“Librarians had to drop everything they were doing: no more checking books in and out, no answering questions or assisting with research, not able to do the jobs they love to do. Some even had to shut down their library for the day,” said Elizabeth Shepherd, librarian at the Discovery School in Murfreesboro who described the frantic text message exchanges among fellow librarians that ensued.

“Instead, they had to make their first priority book removal, not just taking them off the shelves but also taking them out of the hands of students, a process that is literally heartbreaking as a librarian.”