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What Is Weeding and When Is It Not Actually Weeding?: Book Censorship News, August 16, 2024
Weeding, sometimes called deselection, is a standard practice by library workers. It is the systematic evaluation of materials in the collection that leads to discarding books that are no longer appropriate. Public and school libraries are not designed to be warehouses. They are thoughtfully curated to the needs of the community in which they serve. Weeding makes the collection easier to browse, ensures that it is up-to-date, and that it is relevant to its users–having 16 copies of The Catcher in the Rye in varying degrees of torn apart when the book hasn’t been used in a school curriculum for a decade is a sign of poor library management. Two or three good condition copies would be more than enough.
Public and school libraries should have their own policies governing their weeding process. This might include assessing items according to the CREW/MUSTIE method, assessing for things like Misleading/factually incorrect material/poor content; Ugly/worn beyond repair; Superceded/there’s a new edition or a better book on the topic; Trivial/of no discernible literary, scientific, or cultural merit; Irrelevant to the needs or interests of the library community (this in particular explains why some books are readily available in one library but may not be in a library in another community–the example of Catcher in the Rye fits here, as a school which still uses the book in the curriculum may indeed have a need for those 16 copies to remain on shelf); and finally, Elsewhere/the material is easy to obtain from another library for those seeking it out.
When it comes to fiction, library policy might dictate that books which have not circulated within a period of time will be weeded. For example, a book that released in 2008 that was really popular for 10 years may not have moved since 2018. A policy might state that books which have not checked out in five years would be weeded. That book would be removed unless there was a compelling reason for keeping it, and there might be–professional guides to “core collections” exist and are frequently part of assessing material. Indeed, some books are used primarily or solely within the library and thus, would not have a circulation record. An example in both public and school libraries might be a puberty book or a book on gender and sexuality; it’s not that they cannot be checked out, but those books might be too embarrassing for a tween or teen to borrow, so they peruse it while at the library.
Library workers also understand there’s a delicate balance when it comes to popularity of books. If a title is on tap to be weeded because it has not moved since 2018 but there is an upcoming film adaptation or it has been getting press, the title may stick around because of renewed interest. Even though we know banning books does not increase their sales numbers except in very rare cases and that banning books does not encourage young people to run to shelves to check them out, they do bring about interest. That means those “contentious” titles “weeded” during an era of book banning should come with solid reasoning behind their removal.
Unfortunately, there are still libraries without collection policies or with policies that have either too little guidance or that have not been updated in several years. This makes them vulnerable to book banners, to administration angling to avoid made-up controversy, to quiet/silent/soft censorship, and more. Without a comprehensive, clear, and updated policy, it is easy to make decisions that harm library users. We already know that many book bans in schools are achieved because districts don’t follow (or didn’t have) their own review policies.
So it begs the question of what’s going on when hundreds or even thousands of books are “weeded” in one fell swoop, as has been the case in several libraries over the last few months. When this happens during a rise in book bans, it’s essential to get full, transparent explanations.
Souderton Area High School (PA) removed 3,224 books in June 2023, as discovered this June. Pictures show rows of empty shelves, with the district claiming that the books were all part of the weeding process. Not included on those weeding lists were the reasons why the books were removed–that’s not always a requirement of professional weeding–but among the titles were some which make little to no sense.
There is a weeding policy on the district’s website for school libraries. But when you look at what’s been going on in the district at board meetings and in the community, that huge “weeding” project begins to look suspicious. Souderton’s been plagued by claims of “pornography” and “inappropriate material” in the schools like so many others in the state and nation. In explaining the excessive weeding, the school district’s superintendent noted that the library was being “reallocated as a student center which includes a business center to support the Pathway 360 program as well as a private space to serve student mental health needs.”
In early 2023, one of the Souderton school board members ran for a state representative position and was elected. Upon taking on that role, she resigned from her position on the board. Her suggestions for who could replace her? Plenty of Moms For Liberty and other far-right candidates; her replacement is exactly one of those, raising further questions about what she and other members of the board dictated happen to the high school library.
Souderton is also located near Pennridge School District, where school board directors secretly banned books for two years. Now, that weeding project looks far more suspicious–removal of more than 3,200 titles through weeding is not common, unless the library itself has not been maintained for years.*
So too does the 4,000 book weeding project that took place in nearby Manheim Township School District the prior school year. Among those books was Ellen Hopkins’s Identical, a perennially popular book banning target and in the top ten banned titles in the 2022-2023 school year. Low circulation is cited as the reason here–and the number provided by the district checks out–but a heavily targeted book being removed during a contentious time of censorship should not only be questioned, but it should be left as-is. It is likely students are reading the book in the library if they fear their parents finding out (and the uptick in bans on the book will bring a resurgence of interest in it).
