More parents objecting to books in school libraries under new process, librarians say

School librarians say they are facing more community challenges to books in their collections since a new state law that took effect in January required local school systems to set up a process to field such complaints.

Vanessa Martin, the Indiana Library Federation’s advocacy co-chair and a public librarian in Greensburg, said school librarians are feeling a lot more pressure as they choose books for their shelves.

“The ‘chilling effect’ is real,” Martin said.

Though no agency keeps track of book challenges filed across the state, school librarians said they have heard about more formal complaints since the new law took effect and cited particular controversies in Columbus and Carmel.

House Enrolled Act 1447 requires school boards to establish a procedure for each school to allow parents, guardians, or community members within the school district to submit a request to remove material from the school library if that material is obscene or harmful to minors.

The procedure must include a response and appeal process. The response and appeal process must require the governing body/school board to review the removal request at the next public meeting.

Upon request, schools must provide a copy of any policy relating to these requirements. Also under HEA 1447, each school must publish a catalog of materials available in the school library on its website and provide a hard copy of the list upon request.

Martin noted there have been two books challenged in Columbus this year, with the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. voting both times to keep the books in the Columbus East High School library.

The Republic newspaper in Columbus reported the challenged books were “Push,” a 1996 novel by author Sapphire, which was later made into the 2009 film “Precious,” and “People Kill People” by author Ellen Hopkins.

Julie Wendorf, director of Crown Point Community Library and the library federation’s vice president and advocacy co-chair, said she talks to librarians and media specialists throughout the state with her leadership position at the federation.

“We like to make sure we serve everybody in the community with the books we have,” Wendorf said, noting that she also believes book challenges are on the rise.

Response to the law

From 2020 through January of this year, at least six school districts banned books, two moved books to other libraries and 17 received complaints, according to survey by the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

But school librarians say more complaints have surfaced since the new law took effect and more people became aware of it.

The law’s advocates argued during legislative debate in 2023 that the book removal process wasn’t working at the local level and warranted the new law.

Still, some of those advocates aren’t pleased with the outcome. While book challenges seem to be more common, outright bans appear to be rare.

“I’ve heard from some parents locally that there has been some reviews and that there is some frustration with the processes some schools have created,” said author Rep. Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle in February. “The end goal is transparency for parents and ensuring kids aren’t exposed to materials that aren’t age appropriate.”

The Indiana Lawyer reached out to Carbaugh for this story, but he did not respond.

Diane Rogers, the library federation’s president and a librarian at the Ben Davis 9th Grade Center in Wayne Township, said the law’s wording regarding illegal or obscene materials isn’t new in Indiana, with the state having laws on the books since the 1970s that detail what a book must contain to be considered off limits.

Rogers said one key provision of the law is that it eliminates the defense that any harmful material provided to minors was for educational purposes.

“That definitely means if someone wants to charge a librarian with a crime, it makes it easier,” Rogers said.

Indiana law, with some specific exceptions, provides that it is a Level 6 felony to disseminate, display or perform material harmful to minors in an area where minors are exposed to such material.

Rogers said she’s confident there are not obscene materials in any school libraries.

She added that it’s one thing to have a discussion about whether a book is appropriate for a particular age group, but quite another to claim it’s obscene and harmful to minors and advocate the banning of a book from a school library.

More restrictions to come?

Like Martin, Rogers said she’s aware of some book challenges that have been filed around the state since the new law went into effect.

She cited a challenge in Hamilton County, where the Carmel Clay School Board voted 3-2 in June not to remove a memoir “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by author Charles M. Johnson.

Similarly, New Prairie Schools in LaPorte County declined in March to ban eight books challenged in March, according to television station WSBT. The books were “The Poet X,” “Friction,” “Me & Earl and the Dying Girl,” “Smoke,” “Glass,” “Impulse,” “Burned,” and “Crank.”

Rogers said the library federation doesn’t keep records of challenges brought forth at school libraries around the state.

She said she hopes the state’s lawmakers tweak the law and put an educational defense back in to protect librarians.

Rogers said book censorship has been around a long time, but has intensified in the last few years.

The American Library Association has a list of books that were most challenged in 2022.

It documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, which the ALA described as the highest number of attempted book bans since it began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago.

Wendorf said there is a great deal of fear that legislators will try in 2025 to apply the law to all public libraries in the state, not just school libraries.

She said she’s heard feedback that there is a diversity of opinions among school administrators regarding the law, with some trusting librarians and others pulling books from library shelves without telling their district’s librarians, due to concerns about community reactions to specific books.

Book challenges aren’t unique to Indiana, Wendorf said.

Like Rogers, Wendorf is concerned about the risks librarians face with the elimination of the educational defense.

“I think we’ve been really lucky we haven’t had a librarian or media specialist charged,” Wendorf said.•