[CALIBK12] Collection Development and GN After School Nightmare

[ode2living at aol.com]

Hello. I was wondering how many of you carry the series, After School  
Nightmare, or are familiar with the series. I ordered the series, but  
Follett delivered just one volume because the others were out of  
stock. One of my technicians was disturbed by the fact it is about a  
hermaphrodite and that on one page, there is a sex scene (bare  
shoulders in bed with no breasts showing). We also have a couple of  
students who are manga "gurus"; they've read tons of GN and recommend  
a lot of titles to me. Anyway, these girls told my tech that this  
series is NOT appropriate for high school and that one volume (or  
more?) has a scene that contains "full nudity." Does anyone know? My  
tech also said that in the MARC record Follett has the series  
identified as "adult," which is true. However, the publisher has the  
series classified as "OT: Older Teens 16+," and it was named a Top 10  
Graphic Novel series for teens by CSLA.

So, this experience has me really thinking about:
1. Should I carry this in my HS collection? If so, how do I address  
the 16+ recommendation (if at all)?
2. a. How do you address the issue when one of your techs disagrees  
with your collection development decisions? Obviously, it's ultimately  
the TL's decision, and we've been trained to deem what's appropriate.  
However, I don't want to exclude my techs and would rather get them  
"on board" with what we have in our collection, especially when they,  
too, recommend these books to our students just as much as I do.
b. I also once had a different tech upset that I had purchased a novel  
that, in her opinion, had too many vulgar words. Of course, she hadn't  
read the book or the reviews. She is very conservative. I imagine many  
of us are questioned about our purchases by our staff. When this  
happens, how do you address it? Also, is this important enough for  
CSLA to address? Would paraprofessionals benefit from having a CSLA  
conference session on censorship and collection development,  
particularly those paraprofessionals who are in charge of collection  
development and don't have the benefit of a TL?

If you've made it this far, thank you! This post is really two-fold.  
TIA for any input.

Connie Joyce
Teacher Librarian
Rancho Cucamonga High School
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
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