By: John A. Tuggle • Executive Director • Shreve Memorial Library
Attorney General Jeff Landry started an interesting conversation statewide this week with his Protecting Innocence document, along with his press conference announcing its release. I quickly read the document first and thought, “Most libraries do a lot of this stuff already.” Then I watched a recording of the press conference, where it was said library policies across the state are antiquated with no restrictions on juvenile borrowing. Children borrowing Penthouse magazine was used as an example of circulation practices across the state.
I am not an expert on all public library policies in Louisiana, but I assure you that Shreve Memorial Library’s policies are not antiquated, nor do we allow children to check out all library materials.
As a professional librarian, I also have concerns about statements made in the document and voiced at the press conference about materials which are sexually explicit and claimed to be available to all children.
While I cannot speak for every library in Louisiana, I can speak for the 21 public library branches in Caddo Parish that are part of Shreve Memorial Library.
What follows are excerpts from our circulation policy and our collection development policy.
“SML Circulation Policy:
II. Patron’s Selection of Circulating Items
A. Shreve Memorial Library provides three classifications of circulating items:
1. Adult -- which includes all circulating items of the collection.
2. Young Adult -- which includes all circulating items of the collection, except DVD-18 circulating items.
3. Juvenile -- which includes all circulating items marked with a ‘J’ (JPB, J428, J Fiction, JCD, etc.) usually shelved in the “juvenile” section of the library. Included also are DVD-G circulating item types.
B. Parents have the basic responsibility to guide their children in the selection of circulating library items.
1. Parents are encouraged to accompany their children to the library as they select items for class assignments or recreational reading.
2. Any patron age 11 or older will be allowed to check out any circulating items except DVD-18 circulating item types.
3. The library staff will NOT attempt to establish reading levels or appropriateness of the items. (This is the parent’s responsibility.)
SML Collection Development Policy:
V. Selection Criteria
It is the policy of the Shreve Memorial Library to select books and materials with which to provide a general circulation and reference service to adults, young people and children of the community. Books and materials are selected which:
Provide citizens with information about themselves, their work, their community, the world and their place in it.
Provide the basic and significant works in the fields of human endeavor, including science, the arts and humanities …
Serious works, which present an honest aspect of life or some human problem, are selected for their positive value and are not necessarily excluded on a basis of coarse language or frankness.
It is the Library’s responsibility to provide materials which will enable citizens to form their own opinions.”
There are two guiding principles behind SML’s collection development and circulation policies governing all our material purchases and classification decisions.
The first is that SML does NOT want the responsibility of in loco parentis, meaning to act as the parent. As a government agency, the Library does not want to restrict anyone’s freedom. Some parents may decide that they want their young adult to read Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” and some may decide not to let their teen read it. Again, the parent gets to make the choice, not librarians. I do not know about you, but I prefer the government not decide what I or my family read.
The second guiding principle that SML follows for purchasing and labeling materials is inclusion of ALL taxpayers. To make sure our collections represent all people in our communities, we strive to provide many points of view, all possible community values and accurate information. Public libraries do respect community standards, which is why almost every public library provides a Request for Reconsideration of Materials policy and form.
When citizens find materials they think are questionable, whether for the collection or how it is labeled, completing a form for the librarians to reconsider the material works well. It has worked very well for decades.
In fact, of the last three reconsiderations at SML, our reconsideration committees sided with the citizen’s request twice. I consider that an appropriate process that lets trained professionals work with citizens to come to an acceptable compromise.
In fact, I would argue that it is a very democratic process that respects everyone’s interests.
As you can see, many of the recommendations from Protecting Innocence are in place at Shreve Memorial Library, but perhaps not as restrictive as AG Landry demands. Furthermore, he included a couple of statements that, as he said, need further discussion.
Let us first tackle non-fiction materials. Most of the books in the appendix that were found objectionable are labeled Young Adult fiction. The problem is he did not make a distinction between fiction and nonfiction. If we start judging nonfiction materials based on the standards recommended in Landry’s document, where do we draw the line?
The example of “The V-Word: True Stories about First-Time Sex” by Amber Keyser worries me. This book was designed to help parents have honest conversations with their teenagers regarding having sex for the first time. I don’t think government agencies should restrict accurate information for both parents and teens to read and discuss.
Perhaps even more worrisome is how does a librarian stop children from accessing dictionaries and encyclopedias that include much of the same information? As you can see, it is a very slippery slope.
Another concern of AG Landry is easy access to objectionable e-materials. Most digital content providers have ways to age classify materials much the same way as SML labels its collections: Juvenile, Young Adult and Adult. Our two most popular e-content providers (Overdrive/Libby & Hoopla) have built-in parental controls for the apps. SML is also working with our digital content providers to add another layer of protection with library card profiles.
Again, we agree that e-materials should be labeled to help parents make decisions, but we disagree that libraries should censor those materials instead of letting parents make that decision.
Again, libraries respect community standards. If you feel that Shreve Memorial Library needs to reconsider a book, please talk to staff and ask for a Request for Reconsideration of Materials form.
We are willing to work with you on a case-by-case basis to ensure community standards are maintained. Yet we ask you please object to more government regulations that restrict the basic freedom to read.
Let us do our civic duty and let parents police what their children read instead of asking the government to do it.