Is it legal for an administrator to make sweeping changes?
What happens to challenged books after they’ve been removed from a library collection? Are they ever returned to the collection? Or are they destroyed?
It depends on the library and its board of trustees. Sometimes, books that have been removed from a collection are stored in the library director’s office or in a back room. Unfortunately, sometimes they are actually destroyed. Yes, removed books may eventually be returned to the shelves. Don’t lose hope: library boards change, small-interest groups can lose their momentum, and public attitudes toward certain topics can shift.
It’s a good idea for a library board, under the direction of the library director, to periodically review its collection development policy, including its procedures for dealing with challenged materials.
Paul Monette’s Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir was recently challenged in one of our middle schools. Now, the director of schools wants to amend our reconsideration policy to include the following provisions: (1) An emergency book-removal clause, which would give him the authority to remove books until the reconsideration committee convenes, if he thinks the books aren’t worthy. Currently, challenged materials remain in the collection pending the committee’s final decision. (2) A disruption clause, which would let him remove books that he feels are causing a disturbance, until the committee determines the ultimate fate of the books. (3) A revised schedule that would reduce—from 15 days to 48 hours—the amount of time that the reconsideration committee has to convene after a formal challenge has been made.
Is it illegal for him to make these policy changes? By the way, he has the board of trustees’ full support.
First of all, Borrowed Time (Houghton, 1988) is an adult book, and it’s tough to defend its place in a middle school collection. I doubt the reconsideration committee will support keeping this particular title in the collection. That said, let’s deal with the issues related to the proposed policy changes.
It isn’t illegal for the director of schools to change the reconsideration policy. But your school officials may find themselves up to their necks in quicksand if they attempt to enforce his proposed changes. For starters, under Board of Education v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982), the proposed emergency book-removal clause can be challenged. The Supreme Court’s plurality opinion prohibits school officials from removing school library books based on their disagreement with the ideas expressed in those books.
The proposed disruption clause is a weak attempt to apply Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 267 (1988) to Pico. Hazelwood grants school officials control over decisions related to the school curriculum (such as which novels can be used in English classes), but draws a distinction between curricular and noncurricular speech restrictions. Since students use libraries at will, they should expect greater free speech rights in a library setting.
Finally, it’s not a good idea to rush into forming a reconsideration committee. You’ll want to make sure that its members represent the entire school community. Many school districts appoint a committee at the beginning of each new school year, so that it’s in place when it’s needed.
I’m confused by a statement in your most recent SLJ column—“Just Say No,” March 2011, p. 19. In response to a librarian who asked about an employee who wouldn’t let an 11-year-old check out a YA book, you wrote, “Perhaps your library needs to offer some type of ‘parent approved’ card that lets kids access your entire collection.” Doesn’t that go against letting kids have free access to information? I thought that libraries should allow children to use the entire collection.
You’re absolutely right: children should have access to all of the library’s information, and I should have firmly stated that. Unfortunately, there are many public libraries that don’t allow children to have free access to the entire collection. We should be equally concerned about a related problem: some libraries don’t allow young adults in their children’s rooms. A public library is a place for “free and unrestricted access” of information for all. Thank you for reminding me of that.