Until she was contacted by a reporter, State Sen. Christi Gillespie, R-Broken Arrow, was unaware an email she forwarded to the Tulsa City-County Library March 25 led to display removals and a system-wide rebuke from top administrators.
The email was from a constituent complaining about the Broken Arrow Library’s displays of materials addressing race and LGBTQ+ themes. The resident objected to materials including cover art of a documentary about transgender people in the military, “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann and an illustrated book titled “LGBTQ+ Icons.”
Gillespie said this is part of a larger pattern of uneven emphasis on those subjects among featured materials.
“I just wanted the email to get to the right people to look at it,” Gillespie said. “I used to get complaints about this branch when I was on the City Council, so this isn’t the first time. This is just one person but other people have made similar complaints.”
The library system is no stranger to complaints — there have been 15 about displays since June 2024, according to library documents. Ten of those were related to LGBTQ+ content.
But the complaint that Gillespie forwarded is the only one that was acted upon. Library spokeswoman Toni Allen said the action was taken because a trend was appearing that showed policy violations.
After receiving the complaint, the library found the signage featuring cover art of films in violation of its policy guidelines, says Allen. The library took down the signage display. Books that were outward-facing on the shelves were allowed to remain. Efforts to reach the Broken Arrow Library branch manager were unsuccessful.
Challenge part of a growing national trend
Libraries across the country are facing increasing challenges to materials, including displays. The American Library Association, the country’s largest library membership association, has been tracking challenges since 1990 and recorded the highest number in 2023 for 4,240 unique titles. Last year was the second-highest ever, with 4,235 titles challenged.
Nearly 40% of those challenges were related to the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ and people of color, the ALA’s president said.
ALA President Sam Helmick, who is based in Iowa, said library policies on displays center around intention.
“Displays should probably reflect to some extent what the community is interested in but also offer enough of an array of what is represented in publishing and in the public discourse to make sure that communities are able to participate in those conversations,” Helmick said. “So a display really just amplifies that and makes sure that you’re aware of it.”
Helmick said the ALA has seen a growing trend of requests to hide or downplay library materials rather than censoring them, which brings up viewpoint discrimination.
“Stories are a cheaper tuition to build empathy and understanding, so circumstances that may or may never cross our own individual path,” Helmick said. “The First Amendment right to grievance your government, whether about an unfair piece of legislation or a pothole or a book you don’t like in the library stacks, has always been a constitutional right. But the right to a guaranteed outcome is not.”
Gillespie said no one asked for the removal or censorship of materials, only for balance in featured items. She said the branch in the past focused heavily on LGBTQ+ materials in displays, which brought about the most complaints.
“Public libraries have all kinds of books, thousands of books to choose from, but only one thing was being promoted. Out of all those choices, I don’t think that is the No. 1 subject being checked out of the library in Broken Arrow,” Gillespie said.
Library says it ‘does not censor materials’
Allen provided a written response to questions, stating the system has 6 million items across 24 branches, and its signage policies are to ensure uniformity in providing educational and information context across the county.
“Tulsa City-County Library does not censor materials,” she wrote. “As a library serving the general public, we offer a collection of materials that reflect the broad interests of the communities we serve. Tulsa City-County Library applies policies and procedures thoughtfully and consistently—regardless of who raises the concern.”
On April 3, Chief Operating Officer Ellen Cummings sent an email to branch supervisors stating the copies of the film covers were printed outside the library’s policies “which led the customer to believe TCCL took a particular stance on the topics.”
“Unfortunately, managers are not demonstrating a clear understanding of their responsibility to assess risk to TCCL’s reputation, and policies and procedures are not being followed,” stated the email. “TCCL upholds our commitment to provide materials that reflect our community. However, we are not a canvas for individual or personal viewpoints.”
The email outlined eight procedures regarding signs and display to “be implemented immediately.” Staff were asked to review signage to make sure displays align with the guidelines, which were in place prior to the Broken Arrow Library display, Allen said.
Library staff must generate signs using the online program Canva and get approval by the branch manager and the marketing/communications department. Outward-facing materials must be tied to a library program or service and have branch manager approval. Displayed materials must have a library brand and chosen by associate-level or higher ranking staff.
The library blacked out the name of the compliantant, but the person self-identified as a Broken Arrow resident, Indian Springs Country Club member and senior data analyst for a Washington, D.C.-based credentialing organization.
Attached were photos of a partial display featuring copies of cover art on films including the 2018 documentary “Transmilitary” following four transgender troops, the 2024 movie “Nosferatu: The Real Story” and 2019 documentary “Homo.Say.What” about leaders of an anti-LGBTQ+ movement. Photos of the full display, which was taken down, were not available.
The complaint also included photos of outward-facing items on lower shelves including nonfiction books “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann, “The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminizes Black Youth” by Kristin Henning and the “LGBTQ Icons” in the People book series. Other books in the photos show true crime novels, a parenting guide and one on the desegregation of Detroit schools. Those were not in violation of the policy and allowed to remain.
“As you can see, my tax dollars are being used to promote Igbt and ‘systemic racism’ ideology in our public libraries,” the complaint read. “Given that every single library is curated (no library contains every book in existence), it would not be censorship to remove them, but merely a reflection of what our community deems valuable knowledge worth preserving.”
The complainant wrote that the Oklahoma Legislature has done “great work” in regards to public school libraries, but the “problem persists in our community libraries.” Lawmakers approved a bill banning sexually explicit materials from school libraries this spring — but not without criticism from some Democrats about what is considered “obscene.”
“While removing these materials would be a good start, I believe a better and more permanent path forward would be to commission a re-examining of all the materials housed in our libraries, and re-curating them in a way that promotes a wholesome, patriotic, and God-honoring culture,” the complainant wrote. “Otherwise, we will just be playing a never-ending game of whack-a-mole.”
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