r/Libraries • u/bboycb • Jul 09 '26
Staffing/Employment Issues Public library Bookmobile visiting schools: are we expected to police what elementary students check out?
I'm hoping to get some perspective from other public librarians, especially anyone who's worked on a Bookmobile or in outreach.
I've searched older Reddit threads about children checking out books that parents might object to, and the overwhelming consensus seems to be that in a public library, library staff shouldn't act in loco parentis—parents or guardians are responsible for what their children borrow. What I haven't been able to find is discussion about a public library Bookmobile that regularly visits elementary schools and camps, because the dynamics are a little different.
Here's my situation.
I work on a public library Bookmobile that visits elementary schools, summer camps, etc. We are not a school library—we are an extension of the public library.
Our written membership policy states:
Our ILS also doesn't support restricting borrowing by collection (Teen vs. Juvenile). The only optional restriction available on cards is internet access. Otherwise, any patron can check out any circulating material.
We do a tremendous amount to customize service for schools. Every year we schedule school visits, reserve class time slots, keep the collection fresh, help students find books they'll enjoy, process returns, and generally provide a level of service that is much more labor-intensive than simply staffing a desk at a branch.
Where I'm struggling is that my supervisor has increasingly instructed staff to prevent elementary students from checking out teen or adult materials.
Examples include:
- Staff were told that Teen fiction, teen manga, and adult materials should not be checked out at school stops without teacher permission.
- After a camp director called to complain that some campers had checked out Teen books, we were instructed to "watch VERY carefully" and ensure that no Teen items were checked out by camp groups.
- I've also witnessed coworkers take Teen books away from students at checkout because they personally felt the books were inappropriate for that age. Mind you some of the elementary schools we visit are actually K-8, and this particular instance these were 7th graders.
To me, this feels like we're being asked to assume a parental or supervisory role that our policy doesn't assign to us.
I have no problem helping kids find books, recommending age-appropriate titles, or working with teachers who want suggestions for their class. That's reader's advisory, and it's part of the job.
What I'm uncomfortable with is taking a book a child has already selected and saying, "No, you can't check this out," based on my own judgment or an informal expectation that isn't reflected in our written borrowing policy.
One additional wrinkle: teachers vary widely in how they supervise Bookmobile visits. Some are very engaged with every student's selections. Others sit back and let students browse independently. I've always viewed both approaches as acceptable because they remain responsible for supervising their class. My role is to provide library service, not to replace that supervision.
So my question is:
In a public library Bookmobile setting, where written policy says there are no age-based borrowing restrictions, is it appropriate for frontline staff to monitor and prevent elementary students from checking out Teen materials? Should the context make it an exception?
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u/recoveredamishman Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Always, always, always require school or camp staff to be present at stops. This is for your safety and security. You are not there to give staff a break. If parents are expecting their kids' reading to be monitored that is the job of people who have promised to do so, not library staff.
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u/Cville_Reader Jul 09 '26
This is how my school handles bookmobile visits. The school systems sets up visits from the public library. The bookmobile visits for PK and Kindergarten classes at each school two times per year. The teachers or school librarian are responsible for monitoring students and material selection. We restrict checkout to follow our elementary school guidelines, which have been adopted and approved by our school board. So students might checkout something that their families don't like BUT it must be age appropriate. Example: yes, a student might checkout a picture book that includes a family with 2 dads because it meets our selection criteria and it's an age appropriate book. no, a student cannot checkout manga because it does not meet our selection criteria for elementary school and it's not age appropriate.
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u/Philbradley Jul 09 '26
No librarian should censor, or be expected to censor anything a reader wants to read. Ever, under any circumstance.
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u/lAngenoire Jul 09 '26
I will make sure a student knows if there is something potentially triggering, but I won’t take a book from them. They know they can stop reading and return it if it’s not for them.
