Librarians tell WAXAHACHIE ISD committee they place books by character age; some members raise concerns about LGBTQ and mature themes in elementary collections

Unidentified librarian S3 told the WAXAHACHIE ISD committee that most flagged titles are being handled through review and that librarians compiled reviews in a separate file for possible re-review. S3 said re-review of a title would require reading the full book. “We did put reviews… so, like, if there's a certain book that somebody has looked through and they really feel like they want to rereview, I would have to read the book,” S3 said.

S3 and S2 explained librarians typically use the age of the characters and vendor metadata (title listings) to determine placement within elementary, junior high or high school collections. “I also I look at the ages that are listed,” S3 said, adding that middle-grade characters often lead librarians to place a title in junior-high collections rather than elementary shelves.

Committee members and librarians discussed specific content concerns. S3 noted some titles include transgender or bisexual characters and said she had not read those books in full, so suitability for elementary readers was uncertain. S2 said staff should follow established standards when uncertain. “If we're not, then just follow the standards that we have in place and leave it,” S2 said.

S3 recommended that certain titles, such as Skin, Not on the Outside, be moved to junior-high or high-school collections based on review findings. No formal motion or vote was recorded; the committee agreed to continue reviewing titles and reconvene after Thanksgiving to finalize placement recommendations.

What’s next: librarians will continue reading and reviewing flagged titles and the committee will meet again to consider any title-specific placement changes.