KING WILLIAM \u2014 More than two years ago, some residents flagged what they deemed controversial books that were available to young people in King William\u2019s public libraries.<\/p>\n
Today, some of the titles are no longer on the database operated by the county\u2019s new, privately-run library, while a novel about potty training has been removed from the children\u2019s section.<\/p>\n
The Tidewater Review found that some of the Pamunkey Regional Library books citizens complained to the King William Board of Supervisors about in March 2023 are no longer listed in the King William County Library catalog. King William left the PRL earlier this year and hired the private company Library Systems and Services to run its libraries.<\/p>\n
At the Board of Supervisors meeting on Aug. 11, District 1 Supervisor Bill Hodges said some residents had complained that some books on reading lists from West Point schools were not available at the new library in the town. A database search revealed that popular, non-controversial titles as well as more commonly banned books were unavailable at the new library, while PRL stocks them in book or electronic formats.<\/p>\n
LS&S took over King William\u2019s two libraries at the start of July. West Point is the only branch presently open, while King William County plans to renovate the parks and recreation building to become the Upper King William branch.<\/p>\n
PRL books highlighted by citizens in 2023 included \u201cMe and Earl and the Dying Girl\u201d by Jesse Andrews. The book, about a socially awkward teenage boy, is available as a hard copy and in electronic format on the PRL database, but no titles are listed by the King William County Library.<\/p>\n
At a Board of Supervisors meeting in 2023, resident Elaine Daniel cited the rise of mental illness among teens as justification for getting rid of some books.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe characters in this book are neurotic, they are nihilist,\u201d she said of Andrews\u2019 novel. \u201cThey think nothing is important, nothing matters, and the only thing that they can focus on is destruction. So why would we offer such a book as this? We don\u2019t want to ban it, but we don\u2019t want to buy books that have no good purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same meeting, resident Rose Bloomfield branded \u201cLast Night at the Telegraph Club\u201d by Malinda Lo as \u201cpornographic literature\u201d and \u201cdisgusting.\u201d The young adult title is still available at PRL, but is no longer available on King William\u2019s database. Bloomfield spoke encouragingly about the ban of \u201cLady Chatterley\u2019s Lover\u201d in the 1950s. D.H. Lawrence\u2019s controversial book is listed in King William\u2019s catalog. However, no items were marked as available Sunday.<\/p>\n
King William\u2019s new library has also changed the PRL classification of \u201cA Potty for Zaza\u201d by Mylo Freeman from children\u2019s picture books to juvenile fiction, meaning it has been moved from the children\u2019s section to the young adult section.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking for Alaska\u201d by John Green, a novel branded \u201cobscene\u201d by a citizen at the 2023 meeting, remains in the King William catalog. However, \u201cAll Boys Aren\u2019t Blue\u201d by George M. Johnson, listed as the most challenged book by the American Library Association due to its LGBTQ+ and sexually explicit content, is not listed in King William while it remains available via the PRL.<\/p>\n
Popular and uncontroversial middle school books missing from the King William library system catalog include \u201cHatchet\u201d by Gary Paulsen and \u201cGhost\u201d by Jason Reynolds.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 11, Hodges alluded to citizen dissatisfaction with the library branch in West Point, which opened at the start of July.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the citizens went to the library in West Point looking for the books required by West Point schools, and they are not available. This would entail more than one copy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Board Chair Justin Catlett said he would take up the issue with Ashley Herndon, chair of the library board of trustees.<\/p>\n
Herndon did not respond to emails from the Tidewater Review last week. Hodges did not respond to a request for the list of books.<\/p>\n
Fran Freimarck, a retired director of the PRL and a critic of the Board of Supervisors\u2019 decision to leave the regional system, said the new library system had a restricted book budget and fewer copies of books were likely to be available in the West Point library.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past with Pamunkey Regional, people could request multiple copies of the same book,\u201d she said in an email. \u201cPamunkey would pull the books from all 10 libraries and send them to West Point for use by a class or book group. That is not possible since with LS&S there is only one library and just the books in that library.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a question several asked during the efforts to save our libraries,\u201d she added. \u201cLS&S always assured people they would provide multiple copies, but they have no way of doing that except by buying them, and I doubt they will do that because then they would need to find shelf space for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freimarck said she has questioned the amount of money the county is paying LS&S while only one library is operating. The contract with LS&S states that the private company would provide two libraries in King William County, she said.<\/p>\n
Interim County Administrator Clarence Monday said bids for the renovation of the parks and rec building into a library were expected to open Tuesday.<\/p>\n
David Macaulay, Davidmacaulayva@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KING WILLIAM \u2014 More than two years ago, some residents flagged what they deemed controversial books that were…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":161228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,93444,1370,93443,67,132,68,906],"class_list":{"0":"post-161227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-king-william-county","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-tidewater-review","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-virginia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115061399505994021","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}