MOHAVE COUNTY — Earlier this month, the Mohave County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to allow Supervisor Ron Gould to conduct a review of materials recently donated to the Mohave County Library. He argued that one of the books included in the donation is inappropriate for children and asked the board for 30 days to review the rest of the contents of the donation.
The original motion was a routine agenda item requiring the board to formally accept a donation made to the library. According to the motion, this included an authorized expenditure of $500 in monetary donations, as well as $19,021.50 worth of non-monetary donations.
The item originally appeared on the consent agenda, but Supervisor Gould asked that it be removed for discussion. Gould read the description of “The Beautiful Something Else” by Ash Van Otterloo—a novel about a non-binary child—which was included in the donations. This book is in the Mohave County Library’s online inventory at the Lake Havasu City location.
“I think this is inappropriate for children,” Gould said at the February 2 meeting. “I’m not sure whether this book is on the shelf already or not, but we need to make sure if we’re trying to encourage children to use the library, the things that are in the library should be acceptable to their parents. That I don’t think is acceptable.”
Gould made a motion to give himself and his assistant 30 days to review the list of donations for any other books that might be inappropriate.
No one spoke against this at the meeting, and the board voted unanimously to allow Supervisor Gould time to conduct this review. No one from the public spoke on this issue at the February 2 meeting. One citizen—Bridget Lewison of Golden Valley—spoke against this at the following meeting on February 17.
Lewison quoted various conservative figures like Rush Limbaugh, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Sean Hannity, and the late Charlie Kirk, who all spoke about the dangers of censorship. “Censorship is a tool of oppression,” she said, quoting Church of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith.
Then in a February 18 Facebook post, Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter stated that the District 1 office has informed citizens that it does not see government’s role as parenting. “Government is not the parent—parents should parent. Mohave County should not decide what every family’s children can or cannot read.”
The post also clarified that the library system already has a process for reviewing books. “If a resident believes that a specific title violates county library policy or is inappropriate, there is already a clear process in place,” the post continued.
The policies and guidelines for Mohave County Library are available on its website. Its policies are informed by the Library Bill of Rights—a set of principles laid out by the American Library Association, as well as the Arizona Library Association. The second principle of the Library Bill of Rights states “Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
The Mohave County Library’s Review of Library Materials and Resources Policy, last revised in 2013, echoes this sentiment and lays out the process for reviewing books. The library may accept requests for the review of certain materials, which will be reviewed by an ad hoc committee appointed by the Library Director.
“Selection of materials for the Library will not be inhibited by the possibility that materials may come into the possession of children,” the policy says. The library’s Unattended Children Policy also requires that all children under 10 must be accompanied by a parent or caregiver.
