The selection and treatment of erotic or other controversial materials

The University Libraries acquire each year a small percentage of the world's volume of publications. In selecting materials for inclusion in our collections, we attempt first to acquire those items which relate to university programs and hence will support the university's goals in research, instruction, and service.

Beyond this, we attempt to represent to some degree the entire span of humanity's cultural heritage. Disciplines and languages not taught at the university are represented selectively. The entire range of human cultural practice, of science and pseudo-science, and of religious, political, ethnic, and social expression is welcome in our collections insofar as representative materials may be acquired with scarce resources. To build our collections with any other goal in mind would be to ignore both the root and the deeper meaning of the term "university."

While we do not acquire materials purely for their prurient interest, our selection practices necessarily recognize that eroticism is often an integral part of many forms of cultural expression and that human sexuality is an important area of study for both the biological and social sciences.

Once any library materials have been acquired, our concern is to make them available to as many patrons as may want them. As educators in a democracy, we must have faith in our patrons to identify and select those materials most beneficial to their purposes. We are entirely in accord with the principles of intellectual freedom expressed in the American Library Association's "Library Bill of Rights" and supporting documents in chapter 53 of the ALA Policy Manual, including the rejection of practices denying or restricting access to materials or labelling materials.

Common sense and our own practical experience have indicated that theft and mutilation of library materials dealing with sexuality is common. For this reason, we have chosen to place on Reserve some materials deemed to be at risk. Here they may be protected from theft and damage, along with a variety of other, nonerotic materials which have been found to be vulnerable to theft and mutilation.

Revised 10/1995