The Rutherford County Library System board voted to move over 190 books to the adult sections in county public libraries at its monthly meeting on Monday. Moved books included those that “promote gender confusion” or contain violence or violent images.

Board members created lists of books to remove or move after librarians conducted “age-appropriateness reviews,” as required by Tre Hargett, Tennessee’s Secretary of State, through a letter in October 2025.

“I think it’s the right decision,” Edward Schmitt, a resident who spoke during the public comment, said after the board’s vote. “Move it into the adult section. … If the parent wants the child to go through it, great.”

Board members Allison Belt, Angela Frederick and Lynn Reynolds voted against moving the books, while members John Curtis, Beth Duffield, Sam Huddleston, Susan Quesenberry, Darrel Thomas and Cory York voted in favor of moving the books. Member Dina Piazza abstained from the vote because she believed “we need more time to look book by book before we move them.”

“A library, a public library especially, is not a museum of acceptable ideas,” Frederick said to oppose the move during debate. “So, it doesn’t have to be that every idea expressed in every book in the library is acceptable to every person in our community.”

More than 200 Rutherford County community members attended the meeting at the Rutherford County Courthouse, most wearing either purple or white shirts to represent different organizations. Those in purple shirts stood with the Rutherford County Library Alliance against book bans, and those in white shirts supported book removals or moving to adult sections.

Before the vote, 10 Rutherford County residents spoke both for and against the book removals, opposing book bans and censorship or wishing to “protect childrens’ innocence.”

“I would argue that gender confusion [is] the idea of telling someone that boys aren’t really boys, they can be girls, and girls aren’t really girls, they can be boys, and that you should advocate for [or] encourage the dismembering of healthy sex organs,” York said during debate. “I don’t think that that’s appropriate for children.”

Following the official vote to move all books to the adult sections, attendees both booed and cheered, some clapping while others yelled “shame” at the board members.

“I think it’s important to protect the right to read,” Jeff Wegner, an MTSU student in the professional counseling master’s program who spoke during the public comment, said after the meeting. “I think it’s important to protect the right to information regardless of age.”

The list of books provided recommendations from the director on where to move the books, the recommended state action following the age appropriateness standard and the recommendations following a presidential executive order called “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

During the meeting, the board also voted to remove the guidelines and code of ethics associated with the American Library Association, an organization that sets standards for libraries in the United States and internationally.

The Rutherford County Library System includes six locations throughout the county, including Linebaugh Library in Murfreesboro.

March 16 meeting agenda and book list

For the full meeting packet, view the file on the RCLS website.