Controversy over new guidelines for book shelving in Columbia County libraries

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) – Columbia County libraries recently adopted new guidelines when it comes to book placement, sparking some controversy.

Those new guidelines address the age-appropriateness of books. Since they were approved by the county’s board of commissioners, some previously Young Adult or Teen books have been moved to the Adult section.

“The library advisory board is an advisory board, so they sent a draft of some proposed additions to the guidelines for the commission to review and adopt,” said District 4 Commissioner Alison Couch.

Couch said these additions add to the old standards, which were vague and didn’t specifically address what kind of book should be in which sections.

The new guidelines address issues like sexuality, profanity, and violence.

“There’s a cataloguer that’s employed under the library staff, and the cataloguer would use these guidelines to determine where the books will be shelved in the library,” Couch said.

Andy Mueller, an Evans resident who’s opposed to the guidelines, thinks this still falls under censorship.

“This has made it harder and more difficult for the teens when they actually do start moving books based on these very, very open to interpretation guidelines, those books they’re gonna be moving,” Mueller said. “Right now it might be LGBTQ books that keep coming up, but based on these guidelines, you’re gonna start seeing all books being under review.”

Some books recently brought to the library board for reconsideration had LGBTQ+ content.

Couch said they were moved to the Adult section based solely on their sexual and profane content. She said one book under review with LGBTQ+ content was a children’s book, and it was not moved.

“Number one highlights under defining what sexually explicit content is, its acts of sexual intercourse, heterosexual or homosexual,” Couch said.

In regard to Mueller’s claims that the new guidelines are not specific and open to interpretation, Couch said, “There is still some subjectivity to this, however the guidelines do provide some additional criteria and information to help define, but I don’t think there’s a way to one hundred percent make this objective. So, I think there will remain some subjectivity to it not matter how hard you try to clarify.”

Mueller believes moving books based on these guidelines violates people’s rights to access information in a public library and will create more issues in the future.

“This is truly a neutral place for everyone to come and get information, research information and feel safe in their public library. It is for everybody and absolutely should nobody from a government entity have the overreach to tell people otherwise,” he said.

A letter sent to the board from the Freedom to Read Foundation in response to the new guidelines states, in part, “ The new guidelines further conflict with the existing collection development policy for Columbia County Public Libraries, which models current best practices for collection development. The current collection development policy properly implements a viewpoint-neutral and content neutral book selection process that focuses on the interests and needs of all the people residing in the Columbia County community and leaves it to the reader to choose among the books selected for the collection. Not every book will be the best fit for every library user, nor are they intended to be. We understand that not all parents will agree on the best books for their families and that some parents may object to some materials that other parents want their families to read. However, the public library has a responsibility to represent a broad range of views in its collection and to meet the needs of everyone in the community it serves – not just the most vocal, the most powerful, or even the majority. Library users may rightfully voice their concerns and select different materials for themselves and their children, but those objecting to the books should not be given the power to restrict other users’ rights of access to the material.”

Couch said the new guidelines do not restrict anyone from accessing the books – they just make it easier for cataloguers to categorize them.

“The books are still accessible, we have not banned books or removed books from the library,” Couch said. “Anyone that holds a library card, and there’s not any age limit to that, can access any book or check out any book from any section of any Columbia County library.”

The library has a process for which people can submit books for reconsideration. To learn more, click here.

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