HAMILTON COUNTY — The Hamilton East Public Library Board has voted to suspend their current controversial book reviewing policy that changed how it shelved books meant for teens.
This comes after the Hamilton East library has come under fire for removing books from the Young Adult section and putting them in the general fiction collection.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Board members met to discuss the issues, as well as the “Collection Development Policy and Implementation.”
The "Collection Development" policy stated books need to be in the adult section if they have repeated use of profanity. Books also cannot include depictions of violence or have any sexual content.
Under this policy, the book "The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green was removed from the teen section.
Thousands of people have since signed a petition hoping to see the policy changed or removed.
The board has voted to suspend their current reconsideration policy allowing librarians to go about business as usual. @wrtv. The board hopes to come to an agreement on a policy that is clearer for the librarians to follow.
— Meredith Hackler (@MhacklerTV) August 24, 2023
During the meeting, Board members agreed with the Library Director that the policy could use some more specific guidelines.
"We are taking a breath — taking some time — and we are going to look at what has been moved and if changes need to be made to the policy," HEPL Board member Andre Miksha said.
However, at this moment it is unclear if Green’s book will be moved back to the teen section.
For two minutes each, 40 people showed their opposition to the current policy during the meeting's public testimony.
The next Hamilton East Public Library board meeting is scheduled for Sept. 28.
