State education superintendent Eric Dr. Mackey sent a memo last week to local Alabama school superintendents to ensure they have a book reconsideration policy in place at their libraries. This comes after only one book was challenged and removed from a school library in 2022.

“Every local board of education should have an approved written policy that guides the selection, deselection, and reconsideration of library resources,” Mackey said. “This policy should be reviewed and revised on a regular basis (and) be familiar to all school administrators and school library staff.”

While public libraries have been the center of debate about appropriate books for children, Alabama’s school libraries have mainly remained unchallenged.

“School libraries are not public libraries and serve a specific targeted audience that includes mostly juvenile users,” Mackey stated in the Oct. 6 memo. “This nuance of school libraries makes it even more important for educators to ensure that the materials available are age and developmentally appropriate and that parents and guardians understand the mission and role of school libraries and their collections.”

Mackey said there should be a straightforward procedure “for handling complaints and for reconsidering challenged materials (that) should be clearly defined and communicated in the policy and be applicable to anyone.” He added there should be an appeal process to the local board of education if a book is challenged or someone wants to retain a book.

At Thursday’s state board of education work session, Dr. Mackey brought up the memo, and he said he’d “talked to superintendents about the importance of having a challenge policy in place.”

Belinda McRae, a Republican representing District 7, spoke up during the meeting and said she’d spoken with an elementary school librarian in her district who received books considered inappropriate as samples from book companies. The librarian had to change her method of handling the books.

“Now I sit down and I read every book before I put it out, and I make the determination whether or not this would be accepted in this community,” the librarian told McRae.

Dr. Mackey was unavailable for additional comment at the time of publication.

Education reporter Trish Crain contributed to this story.