Maureen,
Like many things, this comes down to very local and context-driven
decision-making, in which you need to balance a LOT of considerations. I
faced a request more than a decade ago for an extremely hardcore
pornographic film that, after careful consideration, I declined. The
faculty member was pleased with the thoughtfulness and fairness of the
process, and agreed with the ultimate rationale. As I recall, some of the
important factors were:
-This was a single film for a single course, and therefore not related to a
major part of our curriculum.
-Legally, we would need to prevent circulation to/viewing by minors. Since
many of our freshmen enter at age 17 (or even younger), and we have no
"user type" or such in our catalog system that distinguishes these
students, we would not be easily (if at all) able to ensure our compliance
with the law. (If you haven't checked your state's laws in this regard, you
will want to do so. This may clear up the question of "what is porn?" as
well as how you would need to deal with certain materials.)
-We are a state institution. We would wish politically to tread carefully
when adding materials of this type (and certainly not use
state-appropriated, taxpayer-funded monies with which to do this).
While we could perhaps devise a way of limiting use to those 18 years
old & above, creating a special collection, workflow, and processes unlike
those for any of our other content, the cost (and potential consequences of
error) would be great. My final decision was therefore based on cost - not
of the material, per se, but overall cost of providing the access. Just as
I might deny a request for a DVD that costs, say, $3,000, I turned down
this request.
Again, the faculty agreed with this line of thinking. Had my
university been starting a major new program in Porn Studies, well, the
costs and risks might have seemed reasonable. Like I said, these are always
local and contextualized decisions.
I hope this helps.
Best,
Darby
Darby Orcutt
Assistant Head, Collection Management Department
Chair, Humanities & Social Sciences Subject Team
North Carolina State University Libraries
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC 27695-7111
919/ 513-0364
dcorc...@ncsu.edu
On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 4:44 PM, Doug Poswencyk <doug8...@gmail.com> wrote:
> What is porn? Russ Meyer is certainly not porn. Some of his films such
> as "Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill." are considered works of art. They have
> been screened at many art cinemas and are part of the permanent collection
> of the Museum of Modern Art. The same could be said about the films of
> Radley Metzger who just had a retrospective of his work at Lincoln Center.
> Then there are the early films of Fred Halsted. Hardcore sex, yes. But
> also art. They too are part of the MOMA collection. Meyer's films feature
> large breasted women but these women are always strong and usually have it
> over the guys. His films can also be violent but in the end good always
> triumphs. i think to not include these films is nothing more than pure
> censorship.
>
> On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 2:10 PM, Stanton, Kim <kim.stan...@unt.edu> wrote:
>
>> We have purchased a few items per faculty request for instruction/
>> scholarly research.
>>
>>
>> The only issue we have had (and just once) was someone checking out an
>> item without understanding what it was. We now prominently add a note to
>> our public catalog record that prominently says "Adult content, graphic
>> sex." or whatever is appropriate. Other than that, these items are
>> treated like all other materials in the collection. We have closed stacks,
>> but circulate for use outside of the library.
>>
>>
>> Good luck,
>>
>>
>> Kim Stanton
>>
>> Head, Media Library
>>
>> University of North Texas
>>
>> kim.stan...@unt.edu
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu <
>> videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu> on behalf of Gisele Genevieve
>> Tanasse <gtana...@library.berkeley.edu>
>> *Sent:* Friday, November 14, 2014 2:16 PM
>> *To:* videolib@lists.berkeley.edu
>> *Subject:* Re: [Videolib] pornographic films in the Library collection?
>>
>> I have purchased porn in response to instructional requests (most of
>> which have come from our Gender and Women's Studies department). I have
>> even repaired a pornographic VHS tape for an instructor.
>>
>> Much like racist cartoons, Nazi propaganda and most reality TV,
>> inclusion of porn in the library collection should not be interpreted as a
>> stamp of approval on the content. I recommend giving a courtesy head's up
>> to your acquisitions/tech services staff and be sure you are ready to
>> respond, citing intellectual freedom/instructional freedom, to any
>> complainers. You might also consider letting whoever you report to know in
>> advance, so they are also prepared in case you do receive a complaint. If
>> you have viewing stations, I would recommend working with your staff to
>> identify the best location to seat someone studying porn in order to reduce
>> the likelihood of catching a passerby off guard.
>>
>> I had similar concerns to yours, but we have not had a single problem
>> or complaint-- and the weird suggestions on our amazon account cleared out
>> quickly :)
>>
>> Gisele
>>
>> Gisèle Tanasse
>>
>> Head, Media Resources Center
>>
>> 150 Moffitt Library #6000
>> University of California
>> Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
>> PH: 510-642-8197
>> BCAL: nerdpo...@berkeley.edu
>> NOTE: PART TIME SCHEDULE Monday-Thurs 8AM-2PM
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Maureen Tripp <
>> maureen_tr...@emerson.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> A faculty member is planning a new class for the spring--Sex in the
>>> Media. Guess who gets to order his new, pornographic DVDs? So . . . my
>>> question for academic media librarians out there--do you include materials
>>> like Behind the Green Door, Vintage Stage Films of the 40's and 50's and
>>> Russ Meyers' Abundant Beginnings (collection) in your catalogs?
>>> Apart from my general squeamishness, I wonder if having these titles in
>>> the collection might be disturbing to other students who find them
>>> demeaning to women, or perhaps even perceive them as warranting trigger
>>> warnings.
>>> So . . . does anyone include porn in their collection? If yes, under
>>> what circumstances, and do you treat them any differently than any other
>>> collection item?
>>> thanks,
>>> Maureen
>>>
>>> VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of
>>> issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic
>>> control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in
>>> libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as
>>> an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of
>>> communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video
>>> producers and distributors.
>>>
>>
>>
>> VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of
>> issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic
>> control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in
>> libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as
>> an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of
>> communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video
>> producers and distributors.
>>
>>
>
> VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of
> issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic
> control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in
> libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as
> an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of
> communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video
> producers and distributors.
>
>
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues
relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control,
preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and
related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective
working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication
between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and
distributors.