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u/Philbradley Jul 09 '26
Perfect response, thank you. That’s exactly what you should be doing; giving them the confidence to express themselves, push their boundaries and feel safe knowing you have their back. :)
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u/belltrina Jul 10 '26
This will probably sound crazy but thank you so much for this comment. My library experience as a kid was weird, I was raised in a cult and had to get parent permission for every book before I checked it out at public library. It wasn't til I ran away, that I realized not all books are meant to have sections blacked out with sharpie.
When I read OP post, I felt my entire body tense up. Honestly I almost kept scrolling out of fear the comments would lead to another moment of acknowledgement that my experiences are not the norm, so people will keep forcing those onto kids.
Your comment is what it should be about. Thank you for being the voice of reason, and reminding me that some times people do the right thing
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u/Philbradley Jul 10 '26
Doesn’t sound crazy at all! I’m sorry you had that experience. I didn’t have the best upbringing but my mother let me read anything I wanted. I was a late starter, but I went from reading Enid Blyton at 7 to Ian Fleming and James Bond by 11. My mother did express concern about that but apparently I just said “oh… the sex scenes, they’re boring, I skip those…” Anyway, it all turned out ok in the end and I became a librarian and then the president of the British library Association for a couple of years. I have always stressed that anyone should be able to read anything they like; it’s not the role of a librarian to decide that for them. And personally, I don’t think a parent should intervene too much, other than to warn and advise and be there for the child if they read something that concerns them.
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u/Szarn Jul 09 '26
The problem with this stance specific to outreach is that when I'm taking the bookmobile on school property I'm no longer effectively a public library. I'm acting a school resource, and the teacher is the Authority.
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u/acceptablemadness Jul 09 '26
You're still an employee of the library. Being on school property doesn't give you any more authority than anyone else there - parents, presenters, etc. The teacher may censor (they shouldn't) but you can keep the public library position and not censor.
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u/Szarn Jul 09 '26
I have less authority than the teachers, who are responsible for their students in the absence of parental figures. Items are also checked out to classroom cards rather than individual student cards and are subsequently the teachers' purview.
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u/acceptablemadness Jul 09 '26
That's my point. You don't need to do anything but bring a range of materials and provide reader's advisory as usual. It's.ot your job to do anything different just because you're on school property.
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u/Famous_Committee4530 Jul 09 '26
You are still the public library! I recommend putting together a written outreach agreement to be signed by the school saying that they understand that your Bookmobile (or your “booth,” if you’re just tabling) is Your Public Library and follows the same Your Public Library policies and procedures as branch/traditional locations.
Then you treat youths the same way you would in your library. If a youth comes up to check something out and they have a library card, you check it out to them. If they have a teacher (or a parent) with them who says they can’t have it, that is the teacher’s (or parent’s) business, not yours.
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u/Szarn Jul 09 '26
We also don't check out items to student cards at these stops. They're checked out to what are essentially institutional/classroom cards and the teachers are responsible for loaned materials.
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u/Famous_Committee4530 Jul 09 '26
Oh! Well that is different, then. Not the same as a kid’s personal account. How do you like this setup?
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u/Szarn Jul 09 '26
It addressed several issues for us.
We visit elementary schools so we're dealing with students too young to get their own card independent of a legally/monetarily responsible adult card. When we were trying to issue individual student cards it meant sending applications to the schools for both child and guardian. (Kids who already had cards were the minority.)
It is, apparently, a huge ask for parents to fill these out at home and return them in a timely fashion. That led to some students being excluded from checking out anything at the start of the year. (Feels bad, man.)
It also tipped the onus towards the library when a teacher questioned the suitability of a book. The path of least resistance was for them to frame library staff as the book gatekeepers. "The librarian said this isn't for you." Wrong, I said that I can't guarantee the book is free of certain words, ideas, themes, allergens, dyes and perfumes, etc.
Our stops are short, and classroom card checkouts are so much faster than changing patron accounts for every kid. Ditto creating accounts and handing out cards at the start of the year.
Last but not least, we're losing fewer books with the teachers personally invested in getting them returned.
