(no subject)

[darchildre]

I got a phonecall from a patron this morning who wanted to talk to someone about the sexually explicit ebook her 13 year old son had checked out and how she could prevent him from doing so in the future. I forwarded that call to my manager because that sort of conversation is above my paygrade, but then I went to look up the ebook she mentioned.

Friends. The sexually explicit ebook this kid checked out is The Romance of Lust, a public domain work of erotica from the 1870s. That is amazing and I have several thoughts:

a) I desperately want to know what search terms the kid used to find this book.

b) Now, I am an Extremely Asexual person who did not have the common teen experience of seeking out illicit sex scenes to peruse out of the sight of adults (because I wasn't interested in the same way other kids were), but surely there are easier ways to get your rocks off without having to seek out Victorian smut? You're reading ebooks so you must have access to the internet - the ao3 is right there. It's free, the prose is usually easier for a modern reader to parse, and it doesn't send emails to your mom.

c) Maybe, if you are going to check out porn from the library, you might want to return the book early, before your mom (whose email is on your account) gets the Almost Overdue notice.

d) Turns out, the library has significantly more public domain vintage erotica in our ebook collection than I was previously aware of.

Comments

[frenchroast]

Oh wow. That's both hilarious and sad.

Then again, maybe the kid's into Victorian smut? Who knows?

I hope he finds AO3.

[katherine]

Hilarious!

That one is, I see, on Project Gutenberg. No library-ing required!

[nicki]

I have bad news for mom on preventing her 13 year old from getting a hold of sexually explicit material if he's determined to find it. I do recommend, however, that he not attempt to do so from a school computer.

[silveradept]

I would not be surprised if "romance" were the search term used to find such a book, because our indexing programs are still very literal about all things.

As for getting ebooks over the AO3, it would certainly be possible for someone who has been denied a web browser on a tablet or other app device. Since AO3 doesn't have an app, the child might be making do with what they can on a very locked down device. Especially since the parent is concerned about the reading of Victorian explicit material.

That said, yes, one needs be careful about where notification emails go, and I would not be surprised at all about all of our collections having way more public domain smut than we believe, because collections like that are usually imported completely as a unit, rather than by title.