Earlier this week, we sent a letter to the Cameron School Board in Cameron, MO objecting to recent blocking of standing orders for books speaking to diverse readership, as well as use of BookLooks, which frankly is an absolute Orwellian nightmare of a censorship platform. A day or so later, we received a response from the school administrator, which upon further investigation, we determined to be unconvincing . The letter and the correspondence are below for you to make your own determination.
Letter to Cameron School Board
June 11, 2024
Dear Cameron School Board President Ice and Dr. Robinson,
As Missouri librarians and members of the Missouri Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee, we would like to express to you our concern over the recent method of the school board on reviewing, evaluation, and the removal of books using BookLooks reviews, as well as the demand to cancel orders on books that highlight people of color and those of the LGBTQ+ communities. This is deeply concerning. If the administration is going to defer to pre-existing review websites, there are a number of rigorous and professional publications curated by experts in children’s literature, child development, literacy, and librarianship. These include Kirkus, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist.
In our professional opinion, BookLooks is not a rigorous source for accurate reviews and is driven by an ideology which is exclusionary of diverse voices and experiences in its various critiques (which contradicts Cameron School Board policy in the objectives of selection of library materials detailed in IIAC-R1 in the school board policy manual). BookLooks’ rating system is idiosyncratic, and provides no real holistic explanation of a book’s content, instead progressing from the premise that censorship is inevitable or necessary in the realm of children’s literature.
Of particular concern is the platform’s use of “gender ideology” as a criteria for requiring added scrutiny of books. This is an example of the aforementioned bias and exclusionary criteria, and should not be used to rate children’s literature. Instead, we encourage you to rely on librarians, your resident experts on what books are appropriate for children from a developmental, social, and cultural perspective. We further encourage you to allocate to your librarian the time and resources necessary to do the work based on their networks and expertise. We further promote Gateway and Truman awards, which are chosen by Missouri residents based on thoughtful criteria, and have a place in any collection in this state or elsewhere.
We are further concerned that decisions made to remove or restrict could cause harm to the trust that children and their families have in the schools they attend, as well as the students’ ability to pursue inquiry and access materials (see again IIAC-R1 in the school board policy manual). LGBTQ+ students need access to authentic representations of Queer experience to provide context for growing up in a predominantly “straight” society, just as cis/heterosexual children benefit from perspectives from non-binary characters that help them empathize with and understand the broader scope of human experience. We ask you to consider why someone would want to restrict access to these perspectives, particularly as our social context becomes increasingly global and interconnected, and individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ participate in an increasingly open and integrated way in our society. We ask you to consider if restricting or removing these works truly serves all the students in your district in their pursuit of knowledge and growth.
Please know that in our MLA statement on intellectual freedom, we outline the necessity of protecting the opportunities for access to diverse perspectives of which our students avail themselves of available resources to be well-rounded citizens and empathetic participants in contemporary society. As with other challenges in the state, we ask you to consider the irreparable harm that undermining intellectual freedom causes to students and their trust in public institutions that come between them and attempts to understand their world.
We support those teachers, librarians, and employees working toward maintaining and promoting inclusive library collections, and those who cultivate spaces for free inquiry and curiosity to flourish in schools. We support parents working to promote access to materials in your district, and applaud their efforts to support their kids during this fraught time. We lament the amount of abuse, stress, and other negative consequences students and hardworking teachers and librarians suffer as these regrettable censorship campaigns continue. Please support your students by reconsidering your recent decision to integrate BookLooks into professional practices, and please reinstate book orders of Gateway and Truman titles for the upcoming year.
While we understand the inclination to safeguard students from certain topics, we firmly believe in the right of each student and parent(s) informed by the expertise of your librarians to decide what is right for each individual. In prioritizing students’ developmental and intellectual needs, we believe you can begin regaining the trust of your community as well as step back into best practices in education and librarianship. Serving your students’ developmental and intellectual needs should be your first priority, your recent choices merely mirror the biases and moral panic sweeping our country, and ultimately have no benefit to your community or patrons.
Sincerely,
Missouri Library Association- Intellectual Freedom Committee (MLA-IFC)
2023 Winners of the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award
Response from Cameron School Board
June 12, 2024
Missouri Library Association,
Thank you for reaching out with your concerns. The District has been the subject of numerous complaints regarding library materials, coming from a small group of patrons and has been processing those complaints within the boundaries of our policies and procedures.
The impetus for your correspondence is the contention that the District is the “decision to integrate BookLooks into professional practices” and “the removal of books using BookLook reviews”. Please know that BookLooks is not the standard the District uses for reviewing books that are subject to complaint or during ordering, and never has been. If you received that information, it is factually incorrect. The complaints we have received often reference BookLooks. Because that is the case, we have reviewed BookLooks in order to be able to better prepare for future complaints and anticipate the position that might be taken by an individual making such a complaint. Again, it has never been the standard by which we review our materials, specifically for many of the well-founded reasons your organization has pointed out. Thank you for the concern associated with our students and staff members.
Sincerely, Pam Ice, President,
Cameron R-1 School Board
Our Follow-up Questions
Thanks for the clarification Pam. Can you give us a sense of the steps you are taking and how some of your review processes do work so that we can amend our letter? We appreciate your response and want to have as accurate a picture as possible of the context.
Thanks,
MLA-IFC
Cameron School Board’s Rationale
Good Afternoon, Missouri Library Association Committee,
The Board adopted a procedure for the review of book complaints at their August 29, 2023 Board meeting. This is the procedure being utilized by the Superintendent. The following is the excerpt from the Board meeting minutes that sets forth that procedure:
“Utilizing Internal Review Policy IIAC-R1 – INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA CENTERS/SCHOOL LIBRARIES – SELECTION AND RECONSIDERATION OF MATERIALS
Mrs. Lockridge moved to direct the Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and applicable building Principal(s) to perform a review of each book currently appearing on the list of challenged books, including those previously reviewed by the book challenge committee up through this date, to evaluate the books for their compliance with Policy IIAC-R1, the District’s vision and mission statements, CSIP and anti-discrimination policies and Missouri law and to take action to retain, retain with restrictions or remove each book, seconded by Mrs. Earley and approved by a 7-0 show of hands vote. The board will update the public in December of 2023 and every six (6) months thereafter rather than setting a timeline.”
Sincerely,
Sincerely, Pam Ice, President,
Cameron R-1 School Board
Our Decision/ Rationale
Following Pam’s last email, we reached out to stakeholders with whom we had previously been working on the problem. We are keeping their names and emails anonymous. Here is some of their feedback:
“My understanding is that they are using book looks as well as other unprofessional review sources to make their decisions, the books are not being read. It is not solely booklooks but by forcing a cross referencing of the challenged books to book looks, they are certainly using this information to determine if the book will cause issue with the vocal minority, influencing their decision process. No other book review site has been used in this cross referencing easy reference manner. The vague wording of the policy allows administration to base their decisions on whatever source they want with little to no explanation. They are then blocking books from being checked out without specific parental permission. The books are not on the shelves, they are behind the desk, effectively censoring them from a student browsing shelves for a book. “
And… “I don’t feel like your letter was incorrect. I also think that the board is trusting their administrators fully when there needs to be more scrutiny. Thank you for all your support in this.”
Based on this feedback, we are leaving the letter as-is (above). We stand with readers, librarians, and others who support the freedom to read, and reject attempts to undermine access for readers, libraries as institutions, and the expertise of librarians.
Joe Kohlburn 