The Blame Game: If a parent files a complaint, who's responsible?

I was surprised to discover that my new school district doesn’t have a library policy, especially since we’re considering unblocking some social networking sites. I’m especially troubled that there’s no Internet-use policy. After meeting with our other librarians, I crafted what I thought was a good policy. But my colleagues balked at it, insisting that they needed more time to think through the issues. If a parent complains about our materials or resources, who’s culpable—the district or the librarian? Should I hold my peace or continue to be proactive?

It’s sometimes tough to be the new kid on the block. You’re absolutely right to be proactive, but all of the stakeholders need to be involved in creating a policy. If there is a district library association, one of its main projects should be to create a library policy. The National School Boards Association’s Web site offers good advice on crafting all sorts of policies. If a parent lodges a complaint, the district is responsible. But don’t be surprised if it tries to pass the buck and blame the librarian.

An African-American parent has challenged Aaron Reynolds’s Metal Man, citing its negative portrayal of African-American families and inappropriate dialect. Can you suggest some ways to approach this challenge?

Do you have a materials selection policy? If you have one, then it’s your best defense. If not, take this opportunity to create a policy that addresses how to deal with challenged materials.

Sometimes parents need guidance in understanding a book’s themes. Invite the parent to visit the library and watch you discuss the book with a group of elementary school students. Read the story exactly as it’s written, and then read it again using Standard English. Ask kids how Standard English changes the text’s poetic cadence. Discuss how each culture and region has its own colloquialisms and dialects. Stress that there’s an “urban” language and a “rural” language. Kids will understand these concepts, and you may be surprised: their comments may change the parent’s perception of the book.

I inherited a library collection that troubles me. Eighty percent of our fiction and 20 percent of our nonfiction have reading-level labels and Accelerated Reader’s (AR) big red dots on their spines. When students browse the books, they search by labels rather than by title or author. Also, their teachers have instructed them to check out two AR books and one “fun” book.

Is our goal to support the curriculum, even if it means allowing a commercial reading program to dictate how our collection is arranged? Or is our goal to provide an open library where students are encouraged to browse materials based on their interests? There seems to be a conflict between these goals. Also, have you heard of any librarians who have removed the labels and rearranged their collections according to author or Dewey number?

The mission of the school library is to support the curriculum and to provide materials and services that satisfy the interests and needs of all children. There shouldn’t be a conflict between these two goals. The most troubling part of your situation is that teachers don’t equate reading with fun. Though I don’t like anything about AR, I do know that there are AR books that might be fun to read. But the fun is squelched when students have to take a test on every title they read.

A library doesn’t have to succumb to labeling just because the school district uses AR. I suggest you remove all of the labels. Bookmark AR’s Web site on your library computers and show students and teachers how to use the site to identify books that are appropriate for the child’s reading level. Then ask students to locate books by author or Dewey classification. I also suggest that you move forward with library programming that promotes reading for fun.

I don’t know of a library that has reversed the practice of labeling books by AR reading levels. I do know that there are many frustrated librarians who dream of the day when students will once again come to the library in search of books that have no labels. If you are a librarian who has succeeded in stripping books of these labels, please write to me and share your story. Your success may offer other librarians strategies and encouragement as they struggle with the issue of labeling.