School Did Not Toss Books to "Erase History"
The Claim
A photo of library books in a dumpster depicts an attempt by a school to “erase history.”
Emerging story
A viral photograph began circulating on Facebook in July 2020 showing multiple library books belonging to a middle school thrown away in a recycling bin. The viral post suggested that the books in the recycling bin were nonfiction books that were linked to specific topics and were purposely thrown away in an effort to “erase history."
Misbar’s Analysis
Multiple news articles have confirmed that Sunrise Park Middle School, located in Minnesota, did indeed throw out the books shown in the viral social media post. However, the books were not thrown out in an attempt to "erase history."
Officials for the school say that it is routine procedure to throw away certain books that are no longer considered relevant.
According to the school’s principal, the books were said to have been thrown away as part of a routine “weeding out” process meant to remove content that is considered to be outdated. The book removal process, according to the principal, is determined by the Dewey Decimal System. Specifically, the categories of books chosen include poetry, literature, history, and geography.
The school’s principal denied that this was an effort to “erase history” and was instead meant to remove outdated books from the school’s library. She also said that typically books are only thrown out after other options, such as donating them, are determined to be unacceptable. She added that the school had attempted to donate them to community libraries in the area, but that they either didn’t meet stated criteria due to outdated content, had fees associated with them, or simply weren’t accepted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions involved with it.
