Harris County public libraries become 'Book Sanctuary' for banned books: list of books

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - Banned books may no longer be on shelves in school buildings, but they will still have a home in Harris County Public Libraries. A vote from Harris County Commissioners is making that possible.

"Item 3, request from the County Judge for a resolution supporting Harris County Public Library as a Book Sanctuary to combat censorship, defend intellectual freedom and protect the right to read," Commissioner Rodney Ellis announced at yesterday’s Commissioner’s Court.

After a bit of discussion by the commissioners, "Not all books are age appropriate. As we continue to be sure, just like movie ratings, we don’t let first-graders go see an R-rated movie," the group then passed the resolution.

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County Commissioners voted to make the Harris County Public Library a Book Sanctuary, meaning books banned in schools will be available at the 26 branches in the county library system.

"We want to not have to remove books from our collection because someone may not agree with that content," explains the Director of the Harris County Public Library Edward Melton.

This has certainly been a controversial topic with things such as sexual content and explicit language being blamed for hundreds of books being banned in U.S. public schools.

"We want to give people that choice if they want to read the materials, read the materials. If they don’t want their children exposed to those books they can manage that process. We expect the parents to be responsible and manage that process in terms of what their children read or don’t read," Melton adds.

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The banned books won’t be in a certain section of the library. They will be mixed throughout and patrons will still be able to submit a ‘request for reconsideration’ if they believe a book shouldn’t be in a particular area.

"In terms of maybe changing a children’s book to a young adult book or young adult book to an adult book. In terms of where it sits in the library or shelved in the library, but we’ve never removed a book," says Melton. 

With the county commissioner's recent vote, it seems the library won’t have to start removing banned books now.

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"We have the freedom to read the things we want to read, share the ideas we want to share, protect First Amendment rights in terms of people being able to express themselves.  It’s very important that we protect these rights," and after being asked if he ever thought he would see the day when books need a sanctuary Melton answers, "For me, it feels like we’re kind of going back in time. Information is power…it’s a thing of control where people are trying to limit people’s ability to access information".  

The non-profit group PEN America has been keeping track of banned books. Here's a list of books that have been banned since early last year. https://pen.org/index-of-school-book-bans-2022/