EAGLE, Idaho — The Eagle Public Library Board reviewed 25 books that received harmful materials complaints over the last few months.
On Sept. 18 the board voted to move 22 of the books to the adult section. They voted to have the other three books were removed from the shelves and put behind the counter, Board Trustee, Brian Almon told KTVB.
The complaints discussed are dated from July 12 to August 5.
The three books removed now have "dummy books" in their place, made of Styrofoam, Almon said. Visitors need to ask to check these books out.
The three books removed from the shelf include:
- The Trauma Cleaner by Sara Kranostein
- Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
- What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold
House Bill 710 states if someone complained about an inappropriate book being in the children's or young adult section, that library has 60 days to review and determine if it should be reshelved in another part of the library.
If that library board decides to keep it where it is, they could be sued for $250, plus damages.
The bill went into effect July 1. Since then, the Eagle Public Library has received the most requests for relocation of books, according to Mary DeWalt, who is on the Idaho Library Association.
The board discussed the books in a closed conversation, which was closed to the public. Almon said that was a decision made by the city's attorney.
When asked if keeping the discussion private was allowed, Dewalt said technically yes, because each library district or board has created and approved their own policy regarding how they'll address harmful material complaints.
"Any kind of business conducted by the board generally, does need to be conducted in a public forum," DeWalt said. "There is one exception, for potential litigation... if the library or entity is about to be sued or has the potential."
She added she assumes that since HB710 allows for people to sue libraries, the board interpreted state code to allow for closed conversations about complaints submitted.
KTVB requested and obtained copies of the complaints.
Records show that only four of the complaints give explanations for relocation, mostly quoting blurps from the book. The rest only listed book titles for consideration.
Almon said he appreciated complaints that provided reasons why someone wanted a book removed.
When asked about the conversation board trustees had about the books, Almon said they considered, "How often is it checked out? Is this something that's really popular, or is this something that is very obscure, it's hidden somewhere, and nobody ever sees it? And then also book reviews, some of the mainstream reviewers, what did they say about that?"
He added a popular series by Sarah Maas was requested for relocation, and that the series has "high circulation" in the Eagle Public Library.
"Reading some of the excerpts, they did have pretty explicit, graphic situations, " Almon said about Maas's series.
Each of the names of the person who filed a request for relocation were redacted for privacy reasons.
"Perhaps, if you're going to redact some of the information, at least leave one piece like maybe a first name, so that someone who's examining the records can tell whether a particular item was challenged by one person or five different people," DeWalt told KTVB.
Twenty-one of the complaints came in on July 24, 2022.
When asked if they could have all been submitted by the same person, Almon said he couldn't speak specifically to the people who made the complaints.
"I would guess if there is a lot of them one day, it's likely there are members of the community who were watching for when the law went into effect," Almon added.
Four of the complaints were also submitted on July 12. Which means the Sept. 18 decision came five days after the 60-day deadline.
When asked why the board did not make a decision on the four books before the 60 days were up, Almon said there was a scheduling issue.
"Typically, we have meetings on the third Wednesday of the month, and it was just the timing of things," Almon said. "We ended up missing one, meeting there wasn't a quorum because various members had personal issues, they had to take care of. So, we decided to just handle them all at the following meeting."
But the five days, leaves a possibility for the library to be sued.
"Hopefully, whichever person submitted those, we'll get some grace there," Almon said about missing the deadline.
It's unclear if this will be the process moving forward for the Eagle Public library, to review complaints in chunks.
"I think the plan is to just do them as they come in," Almon said.
He added it could become a regular part of the monthly meetings, or not, depending on when, and how many complaints the public makes.
The list of 22 books that were moved to the adult section includes:
- A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
- Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
- Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
- Elenor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
- I’ll give you the sun by Jandy Nelson
- Last Night and the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
- Late Midnight by Cassandra Clare
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
- Mondays not coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
- Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
- Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
- Spinning by Tillie Walden
- Super Mutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki
- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
- That’s what’s happening to my body? Book for Girls by Lynda Madaras
- This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
- Wait what? Heather Corina
- We know it was you: A strange Truth Novel by Maggie Thrash
- People kill people by Ellen Hopkins
- Forever by Judy Blume