Thanks to everyone for your feedback on having a "mature content"
section/designation in your middle school. Here are the responses I received:
At my high school I have a "restricted access" section for books with
"questionable" content. The books are shelved in my production room behind a locked
door. Students must have written consent from a parent in order to check out books
in this area. I did this in my former middle school library at the suggestion of
the principal and it worked very well.
I don't have parent permission, but I do have an 8th grade shelf. This shelf is
kept separate from regular circulation. The 8th graders are told ahead of time
what the books on that shelf might contain (sex, drugs, violence, etc.). Students
are told that if they will be offended, or if their parents would rather them not
read these books, don't check them out. This is our 1st year for it and we haven't
had any problems. In fact, I can't keep the books on the shelves. Our 8th graders
are reading more.
I have this very situation in my middle school library. Several years ago, we had a
rash of parental complaints. My principal at the time was ultra-conservative. His
reaction was to ban every book with any word or situation he deemed inappropriate.
Because we had a reconsideration policy already in place, he had to abide by the
decision of the reconsideration committee. To appease him (and at his demand,) we
started a restricted shelf. The shelf is in my office. The books on the shelf
cannot be checked out without parental permission. I keep the permission letters in
a notebook on the shelf with the books. On the back of the permission letter, the
student must fill in the title of the book and date checked out each time they
check out. Any student, sixth, seventh or eighth grade, may ask for permission to
read these books. I will attach a copy of the letter to this email. It is not a
perfect system, but it seems to work for us. An interesting side note to this
story: we have not had ANY parental complaints since we began the restricted shelf.
I have a 6th-12th library. I do have an "Advanced" section (based on subject
matter, lexile level, etc.) where I mark spines with yellow dots, but I don't
restrict who checks out from that section. I always tell students that if a book
doesn't fit them, to return it and check out a different one. Books are like
clothes---one size does not fit all! :)
I don't have parent permission, but I do have an 8th grade shelf. This shelf is
kept separate from regular circulation. The 8th graders are told ahead of time
what the books on that shelf might contain (sex, drugs, violence, etc.). Students
are told that if they will be offended, or if their parents would rather them not
read these books, don't check them out. This is our 1st year for it and we haven't
had any problems. In fact, I can't keep the books on the shelves. Our 8th graders
are reading more.
Please do! There are so many awesome books out there great for 8th graders but
questionable for 6th. I hate for kids to miss out on these reading experiences. Not
sure about the parental consent thing though? I'm afraid I personally have a 8th
grader whose been far too educated by books his mom has recommended! In my mind,
better learned in a book that discusses feelings and promotes discussion rather
than being confused. Right?
I don't have experience with this, but I was just thinking...might it be easier to
collect opt-out slips rather than permission slips for this more mature content in
your media center? That seems to allow access to all rather than denying access to
all. Are you able to make a note on patrons' accounts that they are/are not
allowed to check out these items? Destiny provides a patron note feature, but I'm
not sure that the notes show up each time a patron's record is accessed for
checkout.
Lindy Pals, Library Media Specialist
Jefferson Middle School, Jefferson GA
lpals@jeffcityschools.org
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