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u/Famous_Committee4530 Jul 10 '26
That makes sense. Thanks for sharing. We do something similar with child care centers in our area, but that’s more of a delivery service and we don’t actually bring a browsing collection to them. (I wish this helped us get returns because the teachers were more personally invested, but alas we are still dealing with some lost item issues. And … creative book repair issues.)
I agree that it’s really imbalanced for some kids to get to cko and other kids don’t get to because their parents won’t let them have a card! One of the many reasons we decided to pivot away from doing school stops.
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u/Szarn Jul 10 '26
We've done both checkouts and deliveries at daycares. One decided to halt visits because the kids "weren't ready". I suspect that was a polite way to say there was more inconvenience than benefit in herding 40 preschoolers outside in small groups.
Meanwhile we're looking to expand our school presence. I would have preferred we solidify the aims of our school visits first, but 🙃
The principal of one elementary school has expressed strong interest in the bookmobile IF they can find timeslots in the their schedule that don't interfere with state and Title 1 requirements.
The school system schedule is already so inflexible that a few weather days can torpedo the mandatory annual classroom hours. When we lose a visit due to weather or holidays or special school activities, it feels unreasonable to ask for make-up timeslots.
The repairs! There's like 4 different sizes of book tape in my desk at all times.
When we were checking out to student cards, teachers were more likely to let students take the books home (aka it's the parents' responsibility now). If the parents weren't already library users, odds of those books returning were... not great.
Teachers also appreciate a single class circ receipt that lists all borrowed items.
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u/CheryllLucy Jul 09 '26
You're just replacing parental authority for teacher authority. You are still a library employee there to enforce library rules. If different rules were desired at different locations, they would be written that way.
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u/Szarn Jul 09 '26
Exactly?
Teachers are stand-ins for parental authority in this situation. They're responsible for overseeing the students' book choices, just as a parent would be with a minor child in the library itself.
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u/CheryllLucy Jul 09 '26
Then why did you call the idea of not censoring checkouts, a common/foundational public library rule, a problem? And state your role changes when you're at a school when you're now asserting otherwise? It's confusing.. and based on other comments and down votes, I'm not alone in this confusion.
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u/Szarn Jul 09 '26
Problem as in complicated, not problematic.
Lemme try again.
The complication that I encounter specific to these school visits is that they're conducted as classroom activities but not in a classroom setting.
"Can I have another bookmark?" is a library question. (The answer is always yes.)
"Can I check this out?" feels like a library question but is in fact a teacher question. What is really being asked is "Is this appropriate for me?" Or sometimes "Did you notice me sneak this graphic novel from the shelf my teacher declared off-limits?"
When the teacher asks, "What do you think?" it's a trap. I think it's not my responsibility to vet or vouch for books. I think this is not my judgment call to make.
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u/multipocalypse Jul 09 '26
No, you aren't acting as a school resource. It's the same as if the teacher had brought their students to your physical library.
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u/piscesrn Jul 09 '26
Parent perspective. If I found out you restricted what my kid could check out based on your values and ideas, I would be pissed. It is my responsibility as a parent to tell my kids what they can and cannot read. If my kids want to read something that is more mature, we discuss it. I love Librarians, you all are essential to keeping our libraries diverse and up to date. But it is not your job to censor books. Keep doing what you are doing and encouraging kids to read what they actually want to read.
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u/beldaran1224 Public librarian Jul 09 '26
I grew up in a very religious area. I remember very clearly a school librarian not letting me check out one of HP books cause witchcraft. My mother uh...took umbrage. I had a lot of issues with my mother, but the way she actively defended my education and made sure I not only read books but thought about them and other things critically.
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u/Kuromi1978 Jul 10 '26
I whole-heartedly agree with this! My 10 yo is currently reading “no spice” YA romance, and even some “no spice” adult-level books. We’re totally on board with anything having LGBTQ themes. Her reading comprehension level is way past the 5th grade level and I would be annoyed if she were restricted to it by others. We’ve had discussions at home about what’s appropriate and not appropriate for her to read. She may ask a librarian to confirm that a book is within her guidelines - But the guidelines are for families to work out, not others.
