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When the Dr. Seuss Enterprise recently announced on the anniversary of his birthday that they took six books out of publication because the illustrations included harmful racist stereotypes, it hit the news and the public began taking sides. Most of YDL’s copies of the books were quickly checked out, driving up the demand for books that hadn’t been checked out much at all in recent years.

 

However, racism in children’s classics is not a new conversation in the youth department. Staff have been following and discussing the problem for several years. We recently gathered on Zoom to share thoughts, because racist images and content is not limited to just these books and we want to make sure we are providing a collection that best meets the needs and interests of our community.

Differing opinions:

in the public and at the library

Based on conversations we see in the media, we know people are divided on the subject. Some parents are actively trying to teach their kids to be anti-racist and they might not want or expect to accidentally encounter a book with racist images in the children’s department. Parents of color most likely talk about racism as a family and know these stereotypical images are harmful to their children. Other parents may feel Dr. Seuss and other classics are part of their cultural heritage that should be available at the library regardless of the content.

Youth staff are divided on the subject too, but for different reasons. Maintaining the materials in one area of the library includes choosing new items to buy, removing items no one is checking out, and deciding whether or not to replace items that are worn out. This is called collection development and librarians are guided by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom as we do this work. We study standard publications, including but not limited to, the Freedom to Read Statement, the Library Bill of Rights, and the Access to Library Resources for Minors. YDL’s Materials Selection Policy uses these documents as its basis. Like judges who rely on the Constitution when making decisions about cases, there are a variety of ways librarians interpret the ALA’s guiding principles when maintaining a collection for the community. We continuously analyze our collections using research-based methods we learned in school.

Questions we try to answer when withdrawing a book

  • Are we prohibiting access if we can get something through MeL, eResources, or YouTube?
  • Does a book need to be in the open shelves of the youth department to be accessible?
  • If there isn’t space to keep everything ever purchased, how do we reduce personal bias when we choose what to withdraw or replace?
  • If the purpose of the youth collection is to support learning to read and kids’ discovery of new ideas, is it necessary to keep books with racist imagery available in the picture book section to provide full access to ideas?
  • As our policy states, parents make the final decision on what their kids read. Can we make this more clear and provide tools to help them navigate the books and talk with their kids about what they might find while reading?
  • We know many parents are trying to raise children who value and respect all people and want to use books as conversation starters about race and social justice. They are looking for positive images and strong characters of all races and ethnicities as mirrors for their own kids and windows to help their kids get a glimpse into others’ experiences. If we leave the books on the shelf, is there a way for us to help them navigate the collection to avoid problematic books or use them to teach anti-racism?
 

There are no standard answers to these questions. Some staff think it is censorship to move or remove the books. Some staff think it’s collection development because racist depictions can be harmful to children. Some staff might choose to move the books to a less accessible area where parents need to be intentional about choosing them, such as the instructional area. Ultimately the decision is up to the librarian in charge of that part of the collection.

Being able to talk through difficult issues together as a staff is very important. Librarians rotate collection development areas every three years. It helps us learn about new books, improving our reader’s advisory skills so we can direct you to the best books to meet your needs, and also helps prevent bias.

What about the books?

So what will happen to the Dr. Seuss books and what’s next? For now, there are still copies in our collection. When they wear out or are not returned, they can’t be replaced so they’ll be gone.

We know that libraries have not always been inclusive and the guidelines we follow as a national profession to prevent censorship don’t take into account that diverse voices were not included historically due to institutional and structural racism. So how do we balance between preventing censorship and representing all voices? Here is what we have planned in the immediate future.

 

Next steps

MONTHLY CONVERSATIONS
Youth staff will be meeting monthly to share ideas to ensure our collection mirrors our diverse community. We’ll use meetings to share new books, authors, resources, and ideas. It’s just as important to talk about how to fill the shelves with books that reflect the diversity of our community as to talk about whether it’s censorship to remove a handful of books from the shelves. While the publishing industry is attempting to publish more books by authors who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC), it is still behind, especially when we are trying to mirror the demographic statistics of our community.
EDUCATOR KITS
We’ll work toward developing a few anti-racism “kits” for our instructional section that teachers and parents can use with students.
HOW TO READ DIVERSELY GUIDE
We are developing a guide for parents to help them diversify their reading, including more #ownvoices authors, not just authors of colors but LGBTQ+ authors and those who write from the perspective of having a disability. This is important because all kids need books to be mirrors and windows, so they can see themselves reflected and know they are a valued part of the world, and get a glimpse into others’ experiences. The guide will be available online and in print at reference desks.
HIGHLIGHTS POSTS AND BOOK LISTS

Our free access to library materials for minors policy says only the parents may restrict their children —and only their children– from access to library materials and services.  To help you find and choose the books you want to read with your children, watch our Little Ones and Kids Interest pages for new book lists and blog posts.

PLAY KITS
We’re expanding and reworking our Play Kits! Infants as young as 6 months old begin to notice race and by age 5 kids have internalized messages about racial stereotypes. We’ll look closely at the contents of all of our kits to ensure toys and books are diverse, and we’ll create some kits that include talking points to help parents use the materials to talk about race with kids 1-8 years old.

In a county focusing on racial inequities, with data that shows people of color are not using resources in Washtenaw County due to non-inclusive environments, YDL’s youth departments are committed to ensuring our collections and staff/patron interactions do not create barriers to access.

Learn more about racism in classics and using books for teaching anti-racism