‘Literally heartbreaking as a librarian’ 150 books from Rutherford County school libraries

Toni Morrison’s books are among those pulled from school libraries in Rutherford County. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)

Rutherford County school librarians’ phones began ringing with mutual messages of dismay and frustration as soon as the otherwise routine central office email instruction arrived Tuesday morning:

150 book titles had to be removed from the shelves or tracked down and taken from the children who borrowed them.

Immediately.

“Librarians have had to stop everything they do: No more checking books in and out, no more answering questions or helping with research, no longer able to do the jobs they love to do. Some even had to close their libraries for the day,” said Elizabeth Shepherd, a librarian at Discovery School in Murfreesboro, describing the frantic exchange of text messages between librarians.

“Instead, they had to prioritize the removal of books, not just from the shelves but also from students’ hands, which as a librarian is literally a heartbreaking process.”

The books were removed without formal review by school board members, librarians, teachers or parents less than 24 hours after a school board member emailed a request to Rutherford County School Superintendent James Sullivan.

“Under state law, here is a list of 150 books challenged for sexually explicit content,” read a Nov. 11 email from board member Francis Rosales. “Please review the attached documentation for violations regarding sexually explicit materials in school libraries,” the email said.

Their top priority was to get books not only off the shelves, but also out of students’ hands; “This is literally a heartbreaking process as a librarian.”

– Elizabeth Shepherd, librarian at Discovery School

Rosales cited the example of a newly enacted Tennessee law banning books containing nudity and descriptions of “sexual excitement, sexual conduct, extreme violence or sadomasochistic abuse” and included “alarming pages” in each title.

“It was partly because of the accusations that we had such books in our school libraries, so I took it upon myself to do this,” Rosales told Lookout on Thursday. “My point is, if we are accused of possessing these books, we need to address this now.”

But the speed at which the school district pulled books, which include American classics like “A Clockwork Orange” and “Catch-22” as well as LGBTQ-themed titles like “Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens,” was hampered by the public fire that broke out at the Nov. 14 board meeting. storm

School board member Katie Darby accused Rosales of featuring books that would be banned that “have no business being there” and of “wasting people’s time.” Rosales questioned whether Darby supports making sexually explicit material available to children. The board chairman shut down the testy debate that followed with a gavel.

Legal source of ‘chaos and confusion’

Tennessee’s newly enacted school library statute, in effect since July 1, expands a 2022 law requiring school libraries to regularly review book collections to ensure only age-appropriate reading materials are presented to students.

The new law, unanimously supported by Tennessee Republican lawmakers, also defined objectionable books as those containing sexually explicit passages, nudity and extreme violence, but did not define what those terms meant.

The vagueness of the law’s language has drawn harsh criticism from educators and civil liberties advocates, who warn that the law could be interpreted to cover a wide range of children’s and young adult books.

“Public Section 782 is the source of this chaos and confusion for school librarians in Tennessee because it unquestionably creates a way for books to be removed from shelves, does not take into account the student’s age or maturity level, and encourages student discouragement.” The Tennessee Association of School Librarians said in a statement: self-censorship.

The association said the law puts educators in the position of deciding whether books meet new “legal standards that have not been adequately articulated in the form of guidance by the State of Tennessee.”

As a result, public school officials sought input from the attorney general to help them comply with the law. Districts, including Rutherford County, have delayed decisions on how to create new guidelines for reviewing challenged books until they receive that decision. A spokesman for the attorney general’s office declined to comment on the status of any opinions Friday.

Conservative website named in state book bans

Meanwhile, some school districts have begun proactively removing books that might violate the new law, relying largely on a single website that rates books created by a Florida resident and former member of the conservative parental rights group Moms for Liberty. their sexual content, violence and obscene language.

Last month, Wilson County, Tennessee, removed nearly 400 books from public school libraries based on book reviews by the website BookLooks.org. Among the books removed were authors Toni Morrison, Kurt Vonnegut and Dr. Seuss’s are also included.

Williamson School Board member opposes ‘age-appropriate’ book law

School officials in Wilson County then shared the list of banned books with educators in the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS), prompting objections from some local parents and educators against removing the books.

CMCSS officials later explained that the list was used as a “resource” as the system weighed which books could be banned.

Rosales told Lookout he also relied on the Wilson County booklist and Booklook.org for help compiling his list of 150 questionable books.

Rosales said he compared 400 books Wilson County educators pulled from library shelves to BookLooks.org’s book ratings. He then said he compared books the website rated as poor for sexually suggestive content, profanity and violence to books held in Rutherford County school libraries to arrive at his list.

BookLooks.org has been the source of numerous book bans across the country, according to Tasslin Magnusson, senior counsel for the Freedom to Read Team at Pen America, a First Amendment advocacy group. 2023-2024 academic year.

“It’s a dirty look at the books,” Magnusson said. “Even the scenes they quote are often out of context. “They do not evaluate the books as a whole or work according to any guiding principles.”

In Rutherford County, librarians are currently reviewing each of the 150 challenged books, according to a county spokesperson.

Librarians will compare book content to the language of state laws to make recommendations about which books should be permanently removed by the end of the year, the spokeswoman said. The district authorized compensation of $1,000 to librarians who conducted the reviews.

The school board will then vote on whether to keep or remove individual books. The books will not reach students until these votes are cast.

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