It’s not just a battle over library books anymore.
Livingston Parish’s on-again, off-again debate over age-appropriate reading has now become so fierce that the library board of control is paralyzed, unable to pass a budget or select a president.
A Tuesday board meeting lasted just under four hours, as some residents shouted criticisms and read sexually explicit passages aloud.
The next day, board member Shalisa Labat resigned, the fifth to leave or be removed since this summer. That leaves the board with two vacancies.
While the deadlocked library board has agreed to move some books from the children’s section to adult sections, it has found itself unable to make bigger decisions — and the clock is ticking.
“This is ridiculous,” Parish Councilman Ricky Goff said at a recent meeting. “What’s ridiculous is that we cannot come up with a good solution to at least make a step forward.“
Livingston library board gridlock
The debate over age-appropriate books has caused the parish council to gradually replace library board members with people council members say are more representative of residents’ views.
That has led to a 4-4 divide between newer members, who are more active in moving books, and longer-tenured members, who side with some librarians and parents who fear censorship or believe the library staff is more equipped to handle these issues.
In the most recent meeting, several important votes failed 4-4, including a motion to approve the 2025 fiscal year operating budget.
Half the board wanted more time to look at an itemized list of budget items for more insight. Library Director Michelle Parrish said she gave the board two weeks to look over it before the night’s vote.
Board members Ronnie Bencaz, Shalisha Labat, Steve Bernard and Kathy deGeneres voted to approve; Larry Davis, Dewanna Christian, Abby Crosby and Summer Smith voted against it.
Attorney Chris Moody reminded the board that legally it has to adopt the budget before the calendar year is over.
“My advice is to work it out and pass the budget,” he said.
Some critics of the new board, like the Livingston Parish Library Alliance community group, said the stalemate is part of a larger effort to disrupt the libraries.
“It appears that the Alliance has been 100% correct. No need to ban books when you can ban (shut down) the whole library,” wrote Francine Smith, a recently removed board member, on social media
The board has also deadlocked on passing a five-year strategic plan for the library, a road map for maintaining and growing the library’s services.
Another, even more polarizing vote was for the election of board of control officers. Larry Davis and Labat were both nominated for president. Both received a 4-4 vote.
After hours of debate, the board decided to push the officer election to January.
Goff, the parish councilman, said the entire situation was troubling.
“It upsets me that our board is representing this parish, and it’s divided right down the line, and we have a missing seat. It just upsets me,” he said Wednesday.
Labat’s resignation the next day now leaves the board with two vacancies. But it also gives the faction with new members, which voted for Davis and which voted against the budget, a majority.
What library books are appropriate?
Meanwhile, the debate over what books should go in the children section continues to roil.
The board approved moving books “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” from the young adult section to the adult section. Both were proposed by board member Abby Crosby for having sexually explicit material.
The vote to move the books came after passionate testimony during public comments.
Trey Cowell, a local pastor, led the charge to move the books, reading a graphic passage detailing sexual acts from “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” to the room.
“It’s a shame that people had to fight to get these books on the agenda,” Cowell said after reading the passage. “It’s sexually explicit and it needs to be moved.”
Brian Gunter, parish resident and pastor, said that because the library is funded from the community’s property taxes, the community should choose what books are appropriate.
“We pay for this library, it’s our library. We would like our library to represent our parish, our values,” he said.
Gunter suggested that retired teachers and members of his church could read through the libraries’ children’s books to decide if they should be relocated.
“When this next board member is appointed, you guys need to come back and work all this out. Let’s remove the things from our library that don’t belong there and keep all the things we agree with,” Gunter said. “We all pay for this library.”
Jordan Gonzalez, parish resident, argued the community is bigger than those who attend the board meetings and those who attend church, and ultimately the librarians should be making these choices.
“We need to just trust our librarians and trust our staff, our professionals, our educated and trained professionals to handle those situations,” Gonzalez said.
Some of the other books that have been challenged, according to public records, are:
- “13 Reasons Why” by Jay Asher
- “Damsel” by Elana Arnold
- “Johnny and the Walrus” by Matt Walsh
- “The Haters” by Jesse Andrews
- “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins
- “Fade” by Lisa McMann
The argument for moving challenged books has spread beyond the libraries.
Cowell also addressed the parish school board Thursday night. saying he wants to protect kids and paid $150 for a public records request to find that the two challenged books voted on by the library board are in some of the parish high schools.
“I just want to warn you this stuff is in our libraries and our school libraries,” he said. “So, after we have set the perimeters from the outside, we are going to have to do a little inside house cleaning.”
What’s next for Livingston libraries
It is up to parish councilmen Billy Taylor and Ryan Chavers to fill the two library board vacancies, possibly ending the stalemate by seating all nine board members.
Chavers and Taylor said they would appoint their new members at the next Parish Council meeting Dec. 5.
Amanda Jones, a parish librarian and vocal critic of recent changes to the library, believes the system is in jeopardy for several reasons.
“If they put in two extremist board members who actively work against the library, meetings will continue to get more chaotic, budgets and things will continue to be stalled,” Jones said.
Jones also said that librarians don’t want to work in the parish or speak out for the libraries because of in-person or online harassment.
“When I attend meetings, I’ve been called a groomer, a pedophile. One of the ladies that spoke the other night, she told me I was going to hell, just for supporting the library,” she said. “It’s so unnecessary and uncalled for.”
As for the library board meeting that never seemed to end? It technically didn’t. After nearly four hours, the meeting went to recess, instead of adjourning, and will pick up Dec. 17 at the Denham Springs branch in a special session to review more challenged books and to approve the budget.
This post was originally published on here
