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Alabama Librarians Object to Warning LabelsHuntsville, Alabama, school librarians are resisting a new directive from education officials that asks teachers to identify and mark controversial books on reading lists and offer an alternative choice to anyone who asks.The teacher’s job is to guide children to reading materials, “not put them off with labels,” McDonnell Elementary Librarian Kimberley Jones said at a Huntsville (Ala.) Board of Education meeting November 6. She also noted that the American Library Association considers such labels a barrier to reading. In addition, the school’s policy already provides a system for challenging controversial books, Jones said; those titles are reviewed by a committee that includes the librarian, the principal, and teachers, the Huntsville Times reported November 7. “Apparently, I stirred up quite a stink regarding these warning labels,” said parent Sharon Buck, who had protested S. E. Hinton’s Tex in September. Buck stressed that she didn’t want to ban books, only add advisory labels. “But I have a problem with my child reading books that are full of vulgar stuff and take the Lord’s name in vain,” she said. Grissom High School teacher Pam Smith had complained at an earlier meeting that labels are unnecessary because teachers wouldn’t assign books they didn’t approve of in the first place. The school board did not publicly respond to Buck or Jones. Posted November 17, 2003. |
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