Developing and Defending Collections in Challenging Times

Navigating Censorship, Supporting Libraries, and Defending the Freedom to Read

One of the best parts of my job as the Director of Ingram’s Collection Development services is traveling around the country speaking to other librarians and to publishers about the book industry, libraries, accessibility, and inclusive collections. The last several years, more and more of these discussions contain troubling stories of censorship, book removals, new ordinances, and even personal threats.

As librarians, proponents for the freedom to read, and sponsors of the Freedom to Read event at ALA, the Collection Development team understands the difficult situations that librarians are facing across the country. I have personally attended School Board and Public Library Board meetings, applied unsuccessfully several times to be on our local Library Board, handed out my favorite banned book (Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson), and promoted the right to read as much as possible.

We also understand that libraries under attack are looking for help in meeting the standards that municipalities, counties, and states are passing. Though the general themes of the ordinances are the same, the interpretation varies considerably between states, between library boards, and even between members on those boards.

Ingram’s Collection Development librarians are committed to building inclusive lists and collections while the ACLU and publishers fight against the incorrect application of obscenity and other laws in courts.

Age Ranges, Metadata, and the Publisher's Control

Historically during times of political pressure against books and media, the topic of assigning more granular age ranges arises. Age ranges are applied by the publishers, and the publishers control that metadata contractually. We will correct an age range in ipage if it says something obviously incorrect, or if incorrect BISACs (an international subject heading scheme largely used by bookstores) automatically map a children’s book into the adult section (adult BISACs are more thorough and wildly appealing to new publishers). We cannot create narrower age ranges that would be subjective and violate the contracts we have with our publishers that allow them to control their own metadata and marketing audience. This metadata feeds out to libraries, online bookstores, bricks-and-mortar bookstores, and big box retailers around the world, so we are careful not to make it too restrictive against the publishers’ wishes.

The Collection Development team does put titles in the general age range (children, teens, adult) that we deem appropriate in our curated lists and services and follows loosely standardized age ranges, such as 8-12, 13-17, etc.  Maturity varies between people, so what might not work for one 15-year-old might be perfect for another. Some customers have used the presence of these titles on the hand-curated lists by our professional librarians as an argument for keeping titles in our assigned age categories during a challenge or treat it as a professional recommendation if the title doesn’t yet have a review in a professional journal. We do not avoid controversial topics, but we are happy to let you know why we included it if that would help during a challenge. I have also used Unite Against Book Bans Book Resumes, which provide the educational value and cultural significance of thousands of challenged titles to help defend specific titles.

Supporting Graphic Novels and Age Ranges

One category always under attack is Graphic Novels, and libraries can use our Standing Order Program to help streamline the age range question. Most Graphic Novels are series-based, so selectors could create several enrollments in the Graphic Novel (Adult & Youth) Standing Order Program with more granular age ranges and select the series that they think would fit in each age range in advance—this should save them time each month once they have it set up. The enrollment form can be sorted by age range to help with initial setup. This program is especially helpful in keeping the series in one place and allows the local libraries to edit it to their local community standards. We combined the adult and youth programs about 10 years ago to allow for this type of flexibility.

Navigating the “Clean Reads” Dilemma

Recently, we have had more requests for “clean reads” lists, which means something different to everyone. We don’t have metadata to be able to select “clean” reads, even if there were a universal definition. It would require reading every page of every book in a list looking for anything that could offend someone, and we have seen that we can’t accurately predict what someone will find offensive. If you want to view teen titles that publishers have labelled as “clean reads,” you can search for BISACs:

• YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Clean & Nonviolent

• YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Romance / Clean & Wholesome

• FICTION genre BISACs labelled “cozy” also tend to be gentler reads without profanity, violence, or explicit sex.

If you want a more scheduled solution, you could set up an iSelect profile with these BISACs and secondary BISACs and receive a list every Sunday if we have placed an Ingram buy of titles with one of these BISACs. Of course, this is publisher-assigned, and people may disagree with what is “clean” or “cozy” and what is not, just as they would if anyone assigned it. If you need help setting up the iSelect program, please contact fiction.standingorders@ingramcontent.com for help.

We’re Here to Help

We know that it is rough out there, and if you need help with some of the lists, explanations, or programs mentioned or have other questions, please reach out to our monitored mailbox colldevhelp@ingramcontent.com for the quickest response, or contact me at ann.lehue@ingramcontent.com.

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