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THE VOICE OF NORTH AND

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PAGE 15

Bill €C-54 could strike all
‘pornography’ from shelves

LOCAL LIBRARIANS are outraged with proposed federal

amendments to Section 138 of the Criminal Code which
contain new definitions of erotica and pornography.

Under Bill C-54, which passed
first seading in) May and returns
for discussion during the current
session of Parhament, librarians
vould face double duty as publi.
censors and purveyors af porn.

West) Vancouver Memorial
Library chief librarian Jack
Mouncee terms the potential fallout
ef the bill primarily aimed at
regulating Siddie porn, as
“Tudicrous."*

Said Mottice: “We have a statue
of Aphrodite in the courtyard and
she has one hand touching her
breast, We'd have to shield people
under the age of 18 from this.’

JACK MOUNCE ... West Van-
couver’s chief librarian says results
of bill could be ‘‘Indierous’’,

Mounce and others in the Jocal
library community argue the bill
will result in libraries being forced
to institute subjective and unwieldy
screening processes of library ma-
terials rather than face possible
criminal charges for carrying ma-
terials swept up in the wide-rang-

By MICHAEL BECKER
News Repurter

withdrawn.’

West Vancouver Memorial
Library Board chairman Robert
Weehham likens the proposed
definition of pornography to a big
net sweeping all matters scaual into
its grip.

“a's too broad,” he said. ‘ths
aonet that catches everything, ts
pornography ap absolute, or is it
something in’ the eye of the
beholder? To come to a definition
you either need a long series of
court cases or you do it by some
absolute definition with a whole
bunch of police "

Librarians cn ision having to
redesign libraries to limit access to
those 18 and under to any books
or materials depicting or describing
sexual behavior.

While the libraries do follow up
written complaints regarding the
public availability of certain
books, Wyckham said no challenge
has made it to the Jibrary board
level where a hard decision would
have to be made whether or not fo
censor a book.

“If you do accede fo such
challenges, you then have to set
rules and become public censors,"
Wyckham said.

For now, the variables guiding
what a library will carry on its
shelves include budgetary con-
siderations, a commitment to
guarantee and facilitate access to
all expressions of knowledge and
intellectual activity, and a percep-
tion of accepted community stan-

SEE NEWS PHOTO PAGE 3

ing interpretation proposed in the
bill’s porn definition.

“A screening process would en-
tail a page-by-page screen of every
book brought in,’? said North
Vancouver District Public Library
chief librarian Enid Dearing.
“Contrary to what the public
thinks, librarians just don't have
the time to read every book.”’

Said Mounce: ‘Bill C-54 would
make it very difficult for us to de-
fend ourselves against people who
take offence at certain books. The
bill is badly framed and should be

dards,

Books challenged by individuals
or groups who have sought to limit
public access to titles since 1974
include classics such as the D.H.
Lawrence novel Sons and Lovers:
W.O. Mitchel?s Who Has Seen
The Wind; and Mordecai Richler’s
The Apprenticeship) of Duddy
Kravitz.

Local libraries are currently
marking the Feb. 2 to 28 Freedom
to Read Week with displays of
some of the many titles challenged
in the past.

THE SLOGAN of reach out and touch someone took on a personal meaning for these two you

NEWS photo Neil Lucente

ngsters.

Greg Proctor, four, reached out and touched the nose of brother Michael, six, during 2 recent day of play

at North Vancouver’s Mahon Park.