Margaret Barbaree, founder of a citizens’ group called Protect Our Children, presented examples from a manga book to the Crestview City Council Monday evening that she described as “graphic” and “shocking,” taken from material she said is “available to children” at the Crestview Public Library.

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“My son lost his mind when he found this,” Barbaree said of the manga book from which her examples were taken. She said her son had removed the book unsupervised from the library’s general stacks last summer and put it in his backpack. “Now he’s in a home for extensive therapy.”

“They told us she (Barbaree) approached them at the Christmas parade and asked them to sign a petition protesting pornography in the library,” said Resource Librarian Sandra Dreaden.

Barbaree said Library Director Jean Lewis explained to her that there is a demand for manga, and that the library strives to meet the needs of its patrons.

Council President Charles Baugh Jr. assured Barbaree that “We have safeguards in place to protect our children and we have committees that review library purchases so they meet the standards of the [American] Library Association.”

The books that concerned Barbaree “are in the library for those who wish to partake of them and they are in a section of the library” for adult patrons, said Baugh, who visited the library himself the day after the council meeting and said he found the manga available in the young adult section perfectly innocuous.

“We follow up with our citizens’ concerns,” Baugh said after meeting with library staff and viewing the young adult manga. Baugh also confirmed that the book Barbaree’s son had accessed was in the general stacks well away from the children’s and young adult books.

“Our library is well managed and well staffed,” Baugh told Barbaree while assuring her, “I am a family man and I understand what you are saying.”

Lewis said the manga available in the young adult section of the library is oriented toward young teen readers and does not contain the adult themes of the book Barbaree’s son took. That book had been in the general stacks, on a top shelf in a section with other graphic novels and comic books not geared toward young readers.