One of the Nicholasville, Kentucky library employees fired for taking a volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen off an 11-year-old’s hold list (see “Library Employees Fired over LoEG”) had filed a formal challenge to the book before the action that led to their termination, according to an article in the Lexington Herald-Leader.  Sharon Cook, the employee who filed the challenge and also served on the library committee that reviewed the challenge, told the paper that “people prayed over me while I was reading it because I did not want those images in my head.” 

After the challenge was denied, Cook simply checked out the book and kept renewing it to keep it off library shelves for a period of some nine months.  It was only after the “hold” request from the child prevented her from renewing it again that the two library employees decided to remove it from the child’s hold list. 

That action was a violation of library policy, based on the American Library Association’s policy manual and code of ethics, which gives parents the authority over what their children check out.

Cook claims that her intent was just to keep the book out of the hands of children, who she thought would be attracted to the book because it was shelved near the Young Adult Fiction section, and with other graphic novels that featured characters familiar to younger readers.   She still has possession of the volume, although it is now past due.

The volume involved was League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:  Black Dossier, by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill.