grounds, contending it contradicts community standards and, because sodomy is a felony in Virginia, condones illegality.
But others who spoke condemned the book on moral grounds. "I don't think any of you could agree ... that this sort of book should be put in the hands of innocent children," said Ernestine Frith. "If you all put this book where it's available ... you're just saying [to children], 'It doesn't matter what you do, you can just get AIDS, whatever.' "
Only one speaker of the seven favored keeping the book in the children's section. "It's a parent's obligation ... to monitor what their children read," said Rebecca Sheckler. "It's not up to the librarians to decide what they read."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***