138 school districts with banned book cases across the state
For years schools have taught the book To Kill a Mockingbird in freshman English 1 classes. Due to recent changes and restrictions, it is no longer allowed to be taught widely in classes. Teachers have had to find new books with similar characters to fit the ideas and concepts they are trying to teach. This has made the content and the way things are taught much different in the classroom, for students as well as teachers. Other books that have been restricted from the classroom curriculum are Huckleberry Finn and Of Mice and Men.
Every year countrywide, hundreds of books are banned or challenged to be banned from public school libraries or are otherwise restricted. The American Library Association condemns the banning or restriction of books, but many school districts still have limitations on what books are allowed on their campuses. Northside ISD library policies are widely inclusive and supportive of a vast variety of books. However, 25% of Manga books requested for the library get rejected due to them being classified as adult.
“We are very fortunate that we have a collection policy in place so we don’t get many banned books in Northside, and we also have a very supportive superintendent and school board, so when a book gets challenged it goes before committee and goes through a rigorous procedure before it can get banned. Not very many books ever get banned in Northside,” librarian Virginia Bigler said.
Students are allowed to request books for the library, although, there are some limitations on what is and is not allowed. The books requested are reviewed by Bigler and the library staff and must meet certain requirements to be accepted into the library selection. Limitations such as maturity, reviews, and categorization play into which books are and are not allowed in the library.
“So there’s a couple things we can’t have, number one, adult, of course, sometimes we allow cursing in the books. For the most part, we allow a lot of things,” head library crew member Darren Sandoval said.
Every year the library goes through an inventory process where the library staff will scan all of the books and determine the best books to keep in the library based on the amount times the book has been checked out. a lot of books can be removed from the library during this process. sometimes there are books that had not previously been considered in the adult category but are now restricted and would then need to be removed.
“I would probably weed it if I came across [a restricted book] because I don’t want to break any rules from Northside, but that didn’t happen this inventory, and it has never happened, so it’s pretty unlikely,” Bigler said.
Due to the wide selection of books in the library, it is very rare for students to ask for a book that is not in the library or is prohibited from the shelves. If a student looking for one of those books, usually the librarian or one of the student library crew members can help to either request the book or explain why or if it’s restricted.
“Sometimes they’ll ask questions but it’s kind of rare, we usually tell them why we can’t allow it and that’s pretty much how it goes, so if someone comes in and is like why can’t we get this? It’s because it’s adult and we just explain that a little bit and usually they’re good,” Sandoval said.
Fortunately, THE NEST’S library does not restrict a large number of books, unlike other school districts throughout more rural parts of Texas that hold more extensive lists of books that are banned or restricted from their campus libraries and classrooms.
“Very few books ever get banned in Northside, so if you had ever seen the list, we do have a list of banned books, you would roll your eyes because most of them are from 1970 or something like that and it’s like ‘why is this one there?’, nobody would even have this in their collection nowadays anyway,” Bigler said.
The library, along with many other schools in the Northside district, have inclusive libraries for all students that can provide many books and other opportunities. While some of the restrictions may be upsetting or confusing to some, the library still has a wide selection of books to choose from.