The librarian maintained that the photographs were inappropriate for display in an area where children might see them because they included nudity. "There was a feeling that [Green's] in particular might really give a child some nightmares," commented the librarian's superior, who backed the removal.
The Alaska ACLU protested the removal, calling it censorship. "The photographs in question are not even close to obscene," said the director of the ACLU, noting that other materials in the library contained more explicit images. "The cover of Gray' Anatomy comes to mind," the director said. The Alaska Library Association Committee on Intellectual Freedom also objected to the decision.
The photographers challenged the librarian's decision and filed suit. Soon after the library offered an alternative space to display the exhibit-- a conference room that was considerably less public than the walls next to an elevator where the pictures had originally been hung. The artists rejected the offer and went forward with their lawsuit.
In a hearing over the suit, a superior court judge described the library's decision "arbitrary" and ordered that the photo's be re-exhibited. Technically, the suit is still pending, but observers expect the artists, having already achieved their immediate goal, to end the suit.
Source: People for the American Way