Social media guidelines for Newbery Committee members went into play a few years ago to avoid controversy about how the prestigious book awards are determined. But the guidelines, it seems, have sparked contention of their own. Well-known children’s librarian, Angie Manfredi, was asked to step down from the 2018 Newbery Committee in late August for allegedly violating the guidelines by mentioning on Twitter, in a post that has since been deleted, that a young patron at her library had fallen in love with a book eligible for this year’s award. That, apparently, was a no-no: any mention of books that could be considered for the Newbery is off limits during a committee member’s tenure. And as such, she was asked to resign. The decision was “…completely and totally devastating to me,” writes Manfredi on her blog, “Fat Girl Reading,” where she posted a long account of the episode on August 22. “I didn’t want to do this,” writes Manfredi, who is head of youth services for the Los Alamos (NM) County Library System. “I so desperately did not want to do this. But it is what the Executive Committee wanted and so I complied.” Manfredi, was—like eight other Newbery Committee members —voted into her position by members of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). A total of 15 members (the remaining six, plus the chair, are appointed by the ALSC President) make up the committee each year. They are charged with reading and sifting through thousands of titles, and then meeting and selecting what will arguably become one of the most well-read books of the year. A Newbery Medal can change the sales figures of a title overnight, sending books into multiple printings. Relatively few authors have ever won it, even fewer have ever won twice since the award’s creation in 1922. It’s understood, then, why ALSC, and ALA, which administers the award, would want to ensure the process and selection are untouched by even the least amount of controversy.

A Moratorium on Twitter

That, at least, was the intent behind the redrafting of the rules in 2014, which stated that committee members should not “…engage in any print or electronic communication outside of the committee regarding eligible titles during their term of service,” as per a revised guidelines document online. Members are further told that electronic formats include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and anything else that would fall under social networking services, such as blogs and electronic discussion lists. But the rules, rather than clarify, have seemed to generate their own level of confusion. And that confusion has generated some irritation as well. “What happened with [Manfredi] exposed how stupid these rules are, that she could be thrown off the Committee because she shared that a kid loved one book that’s eligible,” says Roger Sutton, editor in chief of The Horn Book. (The Horn Book is owned by Media Source, Inc. which also owns School Library Journal.) “What [her post] does is give a clue as to what Angie likes, which is what ALSC is trying to stamp out with the guidelines.” Manfredi’s seat on the Newbery Committee was particularly celebrated by those looking for more diversity, both on the committee and in the titles considered and selected for awards. She has spoken and written often about diverse voices in literature and has pledged to donate the titles sent to her for consideration for the Newbery Medal to tribal libraries in her local area in New Mexico. Debbie Reese, librarian and publisher of American Indians in Children’s Literature, took to Twitter to voice her disappointment at Manfredi’s removal. Reese also feels she could never sit for an awards committee, as she could never restrain her opinions and voice as Manfredi and others have been asked to do. “I've considered being on award committees before, but the restrictions on what I could say and write are the reason I have declined invitations to do so,” Reese says by email. “These restrictions inadvertently create a silence that affirms the still-too-white world of children's literature.” Sutton says that he understands that how the Newbery Medal book is selected needs to be kept under wraps, and agrees that the confidentiality around that decision should be upheld. But social media, he notes, is a crucial modern tool in any librarian’s arsenal. Service on the committee, in his eyes, could be seen as asking a librarian to take a year off from their work. “So what you’re asking people to do is to step away from their job for a year, to do not quite as good a job to be on an award committee,” he says. “[Using social media] was expressly okay before 2014, and now it isn’t and ALSC has not made a convincing case as to what’s the benefit [of the new guidelines] to the award.”

ALSC Forms Task Force

This conflict has not gone unnoticed by ALSC’s current president Nina Lindsay who took to Twitter on Aug 23, just one day after Manfredi’s post about her removal, to clarify that the association is considering the guidelines again: “…earlier this year I established a TF [Ed: task force] to work on needed revisions to all award manuals, and to update these guidelines.” Lindsay reiterated that commitment to School Library Journal by email. “Reviewing social media guidelines is the main charge of the task force,” Lindsay writes. “The task force has been asked to make whatever recommendations for revision they feel are warranted, and to include clear dos and don’ts regarding social media use.” Manfredi wrote that her tweet about the book, and a child’s reaction, has since been deleted, by her, but at ALSC’s request. That decision, to take down her post, is one she regrets, as “…if they were going to ask me to resign all along I could have known and kept it,” she says in her post. When asked by email if the Committee asked Manfredi to first remove the tweet because it initially considered letting her continue to serve, Lindsay would not go into details of the decision. “In fairness to Angie and all members who we ask to serve I cannot share more except what we expressed privately to her committee through the chair: that there was a conflict of interest,” she says by email. “We recognize Angie as a singular advocate for young people and their books, and as a hardworking and dedicated member of ALSC. In tweets she has raised general questions about the guidelines for award service that are fair to ask, and which we are addressing.”