VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Members of the Volusia County Council want to know if they should get involved in determining which books are allowed in the Volusia County Public Library.
The questions came up during last week’s meeting, where council members were supposed to consider nominations to the Volusia County Library Advisory Board.
Instead, Council Member Jake Johansson challenged the board’s existence.
“I question the reasoning behind having this board, as well,” he told his fellow council members. “Is this more of a group of people getting together and chatting about how to make our libraries better? Can this not be done outside the constraints of a committee or a board?”
That is when Council Member Don Dempsey asked, “How do we monitor what kind of books are actually being put in our libraries?”
He said he was concerned that children may have access to what he called “inappropriate materials.”
[INSIDER EXTRA: Watch the council debate exercising more control over books in Volusia County Public Libraries]
“How can we monitor the materials that are put in the library, so that if we have something that’s been controversial, that we could vote on it – or this board could vote on it?” he asked. “How do we monitor what’s been given to our kids?”
“Can I use the term ‘micromanage?’” Don Needham asked.
Needham serves as the vice chair of the Volusia County Library Advisory Board.
He has been a board member for 15 years, and he said there are already processes in place to handle concerns the public may have.
“There have been maybe one or two over the past three years,” he said. “Their issues are dealt with, looked into, and in some cases, pieces of material might have been removed, and in some cases, it was explained that was not offensive.”
News 6 investigated and found out that the process resulted in four challenges to books over the last two years.
As a result, two of those books were removed: “An ABC of Equality” and “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.”
“What you think might be inappropriate for your children might be exactly what my children need to read,” Deborah Dubois said.
Dubois is a retired librarian who moved to Volusia County last year.
She has applied to be on the county’s library advisory board.
“It is not appropriate for them to be that involved in day-to-day operations,” she said. “Usually, an oversight or overseeing board sets policy, and then you let the professionals who work at the organization do the day-to-day operations. If they have concerns, they bring it to the head librarian, or whoever is in charge, and have them work through the appropriate channels.”
News 6 found out other states, like Iowa, are creating new laws, so the government has more say in which books are allowed in public libraries.
Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska and Oklahoma are considering legislation that could hold librarians criminally liable for any book in their collections that’s deemed obscene.
“I think that it’s important to let librarians do their jobs and choose the materials that build our collection appropriately for the whole community – not just for one section of it,” Dubois said.
Dempsey told News 6 he was out of town and not available for an interview.
Volusia County’s Librarian Lucinda Colee referred News 6 to Volusia County government for any statement.
Council members have requested Colee appear at a council meeting in mid-May to answer questions about the relevance of the library advisory board and the processes in place for challenging offensive material.
A date for that meeting has not been set.
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