Tennessee public libraries are launching an “immediate age-appropriateness review” of children’s and teens’ books following a state government directive, with some calling the plan “anti-public-library.”
The plan came to light after three letters were sent to the Stones River Regional Library system by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett. The Stones River system includes multiple public libraries in Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Moore, Rutherford, Trousdale, Warren and Wilson counties.
An Oct. 31 letter from Hargett requested that each library “undertake an immediate age-appropriateness review (over the next 60 days) of all materials in your juvenile children's section.” The review aims to “identify any materials that may be inconsistent with Tennessee age-appropriateness laws, in violation of any federal law, including President Trump's Executive Order, or otherwise contrary to any other applicable state or federal laws.”
Library directors are then to provide a final report to the Tennessee secretary of state and the Tennessee state librarian and archivist — a division of the secretary of state’s office tasked with answering questions about the review — by Jan. 19.
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The secretary of state’s letters note that libraries could lose state and federal funding, including grants. “Library decisions should be shaped by the values of the library's community as well as the fiscal limitations that require tough decisions about how to spend finite dollars over an almost infinite number of books,” reads one of Hargett’s letters. That same letter, dated Oct. 27, mentions “legitimate concerns” about one specific book, Fred Gets Dressed, which features a boy who tries on his mother’s clothes. The book, written by Peter Brown, was the target of a 2022 book ban attempt in Kansas.
A letter sent by Hargett’s office in September specifically cites President Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
The letters, obtained by the Scene, are thin on details of the review process, from what books are to be reviewed to review guidelines. The secretary of state’s office and the state librarian and archivist’s office did not return requests for comment from the Scene. The Stones River Regional Library system director also did not return a request for comment. Several people familiar with the matter have confirmed to the Scene that letters have also been sent to other libraries in other state library systems.
On Nov. 6, the Rutherford County Library System announced an “emergency closure notice” of varying dates for multiple libraries, and later publicly posted a series of letters from the secretary of state’s office regarding the review. The Scene spoke with a yearslong RCLS employee on the condition of anonymity, due to the employee’s fear of retaliation for speaking publicly.
“We've had no language [about how to choose books],” the employee tells the Scene. “There's been no transparency. We don't know how they're going about this yet. It's not been communicated to us, and I don't know if it will be communicated to us.”
The employee says library employees are “collectively devastated,” and that most “feel like they can’t refuse to participate in this.”
“It's anti-intellectual freedom and anti-public-library,” they say. “It feels like an attack on public libraries at large. We're horrified that this is happening.”
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The source notes that “at least hundreds” of titles throughout the RCLS could be impacted by the review and potentially removed from shelves.
“It feels like an attack on the profession and on the community, because we have the obligation to represent everyone in our community, regardless of race, age, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation,” says the library employee. “We are supposed to be a public space for everyone, and we feel like we can't do our jobs ethically at this time when we get directives like this. … I can't think of a time in history where public libraries have been asked to remove materials in this way. It feels completely unprecedented to have us close, lock the doors and remove a mass amount of books in secret — that's scary.”
In 2023, Rutherford County resident Keri Lambert founded and now serves as vice president of the Rutherford County Library Alliance, a nonprofit that supports county libraries and librarians and is “vehemently opposing any form of censorship within our community.” Lambert says the RCLA has a list of more than 200 books that they see as under threat, many of which have LGBTQ characters or themes.
Lambert tells the Scene that the RCLA believes the review is “absolutely government overreach,” and part of a larger assault on libraries and books, citing the removal of more than 100 books from Rutherford County Schools libraries last year. In 2022, the Tennessee legislature passed the Age-Appropriate Materials Act (which was updated in 2024). The legislation regulates books in schools.
“This is definitely an infringement on everyone's rights, and they should be very concerned,” Lambert says. “Things have been escalating for years.”
See PDFs of Hargett's letters below.
