Policy approved on challenging materials at Alfred Dickey, Stutsman libraries
Masaki Ova, The Jamestown Sun, N.D.
5 min read
Jun. 14—JAMESTOWN — The James River Valley Library System Board of Directors unanimously approved a policy on challenging materials in its libraries.
Board member Emaline Roorda was not present Wednesday, June 14, at the meeting.
The approval of the policy is contingent on the library system's attorney making suggested revisions.
The revisions include:
* Requiring a complainant to submit an appeal to the library director within 10 business days — versus 10 days — if the library director declines a request to remove, relocate or balance materials in the library collection. The complainant must submit a written appeal within 10 days of the library director's decision to decline a request.
* Allowing the library board to determine the validity of the appeal versus just the board president.
The passage of House Bill 1205 during the North Dakota legislative session earlier this year requires public libraries to develop a policy and process for reviewing library collections, including the removal or relocation of explicit sexual material; the development of a book collection that is appropriate for the age and maturity levels of individuals who may access the materials; to receive, evaluate and respond to a request from an individual regarding the removal or relocation of one or more of the books or other materials in the library collection containing explicit sexual material; and to periodically review the library collection to ensure the library collection does not contain explicit sexual material in the children's collection.
Under local challenge policy, any library system cardholder or resident of the library system's legal service area may challenge the materials. A person objecting to materials will be asked to fill out a request for reconsideration of a work, and the library director will review it and meet with the individual who filed the request.
The director may decline the request or recommend either removal or relocation of the item or balancing the collection with other material. The director will have discretion to submit any request directly to the library board.
If the library director declines the request, the complainant has 10 business days to submit a written appeal to the library director after his or her decision to decline the request. The library director will then send the appeal to the library board to determine the validity of the appeal.
The policy says no appeal is valid if:
* The request does not specify the complainant's name, address and phone number.
* The complainant is not a cardholder or resident of the library system's legal service area.
* The complainant is challenging a material that was subject to a prior library board decision within the last three years.
* A complainant has appealed and the board has declined the appeal on five or more requests within a two-year period.
* The complainant fails to attend a meeting with the library director.
If the appeal is determined to be valid, the library board will conduct a public hearing to review and evaluate the material at a regularly scheduled board meeting. Once the public hearing is over, the library board will deliberate and determine if the material fails to meet the library system's collection development policy. A supermajority of five of seven votes will be required to find that a material fails to meet the collection development policy.
If the vote fails, the appeal is denied. If the vote passes, the board will be allowed to vote to remove, relocate or rebalance the collection with a simple majority vote.
The policy says no person is allowed to challenge more than three items at a time, and the board will not reconsider more than three items per meeting. Challenged items will not be removed or relocated while being reviewed.
The policy also says an item that has been challenged and retained by the board may not be challenged again by anybody for three years from the date of the board's decision.
In other business, the library board unanimously approved the updated collection development policy.
The collection development policy now includes allowing the library director, children's librarian and teen librarian to select materials by using professional reviews and other selection aids to provide the most age-appropriate materials. The policy also includes "appropriateness for the age and maturity levels of the users" under the evaluative criteria of specific materials for inclusion in the library system's collection.
The library staff will also look at lists of challenged material nationwide to flag books with questionable sexual content and bring them to the director for review.
"If I feel that ... it is sexually explicit material, then I bring it to the board rather than making a quiet decision," said Joe Rector, library system director.
The policy also says staff are not required to review materials in the library system's collection for 10 years or more with no local challenges and the materials will be considered classics.
The library system voted 4-2 against closing Alfred Dickey Public or Stutsman County libraries for a week for staff to review books for "explicit sexual material."
Board members Gail Martin, Robert Hoekstra, Jackie Barnes and Joan Morris, a Stutsman County commissioner appointed to the board, were opposed.
Public libraries are required to comply and meet a March 31, 2024, deadline to review their children's and teen collection for any explicit sexual material.
Rector said it will take more than 6,700 hours to read or scan the materials in the children's and teen collection.
Martin said it could not have been the Legislature's intent to have public libraries close to review their materials.
Hoekstra said the library system staff should continue reviewing the material for six months and see how much still needs to be done after that time period.
