The Old Lyme Public Library鈥檚 Board of Trustees met Tuesday and decided to keep two adolescent sex education books in the library鈥檚 tween-teen section.
The meeting was held after local residents sent two letters to the Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library saying the books 鈥淟et鈥檚 Talk About it: The Teen鈥檚 Guide to Sex, Relationships and Being a Human鈥� by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan and 鈥淵ou Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender Puberty and Other Things鈥� by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smith should be removed from the library鈥檚 tween-teen section.
described the books as 鈥渦nbecoming of our community values鈥� and requested a review of the material within the two books. 鈥淎 library must maintain the public trust, and that is why we, as parents, grandparents, citizens of Lyme and Old Lyme are speaking out,鈥� the letter said.
鈥淭o be clear: we are not advocating banning any books. We are mindful of the conversations taking place nationally. Our concern is specific to the age-appropriate content within the Teen/Tween room.鈥�
But according to a statement from the Board of Trustees, the books met criteria laid out in the library's policy.
"The Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library recognizes that many materials are controversial and that any given item may offend some patrons," the statement said.
The library board said that parents should assume unaccompanied children have full access to the library, including the adult collections.
"Limiting access to content is the responsibility of the parent," the statement said. "If you feel you need to accompany your child to the library or any particular collection, we welcome and encourage your presence."
The library board also expressed its support for the library staff and "condemns wholeheartedly the inappropriate and unwarranted censure of professionals we believe are doing their jobs with the utmost professionalism."
Katie Huffman, director of the Old Lyme public library, said the request to remove books from libraries has been happening on a larger scale lately.
鈥淭here seems to be more legislation cropping up that鈥檚 supporting the notion of removing books or limiting access and that of course is challenging and of concern. The degree to which it鈥檚 happening and the number of people who are engaging in the process is significantly higher than anything I鈥檝e ever seen in my lifetime for sure,鈥� Huffman said.
According to Huffman, in the seven years that she鈥檚 worked in the Old Lyme library system, no books have been removed or moved to another section at the request of a patron.
The library has also received letters in support of the two books. Huffman said she鈥檚 received a petition from over 400 people in the community requesting the continued presence of the two sex-education books in the tween-teen section.
鈥淲e鈥檝e received dozens of individual letters in support of keeping the books where they are,鈥� Huffman said. 鈥淎 lot of people are citing the freedom to read and the idea that excluding content isn鈥檛 the way they want the library to operate, that it should be up to the individual to make decisions about what鈥檚 appropriate.鈥�
鈥淟et鈥檚 Talk About It鈥� by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan was also questioned at the . The Board of Trustees voted unanimously in October to keep it in their teen section with no restrictions.
In June, Newtown faced the attempted ban of 鈥淔lamer鈥� by Mike Curator and 鈥淏lankets鈥� by Craig Thompson from the high school鈥檚 library. The effort caused weeks of debate, including the resignation of two school board members. In the end, the board of education voted unanimously to keep the books on the library鈥檚 shelves.
Attempts to censor and ban books in libraries are spiking across the nation. According to the , there were 1,269 attempted book bans in 2022, which is a significant increase from 729 books in 2021.
鈥淓ach attempt to ban a book by one of these groups represents a direct attack on every person鈥檚 constitutionally protected right to freely choose what books to read and what ideas to explore,鈥� said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA鈥檚 Office for Intellectual Freedom.
鈥淭heir aim is to suppress the voices of those traditionally excluded from our nation鈥檚 conversations, such as people in the LGBTQIA+ community or people of color.鈥�
黑料新闻's Jennifer Ahrens contributed to this report, which has been updated.
