Proposed N.C. bill to change school library content regulations

On April 1, Rep. Neal Jackson (R-Moore, Randolph) filed House Bill 636, entitled the Promoting Wholesome Content for Students bill. If passed, the bill would change the regulation of materials in school libraries and would allow public schools to be sued if media is deemed inappropriate.

The bill follows a series of recently proposed measures affecting school libraries, including House Bill 595 and House Bill 902. It calls for each district to establish a community library advisory committee made up of five parents and five employees from the district, all appointed by the superintendent. 

Currently, there are processes to approve and review any material entering North Carolina school libraries per North Carolina Department of Public Instruction guidelines for media and technology programs. According to the guidelines, each school library should have a Media and Technology Advisory Committee consisting of teachers, parents and administrators.

In the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district, each library has a master’s level librarian who selects books for their collection based on school demographics, age group and criteria outlined in the CHCCS library collection guidelines, Al McArthur, CHCCS director of digital learning and library services, said.

Some of the criteria include educational significance, contribution to curriculum and district initiatives, and excellence of work, according to the CHCCS school library mission statement. 

McArthur said complaints about school library materials are rare. A complaint begins at the school level, he said, and goes through several layers of committee review until the decision is settled.

“I think the selection process for books, specifically for our libraries, is great overall,” he said. “Like I said, since I've been here, we have not had any complaints for wanting to remove any titles. Our librarians are all master’s level and this is what they do, this is what they love. They're here to serve our students, and I think that gets lost sometimes.”

N.C. School Library Media Association President Faith Huff said the bill adds unnecessary pressure on individual school administration. She said it is strange that proponents of H.B. 636 want to have random community members determine what is age-appropriate for a library, rather than trained professionals with master's degrees in information science.

Sarah Greer, a CHCCS parent, said libraries played a big role in shaping her understanding of the world and her sense of identity. 

“I think our current school library, I'm really happy with the way that it's run,” she said. “And, like I've said, I certainly think that we want to be mindful of children's age and development when we're thinking about what we're introducing them to, but that in general, more information and more access to information is really important, even if it's things that we disagree with.”

Huff said she believes bills like H.B. 636 are proposed in an effort to control school library content. Every queer book could be removed from the library, she said, but queer students will still be a part of her library. She said removing books about specific demographics will not erase their existence.

“What will actually happen is queer kids will want to not live because they can't see themselves reflected anywhere in their immediate life,” she said.

Huff said she hopes that those in favor of H.B. 636 will visit their school library and talk with the librarians.

“We aren't trying to indoctrinate anybody,” Huff said. “We're a public school. We take kids as they come to us, which means that we need to have a library that reflects the kids as they come to us.”

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