The York County Library Board voted Thursday to move five books out of the children's and teen sections and into the adult collection, overruling its own staff's recommendations on four of the five titles. The vote took place during a meeting at the Fort Mill branch, where an appeals committee had already rejected most of what paid library staff wanted to do with the books in question.
According to a report carried by Yahoo News, the board voted to move the five books after complaints from patrons alleged the titles contained sexual and same-sex content. The books under review were 19 Love Songs by David Levithan, The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff, People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins, and Sold by Patricia McCormick, per the same report. Library staff had reviewed the public complaints under the board's collection development policy and recommended keeping four of the five books right where they were, according to the Fort Mill Sun, which reported on the board's vote.
An appeals committee overturned those staff recommendations on all four books, and the full board upheld the committee's position Thursday. The four relocated titles passed by a 6-1 vote in most cases, with one landing at 5-2, the outlet reports. A fifth book was moved to the adult section based on a library staff recommendation rather than the appeals process, and that one passed unanimously.
How the Vote Played Out
The seven-member board is made up of volunteers appointed by county officials, and Thursday's meeting drew 11 people to the audience, with two members of the public speaking during the comment period, the article notes. The library's collection development policy defines the adult collection as materials intended for patrons ages 18 and over, according to the York County Library's own policy document. That same policy lays out a formal reconsideration process for anyone seeking to remove or relocate library materials, which is the mechanism that triggered Thursday's review in the first place.
The board's chairman noted that parents or guardians who want their children to retain full access can apply for what's called an unrestricted minor library card, which allows a child to check out any book in the library system, the station's report states. That option exists alongside the newly relocated titles, meaning families who object to the restriction can opt their kids back in on a case-by-case basis.
Part of a Broader Policy Shift
Thursday's vote builds on a policy the board adopted less than a year earlier. The York County Library Board voted 6-1 on Dec. 11, 2025, to adopt a new collection development policy, as reported by WCNC, which allows materials addressing mature themes or gender identity to be shifted into a different collection. That policy also prohibits sexually explicit books from children's sections outright, per the same report. The Herald previously reported that York County library staff have at times moved books recommended for minors into young adult or adult sections when they judged that an older audience better suited the material, according to the Herald's coverage.
Part of a National Pattern
York County's vote lands amid what the American Library Association describes as a historically active period for book challenges nationwide. The ALA documented 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, the second-highest total it has ever recorded, according to the organization's own Censorship by the Numbers data. Of those, 5,668 books were banned outright and another 920 were censored through access restrictions such as relocation or parental-permission requirements, the ALA reports.
Notably, the ALA found that 92% of 2025's book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials, or other decision-makers, up from 72% the year before, while fewer than 3% came from individual parents. The ALA also classifies relocating a book to a section meant for an older age group as an access restriction stemming from a challenge, a framing that places moves like York County's within that broader national count. Similar relocations have surfaced elsewhere in recent months, including a Michigan district library board that moved hundreds of children's and young-adult titles to its adult section, according to PEN America, and a Rutherford County, Tennessee board that voted in March to relocate more than 190 books, as reported by MTSU Sidelines.
