The Hamilton East Public Library Board plans to discuss its collections review policy following national media attention after Indiana author John Green called them out in social media posts about his young-adult novel, “The Fault In Our Stars,” which had been moved from the teen section to the adult/general section of the Fishers and Noblesville libraries.
Staff at both HEPL libraries have been reviewing thousands of books to determine whether, under the policy, they can stay in the children or teen sections. Those that contain certain references are moved to the adult section.
Green, who lives in Indianapolis, wrote Aug. 9 on Twitter that his book was written for — and about — teenagers. He posted a copy of a letter he sent to each board member, stating that he is “absolutely horrified by the decision of some members of your board to override a huge body of expertise and deem hundreds of books — including mine — inappropriate to be shelved as Young Adult literature.”
He called it “political theater of the lowest and most embarrassing order, and it’s an awful way to have Fishers and Noblesville make national news.”
In an email statement sent Aug. 13, HEPL Board President Laura Alerding said Green’s book should not have been moved out of the teen section.
“Upon reviewing the page(s) of ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ book that were the basis of the (Library) Director and review staff’s reason to move the book out of the Teen section, I believe there was an error in implementing the Collection Development Policy and that this book should be moved back to the Teen section immediately,” she wrote. “The Board of Trustees will discuss further what went wrong with the review process at the next public board meeting.”
The collections review policy considers content such as nudity, substance use, repeated use of profanity, depictions or incitement to violence and sexual activity. Books containing any of those themes are moved to the adult section of the library.
According to information in the July 27 HEPL board meeting packet, of the approximately 2,500 books reviewed so far from the teen/high school section of both libraries, 1,385 have been moved to the adult/general collection. About 75 percent of the teen collection still needs to be reviewed.
Implementing the policy was estimated in May to take about 8,000 hours of staff time and was expected to cost more than $300,000. That’s all staffing costs, because all the books need to be read carefully to determine whether their content requires them to be moved.
During the July 27 HEPL board meeting, board member Ray Maddalone complained about the slow pace of the review process and suggested ways to speed it up. Library Director Edra Waterman said it takes time to thoroughly read the thousands of books in the children and teen collections, and the entire review will take about a year.
The next HEPL board meeting is set for Aug. 24 at the Noblesville Library.
