What “due process” should a controversial book receive as a matter of policy?

Question

Censorship can many times be attributed to ignorance about a particular book or other artistic work. Situations can often arise where patrons or municipal officials complain about particular work for being too controversial, particularly in juvenile literature.

Rather than caving into complaints too quickly, giving the controversial work its "due process" is potentially a more rational way of handling the situation.

What sorts of ad hoc committees work best to make a decision in these types of situations? What techniques can a library use to focus the group down to make an objective decision about the work in question?

Answer 1

Speaking from school and public library experience, I'd start with the original selector - the person responsible for the item being in the collection - and a supervisor (department head, school principal). Every item in a collection should be justifiable, according to selection criteria already in place, so it shouldn't take a large committee to defend, but having an item challenged can feel like a personal attack and having a supervisor's support is imperative. Libraries of all types should have procedures in place to handle this sort of situation; this document would outline who is involved. Often it will include a governing board (library board of directors, school board, etc) and may outline the various levels of review and how the process is elevated to the next level when not resolved. Having a procedure in place helps keep things objective, but can leave room for compromise if necessary.

Answer 2

I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.

This article covers some of the issues;

Anne Klinefelter, First Amendment Limits on Library Collection Management,102 LAW LIBRARY JOURNAL 343 (2010)

It seems to me that actions must be viewpoint neutral in the light of the mission of the library. Having written properly policies and procedures may be necessary; I would expect that principles of administrative law would apply.

I would strongly suggest talking to someone in Counsel's office before preparing a policy.