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Censorship and incompetence

I have a situation at my school that I am looking for some insight on. In one of our buildings we have a PK-3 and 7-12 library that are on opposite sides of the same room. High school kids can take things from the primary side, but primary kids do not take items from the HS side. (with occasional exceptions for some nonfiction.)

I had a third grade student on the first day of school ask to go to the HS side to get a book. I told her no, that the materials on that side weren’t appropriate for her, and I would help her find something on the elementary side. She left smiling, with her two books.

Turns out she wanted the 4th Harry Potter. I have 1 – 3 on the elementary side, the whole set in the intermediate building and HS side of the library. Now mom is accusing me of censorship, incompetence among other things. She is spending significant time calling schools and public libraries to validate her view. The student has already read all of the HP books.

I tried to explain selection policy and reviews, but it didn’t help. I thought at first this was about her child getting special privileges, but now I think it might be about me telling the child that something her mother said was OK was actually inappropriate, which was absolutely not my intent. Thoughts?

I really don’t think all HP 1 – 7 all belong in a PK-3 library. I think it is okay to have a rule that PK-3 students don’t check out HS books. I am the only media specialist in the district and I teach all day and am rarely in the library, so it would be up to a para to keep track of who had "special permission" and what they could take, deal with other kids who wanted to go to the HS side, calls from parents if kindergartener takes home Twilight...

Thanks.

Comment by Susan M Flaherty on September 8, 2012 at 5:27pm: I guess you could have asked her what she wanted. If it is book that you find questionable for a K-3 student, ask her parent/guardian to write a note giving permission. We've limited Hunger Games to over 5th grade but will allow younger students to check out with written permission. Toughest part for those of us that work in such busy educational settings is that it's hard to have time to inquire about the selection and why. Good luck with all this. Maybe you could make up a form to send home for signature.

Comment by Mary Mehsikomer aka Mehsi-Mart on October 18, 2012 at 10:39am: Hi Laura: Well, calling you incompetent was a bit unnecessary for a start. I wonder if a flyer home to parents with a brief explanation of the policy might help?

Comment by DeAnn Redfield on March 20, 2013 at 1:02pm: Hi, I work in a K-12 library. I do limit books to younger grades unless a parent has given permission for their student to check out a specific book. Our library is organized into picture books, chapter books, youth fiction, zfiction, inspirational fiction, nonfiction, and biography. A student must be in 6th grade or above to check out zfiction. I tell them the three reasons books are shelved in that area: length, lexile, and mature themes. I also remind students that if they were in a regular elementary library, the zfiction would not be available anyway. I have had no problems as parents are always welcome to check out books for their students anyway.