DALLAS — Think of the most important places in your city; public libraries are on the list for some. Some libraries across the state face temporary shutdowns as parents and lawmakers criticize certain books kids can check out. Many books people find problems with deal with race.

A parent wanting to monitor websites their child has access to is a more personal decision, but a parent trying to control which books all kids have access to at the public library is a situation some librarians don't want to tackle.  

Lindsey Snelling is a librarian in the youth center at Rockwall County Public Library. She’s not just the gatekeeper of countless books on the shelves, she’s also there to pick up the slack when online tutorials are too challenging or miss the mark. 

"There's people who come here trying to figure out how to build a deck or repair their car," Snelling explained. 

Helping you in your journey to new knowledge is what’s most important to Snelling. So if there is a potential threat of limiting access to books, she’s highly concerned. The critical race theory law has jurisdiction in public schools for which lessons and topics are allowed. However, she wants personally draw a line when it comes to public libraries. 

“I get a lot of joy out of serving the public. If we took away everything that offended somebody, there really wouldn’t be much of anything,” Snelling said. 

Snelling sees how some parents struggle to explain specific topics to their children, whether it’s mommy and daddy are getting a divorce, white privilege, a death in the family, or social justice. Even though all of these subjects can be heavy, there are plenty of age-appropriate books Snelling will recommend to help see parents through. 

“It's a complicated thing to understand,” she said. 

She is adamant that her stance is not political, just purely professional. If you don’t like a particular book she says an objection is fine with her too. She encourages you to find something you are a fan of.

Rockwall County Public Library also has a way for parents to ask librarians to re-evaluate what's on the shelves. The librarians simply ask that you read the book in question in its entirety first. 

So far, Snelling says there have been no complaints from parents in North Texas about any book. If she ever gets one, she's already crafted a six-paragraph statement that's ready to be sent out with her personal belief: free people should be able to read freely. 

“Just like every other profession, we’re trying out best to make as many people happy as possible, and that is impossible," Snelling said.