Debate continues at the Library, four books brought into question

Oct. 23—On Thursday, the Thomas County Public Library System board held a regular meeting, where they heard from the local community in regards to concerns about material in circulation.

In a deviation to the regular agenda, public comments were allowed at the beginning of the meeting to be courteous to the time of the local community members in attendance.

Library Director Holly Phillips spoke to the attending audience before public comments and said that the current challenges formally presented to the board were being discussed and they were looking at each eligible book individually and objectively.

"I do want to update you all on the book challenges that we've received in the last few weeks. I assure you all that we are following our policies and we are looking at every eligible book individually and objectively," Phillips said. "My hope, my sincere hope, is that as this process continues that people will feel that their voices are being heard and see, through our actions, that we are being objective and that we are working with them."

She added that the it was her belief that the integrity of the public library as a source of information for the public should be preserved. To the local community, Phillips thanked them for their offered opinions and hoped that resolution to current concerns would be reached democratically.

"I believe that it is vital to preserve the integrity of the public library as a source of information for every single person in our community and not to discriminate or silence diversity and pride," she said. "We thank every person whose given their opinion on what they'd like to see or not see in our library, I know we can work through this democratically and fairly together."

The first speaker, Joan Young came up to read a letter from Barbara Cohenour, another community member who was unable to attend, but has kept herself apprised of the current topic of discussion.

"What the community is seeking is for the library board to adopt a policy against pornography in the children and teen sections," Cohenour said in her letter. "Books on these subjects should, at the very least, be in the adult section with the stipulation that they can only be checked out by those over 18 years of age. Parents who want to have this information can check the books out for them."

The letter continued to say that the responsibility of the director of the library is to keep unacceptable materials off the shelves.

"Mrs. Phillips, many have spoken highly of you as an excellent librarian, and I am certainly willing to accept that fact. But I personally don't have time to come to the library to read every new book you shelve and fill out your form," she said in her letter. "As I am a taxpayer, paying your salary, I say that the responsibility is yours to keep unacceptable materials off the shelves."

Sharon Maxwell Ferguson said that as a long-time community member of Thomasville and an active political participant since she was young, she was highly invested in the value of libraries and encourages reading broadly amongst her children and grandchildren.

"I can't tell you how strongly I believe in the value of libraries. I remember, as a young child, walking to the library and checking out books," she said. "My husband and I have five children, we have nine grandchildren. We have encouraged reading broadly, we do not encourage reading pornographic material, but we do encourage them to be well-informed about sexuality, about the facts of life, about bodily changes occurring during puberty and related material, not pornography."

She added that in such an important time to have accurate information, libraries were an invaluable resource that shouldn't be influenced by a larger group's political agenda, but instead by the individual objections of a community.

"As citizens, here, we all need to be involved in what is available for people to read. We do not need to be participating in an outside group's political agenda to tell us and others like us around the country what we can read and what we can't read," Ferguson said. "That's ridiculous. Tell us what you find, as an individual, objectionable, don't infer or generalize to the rest of the population here in Thomas County, that's not appropriate. It's really important right now to have accurate information in our lives, a library is a vehicle to do that. To do otherwise, is really hurting a community."

Carla Defnall said to the board and attending community members that the current state of the library system is a symptom of a push by the American Library Association's agenda.

She presented details about books posted on the library's Instagram account, which include graphic sexual descriptions in "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George M. Johnson, explicit language in "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas, and read explicit excerpts from "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" by Jesse Andrews.

"The disempowerment of parental consent and advisement is a dangerous agenda, especially with the books such as the ones that I have presented to you today that are offered and promoted within our library system," she said.

Lucinda Brown said that the public library was for everyone and that it was the responsibility of a parent to oversee their child's reading material, not the responsibility for the library to limit what it provided to the larger community.

"Our public library is for everyone," she said. "It is not for a certain group of people who wants to decide what books to leave out. If you, anybody, do not want their children to read any book, that's where you be in the home, with not having your child to read a book that you do not want to read, that's not what I would want. I want anything I want my kid to read, I would let them read."

In total, 12 speakers were listened to by the library board, each given three minutes to provide their brief comments regarding the materials available at the public library.

This public interest comes after controversy raised around "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender, and Sexual Health" by Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley.

Adrian Burns, a member of the library board, said that she appreciated the community voicing their concerns and that the expert staff of the library would be handling the process for reconsidering books seriously.

"The process that we have in place, they are the experts, I'm not an expert," Burns said. "So we trust the library and their staff to review these books. So if there is a book that you have expressed a need for review, please fill out a reconsideration form, we take that very seriously. It brings awareness to us, as board members, and let's us know that you're concerned."

After public comments, the library board continued with the agent for the rest of their time, discussing library closed dates in 2023, an amendment proposal for procedures for handling challenges about materials, a bylaw addition proposal for public comment policy and a director's report.

Additionally, Phillips said in her financial report that the library was right on track in regards to their current point in the fiscal year.

"We are 25% into the fiscal year as of September 30 and we're actually right on track of where we want to be," she said. "The total revenues were at 25% and the total expenditures were at 25%."

The board set the next meeting date for November 21 at 1:00 p.m.