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« on: April 11, 2008, 06:05:43 PM »
I don't really see what a ratings system would bring to literature. Ideally, maybe it would work, but I see too many pitfalls for censorship along the way. Look at the video game industry, for example. There are so many efforts by lawmakers to restrict who can buy what video game based on the ratings. None of these laws ever stick, but by the sheer amount of literature produced every year, who would be controlling these ratings? How would there be some method to the madness? Despite what you may believe, the ratings system for film is NOT prescribed--it's very much more fluid, and there's not a _____ amount of profanity=_____ rating equation or anything like that. Even if some sort of a ratings system were developed, how would it be enforced? Card kids who are trying to buy M books?
When I was working as a librarian in Orem, I'd have people come up to me and suggest this sort of thing quite a bit--asking if we as librarians would do it for the books in our library. No thanks. Librarians are all about freedom to information. Make informed decisions on what you read, watch or listen to--and make those decisions on your own, without needing to turn to some faceless "ratings board" to make them for you. Including a "content" listing wouldn't solve this problem any better for me. Who would determine what content means what? And how would this impact the way authors and publishers approach books? I dislike how the ratings system is played by Hollywood, and I'd hate to see that same mess come over to literature.
In the end, I love the fact that books are sort of self regulating. If you pick one up and don't like what you see, put it down. Turn the page. It's up to you. If you don't like a certain author, don't read him/her again. As far as "protecting" children goes, I don't see how a content guide or rating system would do that. They have access to anything/everything in a library or bookstore. Making a big deal out of a book for its content inevitably inspires kids to want to check it out.
That's all I have time to write right now.