Book Challenges - Be Prepared

With ever more sophisticated non-localized group efforts to remove and ban books, it's always good to be prepared when requests to remove books come your way.

Some recent blog posts and an additional few thoughts can help guide you and prepare you.

Leah Langby at IFLS posted "Getting Prepped for Challenges" on the Keeping Up with Kids blog.  She writes: "A lot of folks in the library world live in dread of someone coming up to them with a  a request (or demand) that a library material be removed from the collection.  Even the thought of someone coming up with a question or concern about an item can be scary to contemplate.  However, as Megan Schliesman of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center pointed out in a recent conversation, this is something library workers should just be prepared to deal with in the course of their work.  People will have questions or concerns about items in the collection, and we need to be prepared to handle these conversations, and even see them as an opportunity to share information about the mission of the public library (to provide materials for everyone in the community).:

Check out the helpful resources she shares here.

In August, Anne Hamland, Public Services Consultant at WVLS (WI Valley Library Service) updated a resource she originally wrote in 2018 " Boost! Challenged Materials: Prepare Now." in the system blog. She writes: "Most libraries celebrate Banned Books Week  in September every year and talk about the importance of access and intellectual freedom at that time. Books that are challenged are featured in displays and programming. Unfortunately, book and library material challenges are not extinct. Challenges happen in many forms at nearly all libraries every year. It is important for library team members to review library policy on handling informal and formal complaints. Today could be the day a patron emails, calls, posts on social media or complains while you are at the desk. Be prepared."

Stop here to find the helpful suggestions and links she provides.

Kim Niesing at Youth Services Consultant at Monarch Library System has a few solid tips for us too:

• "I strongly recommend library staff not comment on the content in question. They should not give their opinion on whether they agree or disagree with the content. Doing so often does not help the situation, and it is better to focus on emphasizing that formal challenges will go through your library's established policy/procedure and not be decided on by any one person's opinion.
• If a patron is giving an informal complaint, front line library staff can calmly listen without engaging in a debate.  
• If a patron wants to give a formal complaint, front line library staff should inform the patron of the library's reconsideration policy and give the patron any paperwork/forms the person needs to submit a formal complaint. Staff should not indicate whether they think the material in question will be removed, be relocated, or remain as is.  
• Depending on the preference of your library director, front line library staff or more likely library managers may choose to inform the patron of the library's collection development policy and/or commitment to intellectual freedom, the ALA Library Bill of Rights, etc.  
• As always, talk to your library director and follow the procedures they want for your library. This is an area where you want to be informed before the need arises! "

Finally, author Kate Messner recently shared on her blog an open letter to parents "Books for All Kids (Not Just Yours): An Open Letter for Educators & Librarians to Share with Families" that also shares some great tips for educators and librarians. She writes: "When we remove books – or fail to order them in the first place, for fear of someone objecting – we’re doing a huge disservice to the readers in our care. We’re making sure that the young reader who’s never seen someone who looks like them on the cover of a novel never will. We’re making sure the reader who lives with an addict or misses a parent who’s incarcerated continues to feel invisible and alone. We’re removing the lifeline that books can provide for kids who are struggling. We’re turning off the light and leaving our readers alone in the dark."

Click here to read the post and open letter she shares.