LEWISTON – The Lewiston woman who removed a book on human sexuality from the Lewiston library and refused to return it faces a court hearing in December.

Police have issued a summons to JoAn Karkos, 64, notifying her of an arraignment hearing at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 19 at Lewiston District Court. The charge is failure to return library property, a violation of city ordinance.

Library Director Rick Speer said the matter is a civil complaint, and Karkos faces a fine and having to pay for the missing book.

“It’s a serious offense for the community and the library, but it doesn’t even hit the state’s radar in terms of charges,” Speer said. “It’s simply a matter of not abiding by a contractual issue with the city: Abide by the library’s rules and return our materials promptly.”

Karkos defended her actions Thursday night.

“Why is it inappropriate censorship for a taxpayer to object to prurient material easily accessible to youth in libraries, but not censorship of the Federal Communications Commission not allowing the prurient pictures of ‘It’s Perfectly Normal’ to be aired as was told to me by one local television station?” she wrote in an e-mail to the Sun Journal. “If library personnel will not take into account to the extent they make prurient materials easily accessible to youth without warnings, then taxpayers should reconsider how the processes of public library personnel’s employment are achieved as well as others who serve in any capacity.”

Karkos removed the book “It’s Perfectly Normal” from the library’s stacks in August and refused to return it, saying the book was pornographic and offensive.

Written by Robie H. Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley, the book was published in 1993. Subtitled “Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health,” the book features frank but cartoonlike illustrations of naked people in chapters on topics such as abstinence, masturbation and sexually transmitted diseases.

In September, Karkos said she found copies of the book on the shelves in the children’s sections at both the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries and removed them. She sent each library a letter and a check for $20.95 to cover the cost of the book.

She said she particularly objected to a series of cartoons showing naked male and female bodies. One page depicts masturbating children. Another teaches girls to examine their genitalia with a hand mirror.

“Libraries are educators in a sense, and parents should be able to send their children to libraries confident that their beliefs regarding modesty and decency will not be compromised, Karkos said in her e-mail Thursday night. “Even if people of faith were the minority, and they are not, concerns of even minority voices should not be ignored. It is a mark of a civilized society to honor and aspire to that which edifies wholesome character formation,” she said.

“Taxpayers should not be required to fund materials in libraries that graphically describe specific sexual acts and how to perform them step by step. Some libraries have moved, ‘It’s Perfectly Normal’ to the adult section. At a minimum, that is what we should expect to happen with warnings of pornographic material in a particular section of the library,” she wrote.

Speer said the library has been given 10 copies of the book. They are still available in the stacks of the children’s section, but copies have been added to the teen collection and a special parental education section.

Library policy regarding the book and its placement have not changed, he said. It will remain in the children’s section.

“That issue, of where the book is, has not been properly raised,” Speer said. “Not once. The issue we are dealing with is the proper handling of community property. But if she wanted to change the location of the book or whether we stock it, she just has to bring that up and we would look into it.”

Court hearings on library fines are rare, Speer said. The library has taken a patron to court once before.

“Most people settle out of court, pay a $25 court fee, settle with the library and plead guilty to the charges,” Speer said. Karkos would be eligible to get her library card back if she settles, he said.

Auburn librarian Rosemary Waltos said Thursday night that the board of directors is not filing a complaint against Karkos at this time.

“At this point we’re not doing that,” she said.

Asked if Karkos has brought the library’s copy of the book back, Waltos said, “To my knowledge it has not been returned.”