ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — For two years, the St. Tammany Parish Public Library System has been caught in the middle of a book battle.
“We stand before you today because we, in short, are under attack,” St. Tammany Parish Alliance Co-Founder Kristen Luchsinger said in a meeting on Wednesday night.
Some residents in St. Tammany take issue with books that they deem inappropriate for children.
“We have received over 200 statements of concern,” St. Tammany Parish Library Director Kelly LaRocca said. “Some of them asked us to remove books from the library and others asked us to restrict access.”
Other people say that removing books is an infringement on their First Amendment rights.
“This is the bedrock of democracy. To keep all books in the library,” Luchsinger said.
On Wednesday, Parish officials invited representatives from both sides of the argument to exchange ideas about the library’s current policies. The St. Tammany Library Alliance voiced its support of the Library Board of Control, which decided to keep certain controversial books on the shelves last year. The St. Tammany Library Accountability group didn’t attend the meeting.
The St. Tammany Library Director says that her staff is always looking out for the library’s young readers.
“Safety of the children in the library is always a top priority for us,” LaRocca said.
She says the library has implemented a new library card policy, which gives parents more power over which books their children can check out from the library.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.