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True Stories of Censorship Battles in America's Libraries
Intellectual freedom is a core value of librarianship, but fighting to keep controversial materials on the shelves can sometimes feel like a lonely battle. And not all censorship controversies involve the public objecting to a book in the collection―libraries are venues for displays and meetings, and sometimes library staff themselves are tempted to preemptively censor a work. Those facing censorship challenges can find support and inspiration in this book, which compiles dozens of stories from library front lines. Edifying and enlightening, this collection * Tells the stories of librarians who withstood difficult circumstances to champion intellectual freedom * Touches on prickly issues such as age-appropriateness, some librarians’ temptation to preemptively censor, sensitive cultural expressions, and criminality in the library * Presents case studies of defenses that were unsuccessful, so librarians facing similar challenges can learn from these defeats There are fewer situations more stressful in a librarian's professional life than being personally confronted with a demand to remove a book from the shelves or not knowing how to respond to other kinds of censorship challenges. Reading this book will help fortify and inform those in the fray.
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 16, 2015
"For every reader, his or her book. For every book, its reader."
-- S. R. Ranganathan
This is an excellent collection of essays from librarians across the United States who have dealt with issues of censorship and book challenges.
While most of the stories are about parents or patrons complaining about certain books being "inappropriate" for children and wanting the books to be removed from the library, some of the complaints originated from librarians themselves. In one case, certain books kept "disappearing" from the library cart and were never cataloged or available for checkout. The librarian who was suspected of removing the offending books was suspended.
In another case, a librarian kept checking out and renewing a graphic novel that she thought should be kept away from children, so she stored it in her locker. When she couldn't renew it anymore, she just checked it in and then immediately checked it back out again, which kept it off the shelves for months.
What is interesting is how librarians sometimes self-censor books out of fear of a future complaint. So many librarians have written about the nightmare of going through a fight over challenged books, that I think the fear can overwhelm one's reasoning.
Because we're on a site for readers, I bet that most of us would probably agree that books should not be banned from libraries. If you're a parent and you don't want your child to read something, that's fine, but that doesn't mean you can tell the whole town what not to read. As Ellen Hopkins wrote in the foreword: "No one person has the right to decide what everyone else can or can't read."
What was disturbing about reading these essays was noticing the sheer number of incidents, and how frequently patrons around the country have tried to ban books. The American Libraries Association, which published this collection, holds a Banned Books Week every autumn and keeps track of which titles get challenged the most each year. I look at that list every year, but it was enlightening to read the stories from the perspective of the librarians who actually had to deal with the complaints, and how difficult and tense those situations were. I would highly recommend this collection to my fellow librarians and anyone else who is concerned about censorship.
-- S. R. Ranganathan
This is an excellent collection of essays from librarians across the United States who have dealt with issues of censorship and book challenges.
While most of the stories are about parents or patrons complaining about certain books being "inappropriate" for children and wanting the books to be removed from the library, some of the complaints originated from librarians themselves. In one case, certain books kept "disappearing" from the library cart and were never cataloged or available for checkout. The librarian who was suspected of removing the offending books was suspended.
In another case, a librarian kept checking out and renewing a graphic novel that she thought should be kept away from children, so she stored it in her locker. When she couldn't renew it anymore, she just checked it in and then immediately checked it back out again, which kept it off the shelves for months.
What is interesting is how librarians sometimes self-censor books out of fear of a future complaint. So many librarians have written about the nightmare of going through a fight over challenged books, that I think the fear can overwhelm one's reasoning.
Because we're on a site for readers, I bet that most of us would probably agree that books should not be banned from libraries. If you're a parent and you don't want your child to read something, that's fine, but that doesn't mean you can tell the whole town what not to read. As Ellen Hopkins wrote in the foreword: "No one person has the right to decide what everyone else can or can't read."
What was disturbing about reading these essays was noticing the sheer number of incidents, and how frequently patrons around the country have tried to ban books. The American Libraries Association, which published this collection, holds a Banned Books Week every autumn and keeps track of which titles get challenged the most each year. I look at that list every year, but it was enlightening to read the stories from the perspective of the librarians who actually had to deal with the complaints, and how difficult and tense those situations were. I would highly recommend this collection to my fellow librarians and anyone else who is concerned about censorship.
November 24, 2012
The rating is for the book as a whole, but there was some great content. I loved Ellen Hopkins' poem "Manifesto". "If I Don't Buy It, They Won't Come" is an exceptionally honest essay about self-censorship in collection development. In other essays I found out about the defensive use of permission slips to prevent challenges, how a librarian convinced a Native American community that diversity of perspectives was valuable even when they disagreed with the perspective, and a failure in Miami that resulted in the removal of an entire book series from school libraries. This is definitely worth reading especially for library students.