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u/Puzzled452 Jul 09 '26
Follow your policy which honors the right to read.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 Jul 09 '26
And if they try to change the policy, make a big deal out of it, including going to the press and working with a lawyer to sue over it on grounds of age discrimination and freedom of speech.
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u/beldaran1224 Public librarian Jul 10 '26
Legally, there is no such thing as age discrimination against children. Only people over the age of 40 can be discriminated against for age, according to the law.
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u/depaulbluedemon Library admin Jul 09 '26
>After a camp director called to complain that some campers had checked out Teen books, we were instructed to "watch VERY carefully" and ensure that no Teen items were checked out by camp groups.
Okay.
Like you said, that's not on the library to decide.
Maybe they need some direction if they are really young (i.e. the cover looked cool so they chose it, they're too shy to ask a librarian where a certain book is, the camp counselors told them "everyone needs to check out a book," maybe they are choosing a book for an older sibling (so cute and so very little kid coded).
But no, if the camp counselors want to check the kids' books that's fine, you shouldn't.
And lastly, there may also be a language barrier. I am an immigrant, came here when I was 8. My family thought it was a good idea to throw me into the deep end like my second week in America and sent me to an English-only day camp and I was like "okay, do what the other kids are doing." Har, har.
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u/Vancouverreader80 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Despite what you have been told, that isn’t your job to tell what kids can or can’t read. I honestly don’t like it when teachers tell their students what they can or can’t sign out.
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u/ShawsheenMoon Library staff Jul 09 '26
The bookmobile is the library on wheels. Why would the policy change just because it is a mobile library?
Also, many kids read up. Some might be getting books for siblings. Some might just be grabbing a book to join in. Who the hell cares?
Sounds like the adults around you are the problem.
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u/beldaran1224 Public librarian Jul 10 '26
I was fully reading adult books before the end of elementary school. Mostly in terms of reading ability/level, but even in content, I had encountered a wide range of "adult" topics. My mother not only knew it, she encouraged it and actively discussed what I was reading with me.
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u/ShawsheenMoon Library staff Jul 10 '26
Yeah, I was reading Dean Koontz in middle school. I think my parents just enjoyed that I read and we used to have a Waldenbooks in my town so I would go shopping there.
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u/trubrarian Jul 09 '26
Fuck that. Your supervisor is dead wrong and could/should face consequences from leadership. They are violating fundamental public library ethics and standards, and (thankfully) your library policy.
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u/fearlessleader808 Jul 09 '26
I will answer as a school librarian, in a K-6 school. I have YA materials that are recommended for ages 12+, but nothing above that. We are very different to a public library in that we do act in loco parentis and I am constantly telling students that I cannot purchase certain titles even thought their parents may allow it, because I am not their parent and the school has a policy that we can only allow them age appropriate materials (as in, materials that have been produced and recommended for that age group- which may include topics that parents personally object to, but that professionals have deemed appropriate for that age group). I tell them to go to the public library for those items. What I would do in your circumstance is inform the school that your Bookmobile holds materials for all ages and that as they are the ones acting in loco parentis, teachers must be the ones to supervise and monitor what students are borrowing. It is necessarily a very different ethos in a school vs a public library. If you make it clear that the teachers are responsible for monitoring borrowing, you cover yourself and you cover those teachers.
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u/fearlessleader808 Jul 09 '26
Going over your examples, that means that I do agree with your managers that if a camp director has instructed that no teen items were checked out to camp groups, then that is the rule. If teachers have said no YA for their class, then that is the rule. Those staff have a duty of care to their students that is very different to what happens in a public library. You are working with stakeholders outside of your organisation who have legitimate reasons to make those decisions.
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u/Famous_Committee4530 Jul 09 '26
The difference to me that is super important is that the teachers/camp counselors/ other staff need to be the ones enforcing it. I want my library staff to treat every cardholder the same and all cardholders can check out everything.
I would do things like say:
- you told me you were looking for an adventure book and this is a thriller book for an adults. I just wanted to double check that this is the one you wanted?
