Parental limitations
New library policy will allow parents to control what their children check out
Joshua Anderson, chairman of both the Anderson County Commission and Anderson County Library Board shakes hands with county Commissioner Anthony Allen after a board meeting Thursday, Aug. 10 at Briceville Public Library. The two publicly disagree on whether a policy allowing parents to restrict books their children check out goes far enough. (photo:Benjamin Pounds )
The Anderson County Library Board approved the measure at a Thursday, Aug. 10, meeting at the Briceville Public Library.
The board oversees libraries in Briceville, Clinton, Norris and Rocky Top, but not Oak Ridge. The board also made changes to the policies on ordering books and challenging them.
A subcommittee will look at whether to remove the book “It’s Perfectly Normal,” which has been at the center of controversy.
Library Board Chairman Joshua Anderson, who is also the chairman of the Anderson County Commission, said the system for parental control on library cards will be in place within a month.
Libraries will require parents to sign a form that asks them whether they want to restrict titles or types of books their children might check out.
Anderson said that because nonfiction books have Dewey decimal numbers based on subject matter, parents can easily choose which subjects to restrict.
“We can go in and block those,” Anderson said. With fiction, he said, restrictions can be done by title.
Library Board member Thomas Mariner said the library system had the ability to take these actions before this policy was in place, but under the new policy, each library will notify parents.
County Commissioner Anthony Allen criticized the policy for not going far enough. While not a member of the board, he gave his thoughts during a time for public comment.
“I want to say the parental consent form is very, very troubling, because we don’t have a parental consent form to allow children to have alcohol or tobacco products,” he said.
Another citizen, Ellen Faby, spoke in favor of the change.
“I support library policies that put parents in charge of materials their children can access,” she said.
Another policy change the board approved involves the process for how citizens can ask for libraries to remove books.
Under both the new and old policies, the Library Board creates a subcommittee to consider the issue when it comes up.
Under the new policy, however, the Library Board won’t create such a subcommittee if someone had already challenged the book anywhere in the Anderson County Library System within the past three years, unless there’s a new edition of the book.
The board also discussed the potential for people to tie up subcommittee members by asking them to consider longer works.
Anderson County Republican Party Chairwoman Myra Mansfield criticized the new policy’s three-year rule.
“I feel like that would be a violation of First Amendment rights to people with their free speech to come in and challenge a book, and I would be concerned about a lawsuit with that,” she said.
Under the new policy, the subcommittee includes a library manager from a different library than the one in which the book was challenged, and two other Anderson County Library Board members.
Under the new policy, Anderson said, these subcommittees will need to notify the public of their meetings in The Courier News and online.
Seven members voted aye, one nay, and one abstained.
While “It’s Perfectly Normal” was challenged recently, the board voted unanimously to create a new subcommittee under the new rules for it anyway.
Yet another policy change approved at the meeting, requires the directors of individual county libraries to tell the Library Board about books before they plan to purchase them.
“Our librarians have taken a lot of flak,” said board member Jess Ann Cole, who made the motion.
Seven members voted aye, one nay and one abstained.
“Slow and careful is a good thing,” she said.
The board deferred several other votes until they could consult with Anderson County Law Director Jay Yeager in September, including a policy about physically separating certain books with sexual or violent content to a high shelf or behind a counter, and policies about how to work with Anderson County Schools.