By Jennifer Turner

Trying to relax with her mystery novel, Sharlene Heckert gave up in disgust. She couldn”t ignore the purple words that kept showing up. Every time profanity was used, another written in purple word appeared, taking her attention away from the story.

Last week Heckert, a patron of Davis County Library, complained that someone had censored three of the four “Murder, She Wrote” books she checked out.

“They”ve written alternate words through [the books],” Davis County Library Director Pete Giacoma said.

Someone changed the potentially offensive words to “darn” and “gosh,” he said.

Heckert said she was so frustrated that she went straight to a reporter instead of library personnel to report the markings.

Some people mistakenly assume the library is editing the books, Giacoma said.

“Every once in a while, people think it”s us doing it,” he said. “It”s not.”

Giacoma said a person deciding to censor library books is uncommon but not unheard of.

“Whatever their intentions, though, it is illegal,” Giacoma said. “It interferes with the reading of the book by individuals.”

Marking library books is a specific violation of Utah law. It is considered a Class B misdemeanor if the damage totals $300 or less and a Class A misdemeanor if the total damage is more than $300, Giacoma said. Few people are charged, however, because it is almost impossible to catch the vandals.

Patrons check out 1.6 million books a year from the Davis County Library, and it is impossible to inspect every book each time it is checked in.

Giacoma said the library staff prefers to be notified if books are marked up or mutilated in any way so they will be aware of the situation and perhaps catch the vandal.

If a vandal is caught, restitution for the damaged book is required. The matter is then turned over to the county, Giacoma said.

“We refer the matter to the county attorney, and they make a decision whether they want to prosecute,” he said.

When deciding whether to reshelf the books, Giacoma said the staff determines how much damage has been done. If the damage is not too severe and the book is still readable, it is reshelved.

Book mutilation is not a common problem at BYU, said Andy Spackman, circulation manager at the Harold B. Lee Library,

Spackman said he sees intentional cases of book mutilation only once or twice a year, and usually the mutilation occurs in magazines or art books. He said the damage usually involves people cutting out pictures they do not like.

If a person is caught intentionally mutilating a book, the matter is referred to campus security to deal with, Spackman said.

“The majority of the cases we see are where unintentional mutilation occurred,” he said.

Underlined words and creased corners are considered unintentional mutilation, he said.

“If you crease a page, over time eventually it”s going to fall apart where the crease is,” Spackman said.

Action taken on unintentional mutilation depends on the condition of the book and the type of mutilation.

If a book has a lot of writing in pencil in it and the library catches it when it”s checked in, the library staff makes the person come in and erase all the markings.

If the vandalism is in pen or marker, Spackman said the general rule of thumb is to charge $1 per page. That stands until the charge becomes larger than the cost of the book, and then the fine switches over to replacing the book.

Spackman said if something unexpected happens to a book, such as it getting wet, the person should take the book to the repair department in the library, where it might be saved.

“The book repair department can do some amazing things,” Spackman said.

For those concerned about the subject matter of a book, the legal way to deal with it is to fill out a request form. The form gets reviewed and if appropriate the book gets put in a locked case.

A locked case is a way to protect people from unintentionally picking up books that might contain offensive material. To check out a locked-case book, one has to request a library employee to retrieve the book.

“There are those on campus that would have a legitimate reason for having those things,” Spackman said.

Examples he gave are psychology students studying specific cases or art students examining particular art pieces.

He said keeping books in a locked case is a way to accommodate both needs. People who need the book can still get it, and people who don”t want to run across that type of information won”t have to.

“It”s part of a well-rounded education that you understand that this material is still literature by most standards,” said Brittany McEwen, library student employee. “You don”t have to approve of something to understand that it”s there.”

McEwen said she”s seen books that have had words crossed out in them, but she”s never known anyone who”s done it. She said she is glad the library does not contain particular books.

“I think there”s a few books that it”s good we choose not to have in the library,” she said. “BYU is good at deciding that.”

Library employee Brad Monson said the library does not have too much trouble with censoring problems because the aim of BYU is different than the aim of a public library. The majority of the library is not fictional literature, and that is usually where this type of problem comes up, he said.

“We are very careful in what we choose,” Monson said. “We make sure that the books we collect are consistent with church standards and policy.”

BYU Library Communications Manager Mike Cooper said BYU”s mission is to offer the students a broad education. He said the student population as a whole is well educated.

“There are these students and community members that think it”s their right to rip out pages and mark out words,” he said. “That is one of those things we shake our heads at.”