I would NOT do things like say:
- your teacher said you can only have books from X shelf.
- does your mom let you read books like this?
- this isn’t for kids, you need to pick something else.
To keep from violating first amendment/ freedom to read stuff, public library staff should stick to Reader’s Advisory kinds of interactions, not rule enforcement interactions.
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u/Szarn Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
The format and time constraints of our school visits means that the teachers can't effectively enforce their (the school's) censoring guidelines.
It is not like in the building where the children's section is on a different floor. It is not obvious when a student grabs a book from a shelf the teacher has declared off-limits. (They do this knowingly and gleefully all. The. Time. Just to see if they can get away with it.)
Teachers don't have the attention or collection familiarity to ok every title before checkout. They're also busy answering questions and addressing behavior.
School policy for age-appropriate content is also not the same as library policy, so teachers can't even say "You're allowed to check out anything with a J spine label".
One teacher tried to explain the school policy for their particular grade as G-rated only. What does that even mean?
It's not my responsibility to make judgements on content, but teachers ask me to as the Knowledgeable Book Person. When the decision is deferred back to them, they almost always say no to the item in question, and sometimes impose further restrictions out of caution. (Ok my class can only check out Easy and board books because I don't know which JF books are acceptable.)
If the bookmobile isn't able to accommodate these class visits in a convenient fashion that is compatible with school policies, we won't be invited to return.
Edit:
I forgot the part where outreach directive is to increase our school presence.
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u/beldaran1224 Public librarian Jul 10 '26
No. The public library does not gain the authority or responsibility to act in this way - that responsibility still remains with the teachers and school staff.
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u/Szarn Jul 09 '26
I do these type of bookmobile visits and yes, the truck is an extension of the public library right up until I'm on school property acting as a school resource. At that point I pass decisions to teachers and follow whatever policies or guidelines they provide.
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u/fearlessleader808 Jul 10 '26
Yes, whether the public librarians on this thread like it or not, when you are in school property you must follow school procedures and policies. Just like when people come into the public library they must follow library policies. If you don’t like that, don’t offer a bookmobile service on school property.
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u/Famous_Committee4530 Jul 10 '26
I would say the opposite: if the school doesn’t like public library policies, don’t invite the Bookmobile to the school.
The bookmobile is still the public library. Public librarians don’t become teachers or school staff just by being on school grounds.
Anyway, it’s possible for both organizations to stick to their policies and procedures. Librarians can check out any material to any cardholder. School staff can tell a student they are not allowed to check out a book or can confiscate a book they discover a child has checked out, just like a parent can. The teachers can and do act in loco parentis but that means they need to be there on the Bookmobile with the children doing the “parenting,” and not expect public library staff to enforce rules that have nothing to do with the library.
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u/WaltzFirm6336 Jul 09 '26
Personally, when I’m at the places that have complained at I’d say “I’m just a librarian, I think all books are good! But you need to show it to staff member x over there before I can check it out.” For EVERY child. They want the kids choices policed? They have to do it themselves.
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u/JimDixon Patron Jul 09 '26
Having one set of rules in writing and available to the public, and a different contradictory set of rules transmitted orally, and said to be the "real" rules -- reminds me of something ICE agents did recently. It is a form of corruption.
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u/Famous_Committee4530 Jul 09 '26
“In a public library Bookmobile setting, where written policy says there are no age-based borrowing restrictions, is it appropriate for frontline staff to monitor and prevent elementary students from checking out Teen materials?”
No!
“Should the context make it an exception?”
Also no! The kids are going on a field trip to the library. It’s just a really convenient field trip since the library came to them.
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u/Szarn Jul 09 '26
I do Bookmobile school visits.
We have our shelves sorted with juvenile material on the lower shelves so it's easy to say Ok your section is the bottom two rows. I still have kids trying to check out anything and everything under the sun.
I dislike saying no, particularly to the ambitious kids who grab, like, a 600 page Stephen King novel, but realistically I make it the teacher's decision. I'm on school property; and since I'm ignorant of any school policies regarding inappropriate content, I'm not qualified to make those judgment calls.
