Children’s librarian and former middle school librarian Bethany Campbell ’21MAMS is committed to the values of diversity and inclusion in the library. Despite navigating challenges against materials in the children’s section, she remains optimistic that impactful policies and conversations will make libraries a safe space.
This June, Bethany Campbell, children’s librarian at the Belmont Public Library, received a request from a patron to reconsider a Pride book display in the children’s room. Having worked in school and public libraries for the past ten years, Campbell wasn’t surprised.
“Some people just want to be heard,” says Campbell. “I gave the patron the Request for Consideration materials. That’s often the end of it.” Policy and administrative support are key for librarians to navigate these issues.
“There’s an increasing misunderstanding of libraries, and of the intellectual freedom they represent,” says Campbell. “At the heart of these challenges is the desire to have a say in what [materials] other people can access. To be considered apolitical, a library must not have access to materials anyone would consider political.” This tension and misunderstanding of the nature of the library leads to conversations about taking politicized titles off the shelves. “The issue becomes about what an individual feels is political.”
For librarians, the task is to welcome all viewpoints, particularly when acquiring materials. “If it’s something that’s being heavily requested or that we know will be popular, my personal political views can’t come into play. That is how we avoid bias. However, if [the materials] promote harm [against others] or incite violence, that’s a different conversation.”
Moreover, communication is challenging, especially with parents who are eager to protect their children from perceived dangers. When asked why a Pride display belonged in the children’s room, Campbell explained that “acquiring materials for a library indicates who is welcome here, and everyone is welcome at the library. We want everyone to see themselves and see their interests [reflected in the materials].” While Campbell has gone through the process of reconsidering materials, she rests on the idea of not wanting to deny someone else access to materials they want to see. “I tell them, if you don’t want to check out any books from a particular display please feel free to not check them out, but other people can check them out if they wish.”
Of course, these conversations can result in tension between librarians and patrons. “There are parents who want to ensure that kids are reading the ‘right’ things.” Campbell has witnessed parents ask what their children have checked out from the library. “I can’t give out that information about what a kid is reading without their consent,” she says. “It gets very tense, and a lot of that comes from parents being worried about what [media] their children are consuming.”
Campbell’s mantra for kids and parents challenging a particular title is: have you read it? One parent was uncomfortable with a book for his daughter, because it included discussion of crushes and kissing. Then, he read the book in question. “He said he was uncomfortable about the topic at first, but that it was a really good book and he would talk to his child about it. Parents have a lot of questions and worries and are seeking to have those [feelings] acknowledged. Doing that in the library can help.”
Drama by Raina Telgemeier is the subject of frequent challenges, presumably for its inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters. “These materials help kids process their identity. To take away a book like that could take away their ability to see themselves,” says Campbell, who often challenges patrons with new perspectives. “If we’re worried about kids interacting with content like that, then having Disney movies available may be an issue, because they always end with a kiss. It’s a way to parse through it.”
A picture book recently challenged was The Big Bath House by Kyo Maclear (author), Gracey Zhang (illustrator), which recounts the author’s childhood experience visiting a bathhouse in Japan. The book was challenged for its drawings of naked bodies. “[We have to ask], am I looking at this through the lens of Western culture or American culture? Getting out of your own perspective is important.”
If a patron does file a request, what does the “reconsideration” process look like?
“It depends on the type of library, but it always comes back to policy,” says Campbell. In her previous role as a lone middle school librarian, she would take any requests to her supervisor and the dean for review, so the decision didn’t rest on her shoulders, alone, and benefited from additional perspectives.
Campbell finds these issues easier to navigate in a public library. “A public library is about access to information, whereas a school library is wrapped up in curriculum and other considerations. What weighs on me the most, as a school librarian and now, is my passion for ensuring kids have access to the materials they want.” Campbell hates the idea of separating kids from the books they want to read through “quiet censorship,” which removes a book from circulation without officially banning it. “It’s a way to reduce access without overtly indicating that you’ve reduced access,” she says, noting that some patrons have done this themselves by checking out a book and never returning it.
For Simmons’ School of Library and Information Science students headed to work with children in public or school libraries, Campbell advises, “Be prepared to have materials questioned. It might not happen, but it probably will, so be prepared for it. It’s going to be shocking.” Campbell was shocked when her first request for reconsideration at the middle school library was a challenge to Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why (Razorbill, 2007), after release of the Netflix drama in 2017. “[The book] had been on the shelves for ten years. I was shocked by the anger and fear surrounding it.” She notes that emotions are heightened in situations like these, where kids and parents are grappling with difficult issues. “There is stuff we wish kids didn’t have to think about, but that doesn’t mean it’s not what they’re experiencing,” she says. “I was concerned about what it would mean if kids didn’t have access to [Thirteen Reasons Why] anymore, if it was something they wanted to understand.”
She advises new librarians to review their school or library’s policy for consideration of materials. “If there isn’t one, ask [the administration] about it. Ground yourself in the policy - that makes [your response to challenges] less personal.” That said, some of the topics that patrons challenge are very personal, including books about BIPOC, queer, and other marginalized identities. “It’s okay to say [to a patron] that you’ll need to ask a supervisor to continue the conversation.”
Campbell feels that these conversations have become more intense over the past decade she’s spent in libraries. “The hopeful thing is that we’re talking about it, and I want to continue that conversation.” She cites LIS 439 Intellectual Freedom at Simmons SLIS for developing her perspective. “We need more conversation about this in society, and what it means, professionally and culturally.”