Another district facing necessary questions about weeding is Sarasota County, Florida. Over a four month period in early 2024, the district “weeded” 80 titles deemed “not age appropriate.” As the Herald Tribune asks, why weren’t those books moved into a more “age appropriate” collection, rather than removed? (To be clear, moving the books would also constitute a type of censorship, but they would still be available in the district).
Worse, in the four months prior to those removals, the district “weeded” an astonishing 13,146 books. There was no reason given for their “weeding,” in part because the cataloging system used by the district did not have that as an option to include. That changed in January.
Again: weeding is normal. But that number is not. A well-maintained collection would not have over 13,000 books needing to be removed, even over an entire school district. The district did not follow their own policies about “weeding,” and they did not follow the process in place to remove books that might have “sexual conduct” within them. Those are only reviewed if a parental complaint is submitted.
And under this paywalled story, students this week demanded that Brevard County Schools (FL) explain what was included in their list of over 103,000 weeded books.
These are but a handful of examples of a legitimate and necessary professional activity library workers do being used in ways that should be questioned and scrutinized. To lay blame in one place, though, would undermine how complex the ongoing battle over books truly is. Are there library workers removing books they worry about causing a problem? They are, and that’s called quiet/soft/silent censorship. Are there library workers being told they need to remove anything potentially problematic by administration and school boards? An even harder yes applies here. Library workers want to keep their jobs, of course, and in some cases, they might agree with the district’s decision (despite the fact library workers go into the field knowing their role is to defend the rights of all to access materials of interest).
But it shouldn’t be the library workers we question first. It should be the school boards and their makeup. Who is on it? What’s their goal? In an era of rampant mis- and dis- information packaged as a fight for “parental rights,” it’s not a surprise that those without the qualifications or experience in libraries are using policies created by those professionals to undermine their work and deny students their education.
Book Censorship News: August 16, 2024
- As linked to above–and under a paywall–a story about how Brevard County Schools (FL) removed over 103,000 books from shelves.
- This week’s Brevard County School Board (FL) meeting ended early because of book ban discourse. There are board members claiming no books are being banned, but…facts beg to differ.
- In not great news, the temporary injunction on Iowa’s book banning law was overturned. Schools can now begin banning books the state deems inappropriate, which is not an insignificant number.
- “Monroe County commissioner John Ambrose reiterated his promise last Tuesday to shutdown the Monroe County Library [GA] in January if they don’t remove LGBT books from the youth section.” This is fascism and bigotry.
- 19 books were removed from library shelves in Elizabeth School District (CO) and the board is demanding a “sensitive materials” catalog that students need permission to access. BookLooks is one of the “resources” they’re using.
- Also in that above policy? They were going to make it against policy for teachers to have classroom libraries. The board claims that part is “on hold.”
- Proposed changes to the book selection criteria in Corpus Christi Public Library (TX) are not moving forward and the subcommittee tasked with coming up with revisions has been resolved. You might remember this one as the one with two Moms For Liberty members eager to ban books.
- Moorestown Public Library (NJ) has become a book sanctuary.
- The pressure Indiana schools and libraries are feeling over laws related to banning books.
- Carroll Independent School District (TX), which has been the canary in the coal mine of anti-CRT/SEL/public school destabilization efforts, has hired a new superintendent with a track record of book banning.
- Frederick County School Board (MD) is going to hear an appeal over their decisions of 35 challenged books. The committees only removed one book from the list, as well as moved two titles to a different collection. The complainers weren’t happy because they didn’t get their way, and one of them is now on the school board (though she will not be involved in the appeal hearing process).
- “The Alpena County Library is in the process of changing how it categorizes books with hopes it will reduce the chance of minors stumbling upon books that some people in the area say contain sexually explicit material. The change in how the books are presented means the books in question, like “Let’s Talk About It,” “It’s Perfectly Normal,” and several others, will remain in the adolescent and teen sections where they are currently but will be marked to display their subgenre.” This change at the beleaguered Alpena Public Library (MI) actually makes no sense. Why do these books, which aren’t moving, need more subgenres added to them when–weirdly–the book itself tells you what category it is part of. Book banners are ruining well-running systems.
