A library service was stocking books which encouraged jihad and the murder of non-Muslims, a Government-backed report has revealed. A cost-cutting measure has been blamed for the blunder, which happened five years ago.Leicester City Council had changed its book supplier so it could buy more foreign-language books for its customers. However, council bosses say they were poorly advised by the new provider and, as a result, brought some inflammatory material into stock. After "several months", they realised the dangerous nature of the material and removed it from the shelves, and returned it to the supplier.
Details of the error were in a report from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), which gives guidance on the handling of controversial material in public libraries, and is sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. A city council spokesman said: "We bought some stock from independent book sellers who, as it turned out, did not advise us very well. One of our staff identified that about two or three titles had a jihadist theme, and the books were removed from the shelves. We then reverted back to our agency which, in the meantime, had extended its service, and have continued to buy this way ever since.
"Leicester provides an excellent library service for an ever-changing diverse community, and we were happy to share what we learned with the MLA so other authorities benefit."
The report also revealed the council had problems with people attempting to donate inflammatory books. In one incident, an attempt was made by someone to donate a copy of "Ghetto Kingz - Life as We Know it" by murderer Chevern Obinna Anozie. The book is the story of Anozie, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of 25-year-old Wilfred Walbrook, who was shot dead outside a Leicester city centre nightclub, where he was a doorman, in 1994. The book has been condemned by the victim's mother.
The MLA also says libraries have problems in areas where they serve mixed religion areas. On a number of occasions customers had brought in Islamic newspapers and magazines which were inflammatory and had to be disposed of.
Suleman Nagdi, spokesman for the Federation of Muslim Organisations, Leicestershire, said: "I had not heard of these problems. I am not surprised that people have tried to do this."
"We live in a liberal democracy which allows freedom of speech, which must be protected. But we also must balance this with the rights of our citizens to be protected, whether that be from extremist religion or from far right political parties. If books or other material incites hatred, then it should not be in public places."