The Columbia County Library Board has nine books to review for reconsideration.
During the meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 12, the board split reading the nine books over two months, so a committee of three board members will read five and present their recommendations in October, and another committee will read the other four and present their recommendations in November.
The five being reconsidered in October are: “The Black Flamingo” by Dean Atta, “I’ll Give You the Sun” by Sandy Nelson, “Teach Your Dragon About Diversity” by Steve Herman, “True You: A Gender Journey” by Gwen Agna and “The Rainbow Parade” Emily Nielson.
The four that will be reconsidered in November are: “What If Its Us” by Becky Albertalli, “The Real Riley Mayes” by Rachel Elliott, “Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle” by Nina LaCour and “Simon vs the HOMO Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli.
At the October and November meetings, the library board will hear from the person who asked for the book to be reconsidered, along with recommendations from the committee who read the books, said Board Chair Russell Wilder on the process.
Columbia County commissioners Alison Couch and Gary Richardson were in attendance of the meeting. Couch spoke about changes the county is looking at making to the bylaws and constitution of the Library Board.
“Currently the bylaws and constitution do not reflect the advisory duties of the board and we need to make some changes to clarify the structure to make sure that it’s in line with what this board actually does,” Couch said.
As for how this would affect the duties of the board members, Couch said what is being proposed is true monthly meetings because currently the board meets once a month but takes a break in the summer.
“We also would like to propose that all advisory board meetings, for this board and county wide be in-person,” Couch said. “At one point we talked about Zoom participation, we just feel like that’s not the direction we want to go in at this time, so we would like for everyone to be here in-person for these board meetings.”
Another proposal is for the library board to be tasked with approving book purchases, which would be separate from the reconsiderations. Couch said more details would be forth coming, but she wanted to go ahead and let the board know what was being considered.
Wilder asked if it would be all material for the library or just certain material. Couch said it is still being discussed. It was asked how many new books the library gets each month, and Mary Lin Maner, library manager, said around 2,000, some of which are duplicates of the same book.
“What we’re looking at the board doing we’re currently asking one person to do, and it’s impossible,” said Deputy County Manager Glenn Kennedy. “We’ve got to make that move to at least look at what we’re buying. It shouldn’t be left to one person anyway.
Two citizens spoke during the meeting about recent requests from other citizens to move LGTBQ+ books the children’s section to the adult section.
Teresa Johnson spoke about how her two children came out as members of the LGBTQ community and the library has been an “affirming” space for them. She said she knows that some parents are worried their children might find a book they disagree with or believe is inappropriate, but they should talk with their children about it.
“I would encourage those parents to engage with their children when selecting books and talking about what they are reading,” Johnson said. “I know as a parent there are so many things in this world to worry about, but these are books… public libraries are meant to be a space where all people are welcomed and I appreciate the great job the librarians here are doing despite the criticism of some few people who would like to see these books moved.”
Greta Vega said in research she did, she found that a study that said a majority of Americans are against censoring or banning books.
“When I heard about the complaints, I figured the people who requested the LGBTQ books be removed from the children’s area and put into the adult section would start lodging complaints against the books,” Vega said. “I came to this meeting to see if there were complaints and continue to speak out against banning or restricting books in this library.”
Vega went on to state there is at least one book in every library that will offend at least one person.
“But a book will not jump out at you and make you read it, it will not chase you to your car,” Vega said. “If a person does not like a book they pick up in the library, they can put it back on the shelf. If the parent does not like the theme of a book their child picks, the parent can put it back and have a good conversation with their child… Kids are exposed to so much worse the playground, on the school bus, using their cell phones and internet.”
Vega went on to say that as a public library, there should be books representing all people and to move a book out of a specific section or to no longer having it in a specific library because of complaints is restricting access.
The next Columbia County Library Board meeting will be Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 11:30 a.m. at the Columbia County Library.
Stephanie Hill is the managing editor and covers Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
