Evolution of a Real-Life GLBTQ Materials Challenge : The West Bend Story
Undeservedly so, GLBTQ YA Materials have the tendency to hit the shelves already imbued with a certain degree of inherent controversy. However, that is no reason not to collect them. Below you will find the story of a real-life challenge to GLBTQ-themed materials in a public library's young adult collection. This incident rocked the small town of West Bend, WI and YA librarian Kristin Pekoll to the very core. How would your library handle a similar situation - and what can this challenge teach us ? Read on to find out.
2004: YA Librarian Kristin Pekoll adds YA GLBTQ Booklist "Out of the Closet" to the West Bend Community Memorial Library website. Over the next few years, the booklist is frequently used by the high school's Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), whose members often suggest titles and request printed copies of the list.
02/03/2009: The library receives a letter from a local family requesting that the booklist be addressed by the Library Board. Being that Board is set to meet that very night and the agenda is already set, the issue must be tabled until the March meeting. Although the library does not have a policy specifically addressing web content, Pekoll believes the complaint will be handled by the Board like any other complaint from a library patron.
2/16/2009: The concern over the online booklist transforms from a complaint into a formal book challenge. A List of 37 books that the complainants "felt were gay 'propaganda and encourage[d] and normalize[d] illegal behavior' " is supplied by the couple (Pekoll, 285). Pekoll and Library Director, Michael Tyree contact the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Wisconsin Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Roundtable, and the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, who help them assemble review sources, prepare to face the media, and offer advice for conducting a challenge meeting.
The couple want the issue addressed at the March 3 board meeting, but the "...library reconsideration policy includes a meeting with the collection's librarian and the library director before the formal challenge is addressed in front of the Library Board" (ibid, 285).
Pekoll delves into crisis mode, preparing "a spreadsheet outlining the bibliographic information, reviews available, West Bend Library circulation statistics, and ownership statistics for each title by our library system, the state, and the country," determined to encapsulate data for all 37 books in week's time, so as to be ready for the meeting (ibid, 285).
2/23/2009: Assistant Library Director, Sue Cantrell and Pekoll meet with the couple to discuss the specific titles, attempting to steer the conversation away from questioning the legitimacy of the GLBTQ "genre" itself. Pekoll arms herself with copies of each book in order to refer to specific passages, as well as reviews from VOYA, Booklist, School Library Journal, and Kirkus.
One of the challengers brings a copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and begins to read a passage she finds obscene. Pekoll makes an effort to stop her, as this title was not on the list of challenged books. The patron responds that her challenge actually includes ALL the books on the "Out of the Closet" booklist in addition to the titles on the reconsideration form. Later, Pekoll pulls Perks from the shelf and realizes that the patron edited the passage to only include the most salacious bits.
During the meeting, Pekoll endeavors to point out that the YA Collection serves 6th-12th graders and parents must ultimately decide what is appropriate for their individual children.
The challenge has now expanded to encompass the books on their list, plus 58 titles on the web page, a total of 75 unique titles, upon eliminating duplicates. (Note: In March, the female complainant e-mails an addendum with 11 more titles, 7 of which are new to the list, so there are now 82 titles in peril).
The meeting concludes with the couple declaring that they want the books in question removed from the collection. The Library Director, Michael Tyree schedules a meeting with the couple for two days later.
2/25/2009: "Tyree answered specific questions at the meeting about professional librarians, graduate degree programs, collection development courses, our specific policy, and professional review sources. They commented that the library collection should reflect 'our conservative community standards' and not national organizations. One thing that stood out from the conversation was their insistence that they 'do not hate homosexuals.' " (ibid, 285).
With no resolution in sight, the challenge is placed upon the agenda for the March 3 Library Board meeting. Something of a frenzy explodes as the issue is plastered across blogs, debated in letters to the editor, and splashed across newspaper headlines.
Here are some of the real-life emails Pekoll personally received:
"You have successfully crossed boundaries only an insane person would cross in your YA Zone."
"You introduce complex sexual deviances into their consciousness. You offer a wide range of perversions that are uniquely engineered to really get their minds racing. Oh, how great you must feel with the power that your twisted influences have on their young and ignorant minds."
"It's people like you that make me realize how far our society has fallen. Not only have you decided to make an agenda out of sexually corrupt lifestyles. But you feel liberated in egging these people on, instead of setting them on the right path towards a normal decent life. You are no more a liberator than a slave master."
"You're Going to Hell. Repent." (ibid, 284).
On account of all the media attention, the Board moves the meeting from the library to City Hall, a venue which holds 250 people. When over 400 show up, the meeting is postponed per Wisconsin law.
3/25/2009: The Library receives word that the complaint has changed again. As opposed to removing the titles, they now want the titles relocated and labeled "sexually explicit." The couple emails more titles from the children's and YA nonfiction collections, including nonfiction materials on growing up and sexual health. It is believed that they are altering the complaint due to the fact removing the titles outright would require them to fill out a separate form for each contested title.
