Library policies on book challenges
The Anderson County Library Board has in place policies on the ways to restrict or remove books from its libraries’ collections.
The policies of the Clinton Public Library are available at clintonpubliclibrary.org/policies/.
Rules on how to challenge books, and what the Library Board and individual libraries do in response, are linked at the bottom of that page.
Anderson County residents may only challenge a specific material every three years or when a new edition is released after the board finalizes a decision.
No one who lives outside the county may submit a form. After a process, the committee or, on appeal, full board may decide to keep challenged items in their current sections, move them to another section, or remove them.
They may also decide to put a placeholder cover but not the book itself on the shelf, like at Blockbuster in the past.
Guests then must pick up the books from behind the counter when checking out. The library board decided in 2023 to take this measure with two books, “Let’s Talk about This” and “Gender Queer,” available only this way and only at the Clinton and Norris libraries.
The following is the policy for challenging books:
First, the library director or person in charge will discuss the nature of the person’s concern.
The citizen must sign, date and return the form to the library director, who forwards it to the board members within two weeks.
Then a subcommittee of two board members and a director from a library that doesn’t hold the item in question will decide. Their decision will be final unless the resident appeals to the full Library Board.
