Hello,
This is a request under the
Massachusetts Public Records Law (MGL Chapter 66, Section 10) for any
responsive documents and/or communications concerning book challenges in your
municipality’s library services and schools. These documents will be used to
provide the public with information on censorship efforts and municipal
responses to such challenges for MassTransparency (http://www.masstransparency.org).
Specifically, I seek the following:
Copies
of any challenges, reconsideration requests, complaints, or other similar
communications from members of the public regarding materials in the
collection of your municipality’s library system to library staff or
administration, broadly construed, between 1 January 2021 and the present
day.
This should include, but not be limited to, “official”
complaints using a form, emails and letters to library staff or the
library in general, or logs of in-person complaints and challenges that
may be kept.
This should not include messages from
profession-specific email lists that staff may be on, or
trade/professional publications (Publisher’s Weekly; American Library
Association newsletters).
Copies
of any challenges, reconsideration requests, complaints or other similar
communications from members of the public regarding materials in the
collection of your municipality’s library system or municipality’s schools
to municipal administrative staff and certain elected and/or appointed officials,
broadly construed, between 1 January 2021 and the present day.
This should include, but not be limited to, “official”
complaints using a form or emails and letters to municipal administration
that may have been forwarded to library staff or school administration.
“Elected and/or appointed officials” should include
citizen-led boards and commissions that may have a role or function in
regard to oversight of schools, libraries, or staff, broadly construed.
Examples would include, but not necessarily be limited to, a Select
Board, Library Board of Trustees, School Committee.
Copies
of any challenges, reconsideration requests, complaints or other similar
communications from members of the public regarding materials in the
collection of the library in a school, in classrooms and/or classroom
libraries, or other materials and/or collections of materials, broadly
construed, to school administration and/or staff between 1 January 2021
and the present day.
This should include, but not be limited to, “official”
complaints using a form or emails and letters to district-level
administration that may have been forwarded to or from other municipal
parties.
This should not include generalized curriculum
concerns.
I appreciate your forwarding this
request to the proper parties if this has reached the wrong individual.
I do not believe this should carry a
charge, as there is significant public interest in issues concerning censorship
and book challenges, and this will not be used for a commercial purpose.
Furthermore, I do not believe this information is exempt from disclosure, as
this information does not, to the best of my knowledge and understanding, fall
under any specific exemption in the public records law. If certain exemptions
are invoked, please detail each invoked exemption as part of your response.
Records should be provided in an
electronic format that is searchable and machine-readable whenever possible.
Thank you for your attention to this
matter, and I look forward to your response by 6 October 2023.
-Jeff Raymond
MassTransparency
--
Name: Jeff Raymond
E-mail: jeff.raymond@masstransparency.org ? (via Proton)?
Web: http://www.masstransparency.org / http://www.bramanvilletribune.com
Quote: “All men having power ought
to be distrusted to a certain degree”- James Madison
Dear Mr. Raymond,
Please find attached the records pursuant to your request.
Sincerely,
Lesley Kimball
FOIA Request Coordinator
Town of Chelmsford
Chelmsford Public Library
Request Date
2023-09-25
Agency Tracking
2023-0177
Acquisition Notes
This record was automatically imported from https://www.townforms.com/FOIADirect-ChelmsfordMACitizens/
Hello,
This is a request under the
Massachusetts Public Records Law (MGL Chapter 66, Section 10) for any
responsive documents and/or communications concerning book challenges in your
municipality’s library services and schools. These documents will be used to
provide the public with information on censorship efforts and municipal
responses to such challenges for MassTransparency (http://www.masstransparency.org).
Specifically, I seek the following:
Copies
of any challenges, reconsideration requests, complaints, or other similar
communications from members of the public regarding materials in the
collection of your municipality’s library system to library staff or
administration, broadly construed, between 1 January 2021 and the present
day.
This should include, but not be limited to, “official”
complaints using a form, emails and letters to library staff or the
library in general, or logs of in-person complaints and challenges that
may be kept.
This should not include messages from
profession-specific email lists that staff may be on, or
trade/professional publications (Publisher’s Weekly; American Library
Association newsletters).
Copies
of any challenges, reconsideration requests, complaints or other similar
communications from members of the public regarding materials in the
collection of your municipality’s library system or municipality’s schools
to municipal administrative staff and certain elected and/or appointed officials,
broadly construed, between 1 January 2021 and the present day.
This should include, but not be limited to, “official”
complaints using a form or emails and letters to municipal administration
that may have been forwarded to library staff or school administration.
“Elected and/or appointed officials” should include
citizen-led boards and commissions that may have a role or function in
regard to oversight of schools, libraries, or staff, broadly construed.
Examples would include, but not necessarily be limited to, a Select
Board, Library Board of Trustees, School Committee.
Copies
of any challenges, reconsideration requests, complaints or other similar
communications from members of the public regarding materials in the
collection of the library in a school, in classrooms and/or classroom
libraries, or other materials and/or collections of materials, broadly
construed, to school administration and/or staff between 1 January 2021
and the present day.
This should include, but not be limited to, “official”
complaints using a form or emails and letters to district-level
administration that may have been forwarded to or from other municipal
parties.
This should not include generalized curriculum
concerns.
I appreciate your forwarding this
request to the proper parties if this has reached the wrong individual.
I do not believe this should carry a
charge, as there is significant public interest in issues concerning censorship
and book challenges, and this will not be used for a commercial purpose.
Furthermore, I do not believe this information is exempt from disclosure, as
this information does not, to the best of my knowledge and understanding, fall
under any specific exemption in the public records law. If certain exemptions
are invoked, please detail each invoked exemption as part of your response.
Records should be provided in an
electronic format that is searchable and machine-readable whenever possible.
Thank you for your attention to this
matter, and I look forward to your response by 6 October 2023.
-Jeff Raymond
MassTransparency
--
Name: Jeff Raymond
E-mail: jeff.raymond@masstransparency.org ? (via Proton)?
Web: http://www.masstransparency.org / http://www.bramanvilletribune.com
Quote: “All men having power ought
to be distrusted to a certain degree”- James Madison
Dear Mr. Raymond,
Please find attached the records pursuant to your request.
Sincerely,
Lesley Kimball
FOIA Request Coordinator
Town of Chelmsford
Chelmsford Public Library
Request Date
2023-09-25
Agency Tracking
2023-0177
Acquisition Notes
This record was automatically imported from https://www.townforms.com/FOIADirect-ChelmsfordMACitizens/