Library patrons in Portland (Multnomah County), Grants Pass, Bend, Beaverton, Corvallis and Baker County filed complaints in the past year. Six public libraries around Oregon reported 20 challenges to books, movies and recordings this past year. 'We periodically get informal complaints because somebody didn't like a book or they give us informal feedback about a book or a movie. 'This was very unusual,' said Stokes, who has director of the Baker County Library District for 10 years. 24 to 30).Ī D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below Stokes also reported the hidden DVD episode to the Oregon Intellectual Freedom Clearinghouse and the American Library Association as one of the state's 20 library book and material challenges between July 2016 and June 2017.īaker County Library District's incident was included in the annual clearinghouse report on challenges to library material, which was released in late August to coincide with national Banned Book Week (Sept. Stokes told the man he was banned from the library for six months. 'He figured we'd find them eventually, so he didn't think he was doing anything wrong.' When confronted, the man readily admitted the subterfuge, saying he 'didn't think it was that big a deal,' Stokes said. The hidden movies were 'Beautiful Things,' 'Free Fall,' 'Keep the Lights On,' 'Tipping the Velvet,' 'Longtime Companion,' 'Blue is the Warmest Color' and 'Holding the Man.'Īfter a little 'good old-fashioned detective work,' Stokes and his staff discovered the culprit: a 'retirement age' man who was a regular at the Baker City library, and who had a history of complaints about books, movies and other material. 'It started to look very purposeful, not that someone just misplaced them on a shelf,' Stokes said. Between October 2016 and March 2017, seven DVDs were scattered around the Baker City library, some so well hidden that staff had to buy replacement DVDs (a few were found after the replacements were purchased). For nearly seven months, someone had been deliberately hiding DVDs of movies with lesbian and gay themes.

Then Library Director Perry Stokes realized it wasn't a mistake. Staff discovered many of them stuck behind rows of shelved items or in rooms far from the other DVDs, jammed behind Spanish language items. Several DVD movies from the library's collection were turning up in odd places. Between October 2016 and March 2017, seven DVDs were scattered around the Baker City library, some so well hidden that staff had to buy replacement DVDs.Īt first, the Baker County Library staff thought it was a mistake. Someone was deliberately hiding DVDs of movies with lesbian and gay themes.

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