I am posting the enclosed announcement on behalf of Michelle Martinez
who is moderating the next ALCTS e-forum beginning Wednesday, October 8th.

Apologies for cross postings!

M. Dina Giambi
ALCTS President

Greetings,

My name is Michelle Martinez and I’m a reference librarian at Sam
Houston State University. I’m in the process of gathering collection
development policies from US libraries for a research paper I’ll be
presenting at a conference for the Popular Culture Association and
American Culture Association (2009).

I'm writing a research paper on pornography and erotica in a academic
library setting and I'd like to know what collection development
policies or guidelines (even those that are just accepted as policy
though not written down anywhere) your library has for such sensitive
materials. I'm not talking about internet/computer use unless your
library subscribes to particular websites or databases of such material.

Also, how is pornography and erotica is defined at your library, if it's
defined at all?

Finally, how do complaints about sexually obscene or graphic materials
get handled and what is done with the objected material?

If you have a copy of procedures/policies on your school's website
please include the link in your response or if you can include a copy of
the information, I'd appreciate it.

In addition, I will also be moderating a discussion on this topic on the
ALCTS e-forum. Please join me on Wednesday, October 8th at 9AM (CST).
This discussion will be open until Friday, October 10th at 5PM (CST).
However, if this turns out to be a hot topic, we can add more days to
the discussion.

Please register in advance to participate in the discussion.

To register go to: http://lists.ala.org/sympa, click on ALCTS (spelled
out) under the ALA division heading and then choose
alcts-eforum@ala.org. A login and password are required to register.
Instructions for obtaining a login and password may be found on the list
homepage.

All libraries are welcome in this conversation.

Come and discuss!
-Michelle

Michelle M. Martinez
Assistant Professor & Reference Librarian
English & Literature Bibliographer

Newton Gresham Library
Sam Houston State University
936-294-1629
mmm034@shsu.edu