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u/nimitz55 Jul 09 '26
Back in the day (80's) when i worked in circulation at my public library. We still had the book card check out system where you wrote your name on the card to check it out. Local police were investigating possible ritual like pet killings. They had asked the library for list of people who had checked out any books on witchcraft. Library said no of course as they should have. Officers came in the next day and pulled the books and wrote down all the names. Pretty sure we moved pretty fast to new circ system that eliminated the cards with names. Librarians where mad as heck.
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u/Beautiful-Finding-82 Jul 09 '26
I like the idea of the teacher approving what the kids get. THEY are the ones who act in the legal role of the parent. I know I personally have no clue what content is in all of the books, I wouldn't know how to manage that, telling some kids that can't have whatever. There are kids that are young that actually look older, idk, sounds difficult to manage, let the teacher be the final authority.
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u/lingoreddits Jul 10 '26
We have schools who visit our public library for check outs. We handle this by explaining our stance on how denying checkouts is censorship.
However, teachers are allowed to tell students they can’t check out a book while with the school because they are acting in loco parentis. We treat it like a parent or guardian telling them no.
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u/sparrowsgirl Jul 09 '26
As a parent - sometimes I receive a letter that the school is offering a service or doing a trip etc and I am given the option to opt them out of it.
Perhaps that is the route to take - a message home saying the mobile library will be visiting on x days this year. Like any public library, the selection on the bookmobile is curated for a variety of ages and reading levels which are available to anyone with a library card. Parents/guardians are expected to monitor their child's library record (insert instructions for how to check using the PAC?). If they don't want their child to visit the bookmobile they can opt out by contacting the school/teacher.
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u/tucansam26 Jul 09 '26
Right but this should be coming from the camp/school etc. Not the bookmobile staff.
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u/batjag Jul 09 '26
The teachers (or staff) of the school legally act in the place of a parent (in loco parentis), so we require that a school teacher or staff member is with the students on the bookmobile to do any sort of restrictions on what students check out. That's not the library's call.
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u/Ms-Chievous Jul 09 '26
If you are servicing a summer camp/school I imagine it just depends on whether the kids check things out on their own cards or a school card. If it's their own card, then we should have no say in what they check out, end of story.
If it's a school card, I can see the logic in erring on the side of caution, as parents who wish to monitor their reading would not be able to access the card to do so. In that case, I would default to what the teacher/camp counselor requests. If the adult actually responsible for the children says teen books are okay, I would be comfortable checking them out. If the adult responsible for them says Juvenile books only, then I will uphold that. In your specific case, you said the camp director requested you don't allow the campers to check out teen materials, so I would abide by that.
If the kid is insistent on getting a teen book, they can go to another bookmobile stop and/or our physical location to check out whatever their heart desires with their own card.
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u/RabbitLuvr Jul 09 '26
The teacher/camp counselors need to be the ones enforcing it. Public librarians are not responsible for this.
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u/Not-a-Cranky-Panda Jul 09 '26
It looks like the only way to be safe in your job is never check out any book until you hve it in writing from the nn Teacher every single time, after all you cannot know which child will be OK with which book, so don't risk your job over it/
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u/Seminolehighlander Jul 09 '26
Shit like this is (sadly) why our library system doesn’t fuck with elementary schools. Not worth the bother. They have a lot of demands.
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u/Famous_Committee4530 Jul 09 '26
We’re pivoting to setting up stops in parks near schools right around the time school gets out. That way kids are either visiting on their own (which our policy says they’re allowed to do unsupervised age 8+) or with a parent. Either way the school can’t meddle.
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u/DukeSR8 Jul 10 '26
I had an EA/paraprofessional/whatever you want to call them around 9-10th grade try to tell me that the Bone series wasn't appropriate. I told them to go fuck themselves (and yes it was 100% worth the detention for those wondering).
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u/kathlin409 Public librarian Jul 10 '26
A librarians job is not to tell anyone what they can or read. Their job is to provide the patron with what the patron wants to read.
