FISHERS, Ind. — A library system in Hamilton County is reviewing thousands of books on its shelves, checking for content their library board has decided shouldn’t be on the shelves in the teen and young adult sections of their library branches.
The library system is Hamilton East, which has branches in Fishers and Noblesville.
The library’s deputy director, John Helling, said for the past month, staff members have been going through books in the “Teen Zone” section of their library branches, checking for material that, according to a new policy passed by the library board, is not appropriate for books in the teen section of the library.
According to Helling, library staff will review a little more than 11,000 books in the teen section.
According to the new policy, passed by the seven-member library board, the books are being checked for material or pictures that are not age-appropriate.
Under the new policy, the library board has decided that means books that contain nudity, alcohol or drug use, repeated profanity, depictions of violence or incitement to violence and any kind of sexual content in them.
Young adults can still check them out, they just have to go looking for them in the adult section.
“Nobody says that violence is a great thing, but sometimes, it’s used as a story-telling device to help children work out these situations before they have to face them in real life or how to avoid them in real life, so I don’t think the purpose of the violence or the sexuality in these books is gratuitous,” said community member and mom Lori Hand, who also works in publishing.
Hand questions if the new policy really protects kids.
“We don’t see why it’s necessary. Once they move these books, then the kids to find them will have to go to the adult section and to me that defeats the whole purpose of the thing,” said Hand, who also believes the policy wastes taxpayer money.
“I worry what will be taken out of the library budget to compensate for this. Will there be fewer materials bought or what?” Hand asked.
According to Helling, so far, staff has only gotten through 8% of the books in the teen collection, work he said that could take up to a year to finish and involve 8,000 hours on the clock.
Helling told 13News four or five full-time employees are involved with reviewing books and the library has recently added another full-time and a part-time staff member who are also tackling the job.
The library’s board’s president, Laura Alerding, told 13News in a text message the cost to review the books would be around $114,000.
According to an estimate from minutes of the library board’s March meeting, the cost is estimated at closer to $300,000. Helling said that number could go up or down.
13News reached out to members of the library board for on-camera interviews. None were available. The board’s president sent us a copy of the new policy.