ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A group of St. Charles parents are objecting to two 'sexually explicit' books at the St. Charles City-County Library.
Two books in question are It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender, and Sexual Health by Robie H. Harris and Bang Like a Porn Star: Sex Tips from the Pros by Winston Giseke.
Parents like Rachel Homolak says that the books are too easily accessible for their children.
"If you don't object to having pornographic material like this accessible to children, you're a pedophile," said Homolak.
Homolak says she found the book 'Bang Like a Porn Star' after searching for 'porn' on the City-County Library catalog.
"I went to go to investigate it at the Kisker Road library branch and found it on a shelf accessible even to toddlers," said Homolak, "Just two shelves up from floor, in the non-fiction in the self-help area."
St. Charles City-County Library CEO Jason Kuhl says that the book was properly placed and categorized in the right section of the library.
"These books were appropriately categorized, put in subject order, under the appropriate age category," said Kuhl.
Homolak says that parents have not officially filed a formal complaint with the library about the books due to their beliefs that the process will be against them.
"The same people who ordered the book are the ones who decide if that book stays in the library," said Homolak, "There's no oversight, no check and balances in that regard."
Kuhl was asked about the formal complaint process and told Total Information A.M. the board who would review the complaint are not the same people who purchased the book.
"A patron can fill out the form if they want something reconsidered and asks series of questions including if 'Have they read the full contents of the book?" said Kuhl, "They would submit that and the library would act upon that and form a committee of librarians. While there are folks whose jobs is to select these materials, the committee is also made up of public service librarians and they make a recommendation to me."
"It's a broader committee than the people that select the materials that review these and ultimately, while I am the CEO and I'm responsible for every book that is processed, I'm not actively involved in the process. I'm not the person that decides to buy the book," said Kuhl.
Kuhl points out plenty of library boards across the country have overridden decisions by the library regarding keeping books.
"All you have to do is a quick Google search and you can see throughout the country that public library boards and school districts have overridden decisions that staff have made about keeping materials," said Kuhl.
Kuhl told Total Information A.M. that ultimately, it is the parent's decision to make sure those books aren't accessible to their children at the library, not the library.
"Our collection of management policy says four times that 'only parents or guardians have the right or the responsibility to guide and direct the reading, listening and viewing choices of their minor children," said Kuhl, "We do not stand in place of parents. We don't want to take that right away from parents or individuals to determine themselves what to read. If we start picking out subject areas that we won't have, we're taking that right away from our constituents and inserting bias in what we're doing."
Kuhl admits that he has not read the both books in its entirety. Kuhl says that the library only has one copy of Bang Like a Porn Star and it is currently checked out with a waitlist of 19 people wanting to read the book.
Kuhl also says that the book It's Perfectly Normal is one of the standard works when discussing puberty and claims that over 2,200 libraries around the country also have the book in their system.
