Handling Intellectual Freedom Challenges

One of the most important things that a collection development policy does is to explain how challenges to library materials will be handled.  The policy should explain the steps of the procedure and who will be responsible for working with the complainant at each step.

A typical challenge begins with an oral complaint.  Since this complaint is often made to a staff member who has no authority to deal with it, staff training about the complaint procedure is important.  When an oral complaint has been made, an unauthorized staff member should know to pass the person on to a supervisor  who is authorized to hear such complaints.  It is also important that all staff members treat such complaints with respect.  Although the staff member may not agree with the person making the complaint, the person is usually someone who cares a great deal about the community.  If she or he is a parent, they are simply trying to protect their children.  Respect of the person's motives will go a long way to making the process of handling the complaint more amiable, and less likely to blow up into a community controversy.

This staff member who has authority to deal with the complaint should respectfully explain the collection development policy.  If the person remains unsatisfied, most libraries use a written form as the next step.  

The forms typically ask for the person's name and address, for the name of the item being challenged, the reason for the challenge.  In cases where materials are being challenged because it expresses a controversial opinion, the form may ask the challenger for other titles that represent her/his point of view.

If the written form is filled out and returned, a formal written response is made, usually by the library director in smaller libraries.  If the person is still unsatisfied, the challenge can be taken to the governing body.

Typically, libraries do not remove materials based on challenges.  However, if the complainant shows that the material does not fit the library's collection development policy, it may be removed.  For example, if the library's policy is to provide up-to-date medical information, and a book can be shown to be out-of-date, the book may be removed and replaced with something more current.