Shh! Library Guards 3-Letter Word : ‘Sex’: Gawkers get just 15 minutes each with newest, revealing reference work, courtesy of Madonna and the First Amendment.

The San Diego Public Library has just made available a new reference book. But this is no ordinary reference book. This is no “Roget’s Thesaurus” or “Bartlett’s Quotations.” This is even wilder than a dictionary chock full of four-letter words (with pictures).

What is it about this book that drew five TV crews from three local stations on Monday, when “the book,” as some patrons call it, was first made available at the Central Library downtown?

Why have more than 100 San Diegans shown up this week to get a glance at it? And why are those waiting to read it--uh, rather, look at it--assessed a 15-minute limit after proving they’re 18 or older?

One word explains it all:

Madonna.

America’s most ostentatious pop star is its author, and the model in most of its photographs, but perhaps another word--the title of this hyped-to-the-hilt best-seller--explains it best:

“Sex.”

San Diego’s downtown library has never seen anything quite like “Sex.” As even the clerks will tell you, it makes the response to Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” in 1988 seem like a reissue of “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.”

“I wanted to see what the big deal is, and it is a big deal,” said Lazaren Mendoza, 19, a nursing student at the Educational Cultural Complex. “The pictures are really detailed.”

As big a hit as “Sex” is in San Diego--and, let’s face it, librarians rarely get snared in the glare of minicams--it’s an even bigger draw in Denver and other cities around the country. Is hype more contagious in the Rocky Mountains?

Well, in Denver, the waiting list tops more than 300 people. With its central library offering the book two weeks at a time, that means those at the bottom may have to wait a year or more, librarians say.

In San Diego, the librarians who fend off the aggressive inquiries are trying to keep it all in perspective.

“She (Madonna) is a master at promoting herself and creating controversy,” City Librarian William Sannwald said. “She draws people’s attention by outrageous acts and manipulating the media.”

And remember, it was Madonna, who, in the wake of Sinead O’Connor ripping up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on “Saturday Night Live,” said her Irish counterpart had “gone too far.”

In some parts of the country--Connecticut and Arizona, to name two--libraries have refused to stock the book, despite heated public demand. So why did the central library in one of the country’s most conservative cities take the risk of opting for “Sex”?

Sannwald lists “a couple of reasons.”

“The stature of Madonna as an icon in pop culture” was one, he said. “She’s one of the most controversial figures in the history of popular culture and one of the most well-known celebrities.

“And, it’s an important book because it’s been so hyped by the media,” he added. “It’s already sold more than 1 million copies. We’ve been interviewed by five TV stations (in San Diego), and even before we bought it, we had lots of calls from people begging us to buy it.”

But Sannwald is no fan.

“Even though I, personally, think it’s a bad book and most of my staff thinks it’s a bad book, we think it’s important because of the hype and because of Madonna. We have to preserve the culture of the country . . . whether we agree with it or not.”

Many of those who got a peek agreed that “Sex” was largely a case of much ado about nothing. Others expressed concern that more violent pictures--depictions of sadomasochistic sex, for instance--might actually provoke violence.

Despite a few negative reviews, the librarians have had trouble focusing on anything else--readers are clamoring to check it out.

Ordinarily, the clerks say, Madonna’s “Sex” would be locked up, along with dusty volumes of baseball statistics and art prints that demand security.

After the hype wears off, “Sex” will be retired to those quarters. But, throughout the day, the book is being passed from the hands of one reader into those of another.

“After all the publicity about it, I was disappointed. It wasn’t all that freaky,” said Sean Anderson, a 25-year-old City College business student.

Anderson said the pictures were no different from those in “nudie” magazines.

“I definitely wouldn’t spend money on it,” he said, adding that $15 would have been overpriced. “Sex,” however, retails for $50, which is why some choose to satisfy their curiosity at the library, where it’s free.

In the Arts and Music reference room, where the book is being kept, one reader-viewer peered at page after racy page as a security guard glanced nervously over her shoulder.

A young man at a file cabinet kept turning his head to look at “Sex,” distracted from researching his thesis with his father.

Eugene Joseph, like many waiting in line, defended the book as an expression of freedom of speech. Joseph said 15 minutes was not enough time to digest the text, which he compared to a common paperback romance novel.

Joseph, a 25-year-old electric company worker, was at the library to return a copy of “The New English Bible.”

Many who asked for “Sex” were curious about the Mylar cover that some compared to a candy wrapper. Some called it just more glitz, saying Madonna has figured out a way to hype even the cover of a book. Others say the cover is essential to keep children from plunging into “Sex.”

No question, “Sex” has had an impact. But those bearing the brunt of it are the city’s librarians, who say they’re counting the days until the hype has passed and they can go back to a quiet, studious job free of time limits, minicams and “carding” the customers.

When books, in other words, can return to just being books.