The couple hits the media circuit, posting on their blog and appearing on TV and radio interviews. "They organized themselves into the West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries (WBCFSL) and choose to host their own 'town meeting' without library staff present to expose the 'sexually explicit' books. Attendants under the age of eighteen were asked to leave. They circulated a petition to present to the Library Board asking for five key points:
1. Reclassification of youth-targeted pornographic books.
2. Visual identification of explicit materials.
3. Restricted access to online library-produced sexual content.
4. Balanced literature on controversial issues.
5. Children's Internet Protection" (ibid, 286).
Fast forward to the end of April - No formal proceedings have been brought against the library, so the issue is temporarily shelved. However, during this time, four out of nine Library Board members are denied re-appointment by the mayor. This is highly unusual, as only two members have been denied re-appointment over the course of thirty years. To add insult to injury, the Aldermen on the City Council contend that the library has been dragging its feet "and that the issue could have been 'handled in five minutes' because it would only take 'common sense' to move the books" (ibid, 286).
The Mayor's denial of Library Board members results in a groundswell of support for the library by community members. Public support arrives in the form of the UW-Milwaukee's School of Information Studies, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and Deborah Caldwell-Stone and Angela Maycock from ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. Facebook groups are formed, petitions are circulated, and a college student originally from West Bend organizes a Read-In at the library.
Meanwhile, local newspapers' sensationalized headlines liken the library to a "porn shop," and churches in the area become involved, repeatedly referring to teenagers as "children" i.e. the "materials are harmful to children" (ibid, 286).
05/2009: The Library Board, Library Director, and West Bend Mayor receive a notice of claim from four Milwaukee men calling themselves the Christian Civil Liberties Union. "They said that they were aggrieved by language in the book Baby Be Bop by Francessca Lia Block, wanted $30,000 in damages for each person, and demanded that the book be publicly burned or destroyed" (ibid, 286). The situation was officially out of control. (On a side note: this claim is being still sorted out).
06/02/2009: The Library Board holds a meeting devoted to the YA Collection. The Board presents a Powerpoint discussing the library's collections and selection procedures, including the use of professional journals as selection aids. Afterward, members of the public are invited to speak for 2 minutes each - 200 people attended the meeting, and 59 spoke.
Check out videos of two of the speakers below!!
2004: YA Librarian Kristin Pekoll adds YA GLBTQ Booklist "Out of the Closet" to the West Bend Community Memorial Library website. Over the next few years, the booklist is frequently used by the high school's Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), whose members often suggest titles and request printed copies of the list.
02/03/2009: The library receives a letter from a local family requesting that the booklist be addressed by the Library Board. Being that Board is set to meet that very night and the agenda is already set, the issue must be tabled until the March meeting. Although the library does not have a policy specifically addressing web content, Pekoll believes the complaint will be handled by the Board like any other complaint from a library patron.
2/16/2009: The concern over the online booklist transforms from a complaint into a formal book challenge. A List of 37 books that the complainants "felt were gay 'propaganda and encourage[d] and normalize[d] illegal behavior' " is supplied by the couple (Pekoll, 285). Pekoll and Library Director, Michael Tyree contact the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Wisconsin Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Roundtable, and the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, who help them assemble review sources, prepare to face the media, and offer advice for conducting a challenge meeting.
The couple want the issue addressed at the March 3 board meeting, but the "...library reconsideration policy includes a meeting with the collection's librarian and the library director before the formal challenge is addressed in front of the Library Board" (ibid, 285).
Pekoll delves into crisis mode, preparing "a spreadsheet outlining the bibliographic information, reviews available, West Bend Library circulation statistics, and ownership statistics for each title by our library system, the state, and the country," determined to encapsulate data for all 37 books in week's time, so as to be ready for the meeting (ibid, 285).
2/23/2009: Assistant Library Director, Sue Cantrell and Pekoll meet with the couple to discuss the specific titles, attempting to steer the conversation away from questioning the legitimacy of the GLBTQ "genre" itself. Pekoll arms herself with copies of each book in order to refer to specific passages, as well as reviews from VOYA, Booklist, School Library Journal, and Kirkus.
One of the challengers brings a copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and begins to read a passage she finds obscene. Pekoll makes an effort to stop her, as this title was not on the list of challenged books. The patron responds that her challenge actually includes ALL the books on the "Out of the Closet" booklist in addition to the titles on the reconsideration form. Later, Pekoll pulls Perks from the shelf and realizes that the patron edited the passage to only include the most salacious bits.
During the meeting, Pekoll endeavors to point out that the YA Collection serves 6th-12th graders and parents must ultimately decide what is appropriate for their individual children.
The challenge has now expanded to encompass the books on their list, plus 58 titles on the web page, a total of 75 unique titles, upon eliminating duplicates. (Note: In March, the female complainant e-mails an addendum with 11 more titles, 7 of which are new to the list, so there are now 82 titles in peril).
The meeting concludes with the couple declaring that they want the books in question removed from the collection. The Library Director, Michael Tyree schedules a meeting with the couple for two days later.
2/25/2009: "Tyree answered specific questions at the meeting about professional librarians, graduate degree programs, collection development courses, our specific policy, and professional review sources. They commented that the library collection should reflect 'our conservative community standards' and not national organizations. One thing that stood out from the conversation was their insistence that they 'do not hate homosexuals.' " (ibid, 285).
