Challenged Books

Hello,
Long, long ago I taught grades 5 – 8 in a two teacher school. I read the book Cheaper By the Dozen aloud to them after lunch and we all enjoyed the story. If you have read this book you know that there are a couple of places where the father swears. As I was reading, I seamlessly inserted the harmless “Oh, my goodness!” in those places. However, one spot came where I had to stop and explain that the story is true and wonderful, but the father used language that we felt was inappropriate and I had been substituting other words instead. One child took that book home and within a few days, father and pastor were visiting me after school. I mentioned the value of the book but they wanted it off the shelves. I then asked if either of them had read the book. They had not. I requested they read it first, but neither of them were interested in reading it. I then told them that I would check with the conference and another source to see what they thought of the book. Both the conference and my other source said that the book was a good one, but there was a bit of a language problem and they recommended I keep the book, but keep it in the upper grade classroom. I met with the pastor and told him of my decision to keep the book and why.

It certainly would have made my life easier if I had a policy in place ready in case anyone challenged a book from my library.

Recently I heard about a man who accessed the local school library catalog online and searched the terms ‘witch’ and ‘magic’. He came up with titles about magic tricks and also The Witch of Blackbird Pond. (If you haven’t read The Witch of Blackbird Pond, I highly recommend it for two very good reasons. One, it is a wonderful, well-written story about a Puritan family and the niece from Barbados who comes to live with them. Kit, the niece, makes friends with a Quaker woman who is different from the townspeople and when something bad happens, the Quaker woman is accused of being a witch. Two, this book will be challenged by the person who sees the title and hasn’t read it. So, if you have read it, you can tell them about the story and possibly alleviate a potential problem.)

No matter how hard we try to choose the best books for our libraries, we are human and are bound to make mistakes. At times these mistakes will certainly be found by students, parents or local church members. What do you do? Do these people have the right to remove books from the library? How will you handle this?

The best way is to have a policy in place. Think of it as accident insurance. You can research other schools’ policies online and tweak one to fit your particular situation. I recommend one that has the person who has registered a complaint read the material, point out where the problem or problems are and then have a committee review the complaint. No one person should be able to remove a book without a valid reason. Granted, there very well may be books that should be removed and it may be that when you see the complaint, you realize immediately that the book is inappropriate and promptly remove it from the shelf. According to your policy, you can immediately pull out the forms to request removal and have the complainant fill it out right away. Then you have written reason to remove the book, you can meet with the committee and have the book removed from the shelf.

Recap: Have a library policy in place for the following reasons.
1. You will appear professional. You are ready for this situation even if it never comes.
2. You will not stress as much. You have a procedure in place and you have a committee to help you with the decision.
3. Your complainer may choose to not do anything once he or she sees your policy and procedure. Situation resolved. You have done your part.

If you would like to have a copy of another Adventist school’s Library Policy and Challenge policy, email me and I will be happy to send it to you.

Meanwhile, know that you are not alone. We are all in this together.

Have a wonderful week!

Blessings,
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com