Midland County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a new library materials reconsideration policy that takes the power to remove books away from a citizen-led review committee and gives it back to the county’s library director.
The move comes just three months after commissioners created the citizens review committee and gave it the “sole authority” over reviewing books in the children’s and young adult sections brought up for formal reconsideration. The committee was also empowered to reclassify or remove books from library shelves.
However, this week, the commissioners approved a new version of the county’s library reconsideration policy that turns the citizens review committee into an advisory council rather than a decision-making entity. Under the revised policy, the group will review reconsideration requests and then make recommendations to the county’s library director, who will then decide if library books are removed or recategorized.
If a county resident requesting that a library book be reconsidered disagrees with the library director's decision, the new policy allows them to appeal the decision to the county commissioners.
Midland County Attorney Russell Malm told Marfa Public Radio there were a number of reasons why the citizens review committee policy needed to be changed.
“What the court had really wanted was not to create another entity that usurped the power of the librarian and the commissioners court,” he said.
Malm said the committee was meant to be “more of a tool to assist the librarian.”
Previously, Malm had brought up concerns that the way the citizens review committee was established in January could have led to violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
“My office did not want anybody who’s getting involved with trying to help the county to find themselves in a situation where they’ve violated any laws,” he said. ”So the result was a much shorter, I think, much more readable and understandable policy that eliminated the problems created by the previous one.”
The citizens review committee has already had an impact on local libraries.
According to Midland County Library Director Debbie Garza, the review committee in February had recommended that at least six titles should be moved to the adult sections. The books the group believed should be reclassified ranged from romance novels to books focusing on gender and sex education.
Garza said those books were recategorized and moved to the adult sections. She said there is no plan to revisit the citizens review committee’s decision at this time.
