Library Board takes no action on books of concern
Public forum will be held March 17
What books should be in the county libraries and what books should children have access to is becoming a hot topic in Anderson County.
There was standing room only as more than 50 people, including several county commissioners, attended the library board meeting on Thursday evening, March 9, at the Rocky Top Library. They ranged in age from children to senior adults.
The crowd was there as a result of what happened at the last County Commission meeting on Feb. 21 — a large crowd of people had come to that meeting to speak for and against certain library books. While commissioners allowed each person to speak who wanted to do so, they declined to take any action.
Commissioners informed the crowd that the library board has a process for dealing with books that some people find objectionable. Those objecting to certain books were told to attend a library board meeting and follow the board’s procedure.
So they came out in number for the library board meeting. Like the commissioners, the library board allowed each person to speak who wanted to be heard, but took no action.
The board voted to set a public forum for 6 p.m. Monday, March 27, at the Clinton Civic Center.
Joshua Anderson, chairman of the library board, said, “We had some book challenges brought up at the commission meeting, and the forum would be a place for both sides to speak their peace.”
He said the board would listen to all who wanted to speak at the forum, but would take no formal action at the meeting.
At the Feb. 21 commission meeting Commissioner Anthony Allen passed out a packet to commissioners that contained excerpts from 14 books that he found questionable.
After the meeting, because of the graphic content of two of the books, “Gender Queer” and “Let’s Talk About It,” Anderson, who is also chair of the County Commission, asked the law director and district attorney to take a look at them to see if any state obscenity laws were violated.
At the library board meeting, Rachel Comunale of the law director’s office said those books had been turned over to the district attorney for evaluation, and the law director was awaiting his opinion.
Miria Webb, director of the Clinton Library, informed the library board that her library had received a formal complaint against another book in Allen’s packet, “It’s Perfectly Normal.” According to library board procedure, when a complaint is made against a book, two library staff members and one board member form a committee to read the book and make a recommendation to the board. Carolyn Boswell was the board member appointed to sit on that committee.
“I think it would be great to have people come and talk about this issue,” Allen said of the public forum. “People have been asking for a bigger venue that is more centralized.” He said that people on both sides of the issue want to speak. Allen said the books he was referring to were sexually explicit and taxpayer funded. “We are not trying to ban any books,” he said.“We are talking about taxpayer funding. We want to make sure tax funds are not used for these books. You can get them elsewhere.”
As at the County Commission meeting, there was a range of opinions with one person reading from the Bible while others defended questionable books.
“As a Christian nation, we need to look into what goes into our library,” was the opinion of one speaker.
Another speaker said parents do not approve of their children having access to certain books.
Anderson clarified that in the county library system a child 11 years old and younger must be accompanied by an adult.
“I don’t think anything should come into the library people disagree with,” was the opinion of one speaker.
Another speaker disagreed saying, “We all deserve to find a book that appeals to us since we all pay. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We should all have access to the book we want.”
“If you don’t like a book, don’t check it out,” was the opinion of another speaker.
The controversial book, “Let’s Talk About It,” is educational, stated another speaker. She said it was written for teens to learn about sex.
“I find them obscene and inappropriate,” was the opinion of another speaker who thought parents should have a say in what books their children had access to.
One speaker urged Christians not to condemn people who are different from them, saying that drives them away from God.