The Swimsuits Were Skimpy, But The Magazine Was Invisible

Sports Illustrateds annual swimsuit issue — devoted to the athletic rigors of wearing a wet bikini — is often criticized for its soft-core content. But this year, another controversy erupted over the magazines self-censorship.

Public libraries often find that the issue quickly disappears from the shelves. But last week, some subscribing librarians found that this years swimsuit issue had never even arrived. A spokesman for Sports Illustrated, a Time Warner property, confirmed on Friday that the Feb. 14 swimsuit issue had been withheld from about 21,000 subscribers identified as libraries or classrooms.

Many of the subscribers affected were libraries at universities and other educational institutions. None of the affected subscribers had been informed of the decision to withhold the issue.

Many librarians were first alerted to the missing issue by messages posted to the Serials electronic mailing list early last week. After reading one such post, Kelly Joyce, the reference and periodicals librarian for Hanover College in Indiana, verified that her library had not received the issue.

I thought this was odd, Ms. Joyce said on Friday, adding that she had never fielded any patron complaints about the swimsuit issue. Im certainly not in favor of censoring anything.

When she contacted her Sports Illustrated customer service representatives, Ms. Joyce was first told that there were no more copies of the issue available, before finding out that her library had been flagged as a public institution and as such would not receive the issue. A second representative said that the librarys subscription would be extended by two weeks. (Sports Illustrated also offers subscribers the option of skipping the swimsuit issue and having their subscription extended by one week.)

Despite the differing responses many libraries initially received from Sports Illustrated representatives, Rick McCabe, a magazine spokesman, said on Friday that the magazine would provide copies of the missing issue to all affected subscribers who requested them.

According to Mr. McCabe, the decision to withhold the swimsuit issue was made independently of the magazines senior management, by a group that was also involved in removing alcohol or tobacco-related advertising from issues for classrooms and other subscribers who requested such alternate copies. He declined to further identify the group, but said that recent complaints about the swimsuit issues content from teachers and parents were also a factor.

Librarians and their patrons wont have to worry about missing the latest in swimsuit fashions next year. The decision to withhold the issue was a mistake that shouldnt have been made, Mr. McCabe said. Certainly its not something were going to do again.

MARIA ASPAN

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