Statement by Library Board Chair on Request to Remove Book from Suggested Reading List

The following statement was read by Watertown Board of Library Trustees Chair Leanne Hammonds about the request to reconsider including a book in the summer reading suggested reading list.

Hammonds read the statement regarding “A Map for Falasteen: A Palestinian Child’s Search for Home,” during the July 31 Trustees meeting.

The statement reads:

As chair of the Board of Trustees, I acknowledge the library’s receipt last month of a Request for Reconsideration from a Watertown Resident. A Request for Reconsideration is a process outlined in our Collection Development Policy to consider moving a book to a different area within our collection or removing it from our collection entirely. In this instance the requestor asked that the library remove a title from the Watertown Public School’s Su