NAMPA — The Nampa Library Board decided Monday it wanted more time to ponder its decision to place two controversial books in the director’s office. But the board and library staff members had a lengthy discussion about the books anyway, going back and forth about how best to address the situation.

The board voted last month to place the “The New Joy of Sex” and “The Joy of Gay Sex” in the library director’s office. The move was intended to keep the materials, which several residents found offensive, out of the hands of minors. Library Board president Rosie Delgadillo Reilly made a motion to clarify the board’s decision, but it failed.

Another motion was made to postpone further discussion on the decision made last month to the board’s next meeting. That motion passed 3-2. But Nampa Library public services librarian Judy Balcerzak read a 4 1/2-page letter signed by 18 of the library’s 30 staff members asking the board to reverse their decision to sequester the books.

“People have a right to access this information when they need or want it,” Balcerzak read from the letter. “Forcing library customers to ask a staff member for access to these books from a locked office violates their right to privacy and confidentiality.”

Board members Bruce Skaug, Kim Keller and Sandi Levi, who voted to place the books in the director’s office and voted Monday not to discuss last month’s decision, expressed appreciation for the library staff’s point of view. But Skaug called one of the books “trash” and Keller said both sides on the issue had reasonable points to make.

Keller said he understood the library staff’s concern about where the line would be drawn on dealing with what could be deemed offensive material. But he also said the line had to be drawn at some point on what kind of materials a library could carry.

“My ideal is to come up with something that makes both sides comfortable,” Keller said.

Skaug said his motion last month to remove the books from the shelves was to allow the library board time to stop and look into the issue. But he also said one of the books contained a chapter on bestiality, and that was not acceptable.

“We forget to look at this book for the trash that it is,” Skaug said.

The library staff letter said librarians are trained professionals who make decisions about what materials to offer based on research and reviews. Keller said he sympathized with the librarians’ frustration that the board was telling them how to make those decisions.

“I know what you’re feeling to have somebody not trained in your scope of understanding come in and make decisions,” Keller said.

But the library staff’s letter indicated that the board was setting a dangerous precedent deciding that some books were not fit for conventional circulation in the library. And it said parents are responsible for keeping their children away from material they find objectionable.

“The library’s collection of materials represents the variety and diversity of the world in general and the community of Nampa,” Balcerzak read from the letter. “It is not our responsibility to tell the community what to believe or what not to believe.”