I had not been able to attend a Hamilton East Public Library (HEPL) board meeting in several months, so Thursday night I decided to check out what was happening by attending the session at the HEPL Library in Fishers. (The Noblesville Library is also part of the HEPL system)
The board considered a number of fairly routine matters, including a presentation on how the library is funded and the budget process.
It appeared the meeting was nearing an uneventful end when board member Ray Maddalone said the progress on reviewing books for content was “pretty disappointing.” Seven part-time people have been working ten hours per week reviewing books for adherence to the content instructions from the board, as to whether the books should be moved from the teen area to the adult collection.
Maddalone asked if these part-time employees were taking books home to read and review. Library Director Edra Waterman said yes, but these workers are not leisurely reading books as one might due for pleasure. According to Watermnan, these employees are filling out forms as they review the books.
Library staff said this is a new process and everyone is doing their best to set expectations.
“I’m a Board of Trustees member, I set policy and objectives,” said Maddalone. “I don’t do the operational mechanization of the process. That’s up to our manager, and if our manager is not up to do that, then we’ll find someone else.”
That comment drew a negative reaction from the crowd. At least one audience member was escorted out of the meeting room by police, others left the room on their own.
Board member Tiffanie Ditlevson indicated she was not concerned about the pace of the book reviews because HEPL is probably the only library system in Indiana, perhaps the nation, undergoing this process.
Waterman did say some new software, soon to be implemented, may help quicken the review pace to some extent.
No action was taken on this issue, but there was plenty of discussion.
So professional librarians buy books and they do not know what is in them and publishers do not provide information about what is in children’s and teen’s books.
Movies are rated for a reason and is seems to me the publishing industry does not care about the content only to sell books for the most gain and profits.
No, they do know what’s in them and they are already “rated” with a system that’s been in place for many, many years. Our Library Board override that with their own set of rules. It’s absurd. So now books that have always been in the young adult section have to be moved to the adult section because God forbid there might be a curse word. This is completely unneeded and most of the community objects.
Ray Maddalone continuously spoke over the HEPL Director and threatened her job. The policy the board created is not standard, they need to give the library professionals time and grace to do their bidding.
If you don’t like a book, don’t check it out! It’s that simple. Books are appropriately placed and the librarians have been doing an outstanding job for many years.
I left the meeting, the meeting seemed to drag on and on with little time and no consideration for our opinions. When in reality . We pay their salaries! We were reprimanded for talking or laughing as if we were back in grade school. All in all it was a very disappointing meeting and rude behavior from the president.