The Toyonaka City Library in Osaka Prefecture temporarily restricted access to the Yomiuri Shimbun, which identified a 19-year-old college student suspected of murdering a female classmate last month before killing himself, the city's board of education said Tuesday.
The Mie Prefectural Library and the Kashiba Municipal Library in Nara Prefecture also put white covers on the articles, which ignored a ban on naming or otherwise identifying minors suspected of committing a crime.
The Japan Library Association based in Tokyo said it is unprecedented for a library to restrict readers' access to a specific newspaper.
According to the association's Statement on Intellectual Freedom in Libraries: "Libraries shall not discriminate between materials by erasing text, pulling items from the shelves or removing them from the library without an appropriate reason."