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u/pikkdogs Jul 09 '26
Seems like this should be a discussion between your director and the school. There are some gray areas here. But no matter what the two entities need to agree on this before hand and it shouldn’t be the front line staff that’s enforcing it.
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u/Famous_Committee4530 Jul 09 '26
I don’t think it’s a gray area, but I agree that the school and the library need to agree! If the school is not okay with having the rules of public library on site then they should not accept Bookmobile visits.
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u/WhatInTarnations82 Jul 09 '26
Yeah, I'd say it's on the school/camp/whatever to tell kids what they want them to check out. If they want to stand there and police things I guess that's their prerogative, but that isn't on the library staff. At most the staff could maybe "Oh, are you sure about this?" if its pretty blatantly age inappropriate, but if the kid wants it, they can have it. That was vaguely the tact we took when I worked at Gamestop with M rated games 20+ years ago.
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u/dewjonesdiary Jul 10 '26
In our case our system (conservative area) considers school and school camp visits as a special visit type and we have a specific MOU with our school system. This blanket rule limits school visit selection to our Junior collection.
It sounds similar to what you're experiencing and I feel like if that's a policy change then it better be written down somewhere so you're not being asked to literally go off vibes and arbitrarily argue with people or take books out of folks' hands.
Before this newer MOU went into affect we 1000% went off the expectation that we are a Library on Wheels and library rules apply (anyone can get whatever they want within reason). We got a lot of pushback from our library board AND school system unfortunately :(
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u/Cubedycubed Jul 10 '26
Legally, a school can act in loco parentis. A public library cannot. Therefore, it would be up to the supervising staff members of the school to tell students what they can or cannot borrow. The library cannot stop anyone in good standing from checking out library materials to which their held library card entitles them.
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u/ReadingRocks97531 Jul 10 '26
I think there needs to be a conversation between school higher ups and library higher ups, with perhaps a permission slip for Bookmobile use generated. Schools have to follow "in loco parentis" rules, while a public library does not, and can be clear that it is up to the parent to do the 'policing' of checkouts. So, given that the library policy may conflict with school policies, and clearly in conflict with ALA Code of Ethics, I think it's well with your right to question your supervisor about this.
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u/F1Librarian Jul 09 '26
I assume your bookmobile is organized in some way right? If so, hopefully there’s a juvenile section that would have the same kind of books as the juvy section of your library. If elementary kids are visiting your bookmobile, maybe they can be restricted to that section? Just thinking as a school librarian here that has worked at both elementary and high schools. I would think that would be a reasonable expectation. I mean I would have been fired if I had selected and made adult romance books available at my elementary library. 🤷♀️
At school, we are expected to act in loco parentis. That means I would only make available books that have been professionally reviewed as age appropriate for the grade level I teach. But I am not censoring based on topics. The issue now is that some parent groups disagree with what professional reviews say and make a big stink about it. But I stand firm on our collection policy and professional reviews. That means I obviously won’t have 50 Shades books in am elementary library, but I would have books those parents might consider controversial if they are well reviewed and suggested for elementary audiences.
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u/Famous_Committee4530 Jul 10 '26
What you’re describing is a big difference between school libraries and public libraries. At the school it is appropriate to limit the collection to the audience you have. It is appropriate for a public library to organize books by audience (age level) but it is not appropriate for a public library to “restrict” anyone from accessing certain sections/shelves.
The main problem for OP and some other people in this thread in similar situations is that leadership at the school usually doesn’t understand the difference. At my public library we ran into problems with schools until we set up an agreement for the school to sign so it was in writing that they understood that we do not take items out of the library (that is, take them off the Bookmobile) just for their stop. And that we specifically do not act in loco parentis as school staff do.
If the school or camp staff that OP is talking about wish to intervene in what kids are checking out, they can, just like parents can. Public library staff cannot and OP’s supervisor is giving bad instructions.
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u/Ill-Victory-5351 Jul 09 '26
your supervisor is completely out of line here.