When Weeding Is Wrong: A principal asks for banned books to be removed from the collection

A parent of one of our eighth graders came into the library and began pulling books off our shelves. She ended up stacking 15 books on the circulation desk—including The Giver, The Chocolate War, Monster, and Looking for Alaska—and demanded that we permanently remove them from our collection. She told the principal that the books were cited on an online list of banned books, and now he wants me to use the list to weed our collection. What should I do?

The principal isn't asking you to “weed” the collection. He's asking you to practice censorship. Do you have a materials selection and reconsideration policy? Without such a policy, a librarian is vulnerable to anyone who demands that materials be removed from the library.

If you have a policy, remind the principal that the parent needs to file a complaint and go through the formal reconsideration process. Most people don't want to go through a formal process. They prefer to make noise and bring school administrators to their knees.

If you don't have a policy, this incident should serve as a wake-up call for you to develop one. Make sure your school board reviews it every few years. That way anyone who issues a challenge can't say your policy is out-of-date. Also, the next time you notice parents searching your shelves, ask if you can help them find what they're looking for. Then suggest that they read each title and come back and discuss them with you. A good conversation will almost always result in a positive outcome.

There's a link on our public library's young adult page to a site that supports gay teens. Although a group of citizens (mostly out-of-towners) complained about the link, the library director has refused to take it down. The complaint was referred to the library's board, of which I'm the president. Since then, encouraged by local Christian radio and TV stations, the group has expanded its complaint to include books that it considers “pornographic,” such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Geography Club, Deal with It, and It's Perfectly Normal.

Since the group's complaint has substantially changed, the city attorney dismissed it. As a result, the group became outraged and launched a campaign against the library, its staff, and the library board, which has led to some of our members not being reappointed. The group has also inundated the city council with email messages and phone calls, and the controversy has become the focus of numerous sermons and letters to the editor of a local newspaper. At the moment, our public library has a terrible public relations problem. How do we combat censorship when there's no procedure for us to follow?

This is clearly the work of an organized group. Its tactics are very similar to groups like PABBIS, or Parents Against Bad Books in Schools. They throw around terms like “pornography,” and they advance their agendas by intimidation. This method of operation usually works with politicians like city council members who appoint the library board. The troubling part is that your city council has bowed to pressure from “outsiders.”

There is one part of your question that puzzles me. You indicate that you don't have a procedure to follow in censorship cases, yet the city attorney has dismissed the original complaint because it had substantially changed. That means there's some type of procedure—or perhaps he was just taking a legal stand. Follow his lead, and take time to address your library's policy and procedures. As president of the library board, you can make library policy an agenda item. Suggest to the board that it review policies from other public libraries that have similar demographics (you can often find a library's policy posted on its Web site). Caution the board that a policy should reflect the needs of the entire community, not just a select few. And reach out to the city attorney for help. He sounds like the library's new “best friend.”

Finally, consider sponsoring a series of panel discussions about the issue and include young adults on the panels. They're the patrons who have suffered most from this incident. I've found that the voices of informed children and young adults can usually win over uninformed adults. I bet that these programs will have a positive impact on your library's image and make a significant difference from a public relations perspective.