HAMILTON COUNTY, Ind. — There was a board meeting Thursday in Fishers to discuss a controversial policy about teen books that drew international attention.
Hamilton East Public Library board members were expected to bring ideas and solutions for how to move forward with the collection development policy.
After the meeting, library board member Tiffanie A. H. Ditlevson told 13News they will work with a professional facilitator to host community listening sessions to determine the questions to get a good data. She said they continued the paused policy until until they can collect ideas and solutions from the community.
"We recognize the policy is flawed; yet we want to ensure to receive community input before we make final decisions about our young adult section," Ditlevson said.
During their last meeting, there was a vote to pause book reviews after some board members requested a clearer policy. Members argued the profanity list needed to be reviewed. The definition of "explicit" needed to be clarified, they said.
Library director Edra Waterman said there have been multiple discussions on zero tolerance when it comes to sexual content in books. So far, about 3,600 books have been reviewed and read.
Indianapolis author John Green spoke out previously after his young adult novel “The Fault in our Stars” was removed from the teen section.
The library board decided to suspend the "collection development policy and implementation," which is the process by which young adult books are reviewed and possibly moved to the adult section.
The policy states: "Written material containing explicit descriptions of sexual conduct (including masturbation, vaginal sex, oral sex, anal sex, oral-anal sex, the use of sex toys, ejaculation, and sadomasochistic abuse) will not be shelved in the Juvenile/Youth, Middle School, and High School sections."
"The Fault in Our Stars" is the story a young cancer patient who falls in love with another cancer patient in her support group. The book contains a description of the two main characters having sex involving a condom.