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The Young Adult section at the Denham Springs-Walker library branch in Livingston Parish after the board of control unanimously approved to temporarily relocate YA materials to the Adult section while they are under review on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save There's a readathon underway at Livingston Parish libraries.
The parish library shelves reserved for young adult books are temporarily empty, while librarians read tens of thousands of the books to hopefully resolve concerns about children having access to potentially sexually explicit books at the parish's libraries. The local library board of control in January approved pulling 30,000 young adult print and audiobook materials from children's sections and moving those deemed sexually explicit to the adult side in each of the five library branches. Young adult is a category of books geared toward youths 13 and older.
Each book is being reviewed to make sure it complies with the Louisiana law that defines minors' access to sexually explicit materials. The law outlines several examples of what qualifies as sexually explicit content. This move is a long time coming for certain residents of Livingston Parish.
Since 2022 , residents and local officials have voiced repeated worries about the possibility of sexually explicit content in books placed in the children's section in the libraries. "Reviewing 30,000 materials is a huge undertaking that will naturally take away from other responsibilities. But given the importance the Board of Control has placed on this, we are making this review process a top priority," said David Gray, spokesperson for the parish libraries.
The goal is to have all material reviewed by June, after starting the process Feb. 19, Gray said. The five libraries have 15 certified librarians reviewing the books and audiobooks to see if they meet the state's definition of sexually explicit material.
Those that do are catalogued for the adult section of the local libraries. Gray said it's too early to tell if staff will have to work extra hours to complete the review, but it seems extremely likely given the "sheer volume" of work to do. The librarians don't have a set number of books they have to read in a day to accomplish the goal.
Library board vice president Becky Morgan initially proposed the review of the 30,000 young adult books, in response to months and months of community outcry from various pockets of the parish. The intention is the ongoing review will give the libraries a chance to prevent certain objectionable books from children and to ease residents. Jennifer Holden, an outspoken parish resident about book content children can read at local libraries, said further actions need to be taken, like making the classifications for young adult and teen books more strict.
Mary Loofbourrow, another parish resident, disagreed, saying parents can restrict books for their children themselves rather than spend time and money for the parish librarians to do it. "How much time and labor is this entailing, and for what reason" she said. At the Feb.
18 library board meeting, Parish President Randy Delatte and the library board passed a resolution to recognize the library staff's hard work for the massive book review..