- Currently in the Arkansas State Library Board, one member is adamant they can withhold funds from public libraries across the state if they don’t ban books. The other members are not having it.
- Religious leaders in the Rio Grande Valley (TX) are calling for school leaders not to ban books being targeted by right-wing religious groups. We need more of this!
- A look at the ways that the school book in Cy-Fair Independent School District (TX) has curtailed curriculum and access to books and knowledge. Recall they removed actual science from their science text books for this year.
- “Brown described the existing policy as “polarizing” and said he would prefer to see controversial books moved to a separate area where they could be viewed by children with parental permission instead of being removed entirely. He suggested the board form a committee to review the policy and examine how controversial books are handled in other school districts. He also suggested controversial books be rated or identified as such.” This is Carmel Clay School Board (IN), where there is at least one board member mad the books that were kept on shelves after a challenge weren’t removed or rated.
- It was administration that encouraged library workers to “par back” on their Pride displays at the Athens Public Library (OH) this year.
- The Maryland State Board of Education denied the appeal of a set of book bans in the Carroll School District’s curriculum. The books will remain out of the schools but the State Board warned this policy is not great. (Paywalled story)
- In some rare good news, the state of Georgia is reinstating funding for AP African American Studies courses.
- California is inching closer to banning book bans.
- “Deborah Rose said the board also attempted to close local libraries on Sundays last year, citing religion as their reason — this resulted in the threat of a civil rights lawsuit from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Now, the board is citing budget cuts as the reason for the proposed Sunday closure, and many community members are crying foul.” This is the public library in Hayden, Idaho, where the board wants to close the library on Sundays. Suspicious that it’s a new excuse from their attempt last year, which was religion.
- An important read on why prison book donations are so vital.
- Community members in St. Joseph, Missouri, are still putting pressure onto the school district after they banned 10 titles. They did vote against banning The Bluest Eye this week.
- The moral panic committee in Albany, Washington, has petitioned the city council to hear them complain about two sexual education books in the public library that they deem inappropriate. “The group, which was formed in May, is asking the City of Albany to investigate “the promotion of sexualizing children in the City of Albany through unrestricted books in the Town Library and events held during the month of February 2024.””
- How a regional library in Virginia is being dismantled over “sexually explicit” books in its collection. 1. There aren’t “sexually explicit” books and 2. This story was covered here earlier this year, as the county board refused to acknowledge the reason why a Girl Scout earned an honor for her project–banned books.
- Anytime a student borrows a book from school libraries in the Faquier School District (VA), their parents will be notified.
- Newport Schools (RI) heard from the book-aggrieved Moms For Liberty contingent demanding bans this week. The good news in this story is a lot of supporters of the freedom to read showed up. Here’s some more on this.
- A proposed new policy in Fort Bend Independent School District (TX) would allow the superintendent to review and remove books without any formal challenge. He–or a designee of his–would be able to decide if a book is against the law or not without anyone actually challenging the title. That’s fascism and the perfect opportunity for the board to ban whatever they wish (because the board ultimately has power over the superintendent).
- South Western’s School Board (PA) wants to get rid of an entire elective course on literary award winning literature because their conservative board members think it is indoctrination. So to be clear, students cannot even choose to take a course where they might read books by people of color.
- Book crisis actors in Mount Pleasant, Texas, think there is inappropriate material in the teen section of the public library and put on their performances this week. This story is paywalled, naturally.
*In my first career as a librarian, I undertook a huge weeding project in my two-library system because it’s a process that I believe strongly in for the reasons outlined. Even then, I weeded no more than 300-400 books across several categories of those two libraries (and they were primarily history books that were outdated–not teen novels!).
Also In This Story Stream
- How To Explain Book Bans to Those Who Want To Understand: Book Censorship News, August
- A New Era for Banned Books Week: Book Censorship News, August 2, 2024
- The Ongoing Censorship of High School Advanced Placement Courses: Book Censorship News, July 26, 2024
- The Quiet Censorship of Pride 2024: Book Censorship News, July 19, 2024
- Survey: What Happened During Pride Month? Book Censorship News for July 5, 2024
- The First American Union Understood The Necessity of Public Libraries and Education: Book Censorship News for June 28, 2024
- Here Come The Public School Closures: Book Censorship News, June 21, 2024
- States That Have Banned Book Bans: Book Censorship News, June 14, 2024
- How Alabama Library Supporters Took Action and You Can, Too: Book Censorship News, June 7, 2024