Wake County librarians, teachers urge board to ease implementation of new state library‑catalog law

At the Wake County Board of Education’s Oct. 7 meeting, multiple school librarians and teachers urged the board to modify district guidance for complying with Session Law 2025‑84 and House Bill 805, arguing current timelines and staff‑identification practices put educators at risk and reduce students’ access to books.

"This law has been pushed by special interest groups who seek to ban books for all students," said Jane Miller, a librarian at Fuquay Varina Elementary and member of the North Carolina Association of Educators. She told the board Wake County staff had advised principals to create a public Google sheet listing books with a tab for each teacher. "Attaching their names to a list of books available to the general public makes them vulnerable to rumors and attacks online," Miller said, and recommended replacing teacher names with room numbers to reduce targeted harassment.

Linda Dexter, a librarian at Broughton High School, described staff anxiety around HB805 and the district guidance. "The timeline is unrealistic," Dexter said, urging the board to "extend the timeline to a more realistic" date and to clarify "repercussions to teachers if they're unable to find the time and resources needed to complete this task by the current deadline."

Michelle Wolfson, a librarian at Davis Drive Elementary, said teachers are spending personal time cataloging classrooms and in some cases removing books rather than risk noncompliance. "Without more time, the unintended consequence is that students are losing access to books," she said, citing reports that teachers are providing fewer classroom books while they comply with the law.

Board members and staff said they have discussed adjustments. At the meeting Vice Chair Lester Swanson and other board members expressed support for practical fixes such as allowing room numbers on public catalogs and giving staff additional time for verification. Several board members urged staff to present concrete options for an extension and to clarify which documents will count for domicile and similar administrative tasks tied to other agenda items.

What’s next: Librarians requested the board direct staff to revise guidance so that teacher names are not exposed publicly and to propose a realistic deadline extension; the board did not adopt a formal deadline change at the Oct. 7 meeting. The board indicated it will consider staff recommendations and follow up in a future work session or committee meeting.