With no resolution in sight, the challenge is placed upon the agenda for the March 3 Library Board meeting. Something of a frenzy explodes as the issue is plastered across blogs, debated in letters to the editor, and splashed across newspaper headlines.
Here are some of the real-life emails Pekoll personally received:
"You have successfully crossed boundaries only an insane person would cross in your YA Zone."
"You introduce complex sexual deviances into their consciousness. You offer a wide range of perversions that are uniquely engineered to really get their minds racing. Oh, how great you must feel with the power that your twisted influences have on their young and ignorant minds."
"It's people like you that make me realize how far our society has fallen. Not only have you decided to make an agenda out of sexually corrupt lifestyles. But you feel liberated in egging these people on, instead of setting them on the right path towards a normal decent life. You are no more a liberator than a slave master."
"You're Going to Hell. Repent." (ibid, 284).
On account of all the media attention, the Board moves the meeting from the library to City Hall, a venue which holds 250 people. When over 400 show up, the meeting is postponed per Wisconsin law.
3/25/2009: The Library receives word that the complaint has changed again. As opposed to removing the titles, they now want the titles relocated and labeled "sexually explicit." The couple emails more titles from the children's and YA nonfiction collections, including nonfiction materials on growing up and sexual health. It is believed that they are altering the complaint due to the fact removing the titles outright would require them to fill out a separate form for each contested title.
The couple hits the media circuit, posting on their blog and appearing on TV and radio interviews. "They organized themselves into the West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries (WBCFSL) and choose to host their own 'town meeting' without library staff present to expose the 'sexually explicit' books. Attendants under the age of eighteen were asked to leave. They circulated a petition to present to the Library Board asking for five key points:
1. Reclassification of youth-targeted pornographic books.
2. Visual identification of explicit materials.
3. Restricted access to online library-produced sexual content.
4. Balanced literature on controversial issues.
5. Children's Internet Protection" (ibid, 286).
Fast forward to the end of April - No formal proceedings have been brought against the library, so the issue is temporarily shelved. However, during this time, four out of nine Library Board members are denied re-appointment by the mayor. This is highly unusual, as only two members have been denied re-appointment over the course of thirty years. To add insult to injury, the Aldermen on the City Council contend that the library has been dragging its feet "and that the issue could have been 'handled in five minutes' because it would only take 'common sense' to move the books" (ibid, 286).
The Mayor's denial of Library Board members results in a groundswell of support for the library by community members. Public support arrives in the form of the UW-Milwaukee's School of Information Studies, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and Deborah Caldwell-Stone and Angela Maycock from ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. Facebook groups are formed, petitions are circulated, and a college student originally from West Bend organizes a Read-In at the library.
Meanwhile, local newspapers' sensationalized headlines liken the library to a "porn shop," and churches in the area become involved, repeatedly referring to teenagers as "children" i.e. the "materials are harmful to children" (ibid, 286).
05/2009: The Library Board, Library Director, and West Bend Mayor receive a notice of claim from four Milwaukee men calling themselves the Christian Civil Liberties Union. "They said that they were aggrieved by language in the book Baby Be Bop by Francessca Lia Block, wanted $30,000 in damages for each person, and demanded that the book be publicly burned or destroyed" (ibid, 286). The situation was officially out of control. (On a side note: this claim is being still sorted out).
06/02/2009: The Library Board holds a meeting devoted to the YA Collection. The Board presents a Powerpoint discussing the library's collections and selection procedures, including the use of professional journals as selection aids. Afterward, members of the public are invited to speak for 2 minutes each - 200 people attended the meeting, and 59 spoke.
Check out videos of two of the speakers below!!
"The Board then discussed how this issue affected them, their views on the role of the library in the community, and their roles as trustees. A vote was later brought to the floor, and a unanimous decision to maintain the YA collection without removing, moving, labeling, or restricting in any way triumphed" (ibid, 287).
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Source:
Pekoll, Kristin. "Stand Up!." Voice Of Youth Advocates 32.4 (2009): 284-287. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Media relations tend to take on a life all their own - it is important for the library to speak in one consistent voice.
- It may be a good idea to begin reaching out to the public with the library's message early on in the challenge process - don't wait until the situation spirals out of control.
- Update your library's reconsideration policy to incorporate content on the library's website and social-networking sites.
- Try not to take the challenge and subsequent fallout personally - focus on upon the 1st Amendment issues at stake.
- Now might be a good time to examine and update your library's reconsideration form (as opposed to in the midst of a challenge). WBCML's form had not been updated in 25 years.
- Consider the fact that challenges may come from well-funded organizations with far greater resources at their disposal than individual patrons, and that elected officials may become ensnared in the issue despite being unfamiliar with library policies and procedures.
- Above all, never stop collecting controversial materials!!!
- I think Pekoll sums it up most aptly upon remarking : "What did I learn? Develop a thick skin. Keep my mouth shut. NEVER stop doing my job. And with every crisis comes the opportunity to educate" (ibid, 287).
Source:
Pekoll, Kristin. "Stand Up!." Voice Of Youth Advocates 32.4 (2009): 284-287. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.