February 9, 2022
I have troubles with this book, but it is from 2012.
If you're a librarian reading this today, let me just assure you that disrespect or skirting by technicality of NAGPRA was and is an absurd argument. It has been law since 1990 in the U.S. and that there is a "censorship battle" featuring its content that is incredibly biased is both unprofessional and absurd. When that author mentioned being told that a white outsider approaching the topic without including Indigenous stakeholders was inappropriate, they scoffed and wrote it off like a teenager in 2012 vaguebooking on social media to their friends about a person they didn't like. I'm not sure why Western Civilization feels like they need to exploit and dig into every nook and cranny of "other" cultures, but it's a toxic worldview that has no place in a library.
A comparison for people unfamiliar with what's being discussed requires some set up: Imagine that a conquering force took over all of Europe and the Middle East (including all of the holy sites) through a cultural and literal genocide, made all Abrahamic religions illegal, and then plundered their ancient sites to learn more about the people. This is archaeology; and an archaeologist took some photographs of this plunder that was then put in a publication. The author would appeal to everyone across the world outside of the conquered group to share the pictures of these private, destroyed sites (featuring detailed maps about how to additionally plunder them) with the world because a picture can't have a closed, cultural context without being censorship --even if the motive is the protection of culturally important historical sites from further destruction and theft.
When I was in library school in 2014 (not long after this publication), that was already an unacceptable and culturally insensitive thing to do. So, you know, what the fuck
Of course, not all the essays/narratives included are like that, but that one sticks out like a sharp thorn. Particularly as it is put at the front of one of the shortest chapter in the book, which only briefly nods at the idea of closed information and conflates it with censorship. It begs to ask what the editors were thinking since most of the other topics are pretty average fare for this discussion. Were they trying for inclusivity? Did they simply not have enough qualified submissions for this chapter?
If you're a librarian reading this today, let me just assure you that disrespect or skirting by technicality of NAGPRA was and is an absurd argument. It has been law since 1990 in the U.S. and that there is a "censorship battle" featuring its content that is incredibly biased is both unprofessional and absurd. When that author mentioned being told that a white outsider approaching the topic without including Indigenous stakeholders was inappropriate, they scoffed and wrote it off like a teenager in 2012 vaguebooking on social media to their friends about a person they didn't like. I'm not sure why Western Civilization feels like they need to exploit and dig into every nook and cranny of "other" cultures, but it's a toxic worldview that has no place in a library.
A comparison for people unfamiliar with what's being discussed requires some set up: Imagine that a conquering force took over all of Europe and the Middle East (including all of the holy sites) through a cultural and literal genocide, made all Abrahamic religions illegal, and then plundered their ancient sites to learn more about the people. This is archaeology; and an archaeologist took some photographs of this plunder that was then put in a publication. The author would appeal to everyone across the world outside of the conquered group to share the pictures of these private, destroyed sites (featuring detailed maps about how to additionally plunder them) with the world because a picture can't have a closed, cultural context without being censorship --even if the motive is the protection of culturally important historical sites from further destruction and theft.
When I was in library school in 2014 (not long after this publication), that was already an unacceptable and culturally insensitive thing to do. So, you know, what the fuck
Of course, not all the essays/narratives included are like that, but that one sticks out like a sharp thorn. Particularly as it is put at the front of one of the shortest chapter in the book, which only briefly nods at the idea of closed information and conflates it with censorship. It begs to ask what the editors were thinking since most of the other topics are pretty average fare for this discussion. Were they trying for inclusivity? Did they simply not have enough qualified submissions for this chapter?
March 21, 2019
This is an excellent tool for anyone in the library profession, or just interested in hearing about experiences around book-banning efforts and censorship. I read a couple essays from this in grad school and finally had a chance to go back and revisit the rest. Fascinating case studies and moving testimony.
December 10, 2019
I was planning to just read the story that my co-worker friend wrote for this compilation, but ended up reading them all. Thought provoking and valuable for understanding how important it is to keep censorship from happening.
May 3, 2013
This book should be mandatory reading for every parent whose child is in school or about to start school. Maybe it would help get them to see that this issue is bigger than their child, that it is as big as freedom gets. And maybe it would get them to think a bit more, be ruled by fear a bit less, and get them to back the f off and let library professionals do their jobs.
While the most common involved parents freaking out about their kids' reading material, there were also really thought-provoking stories about other types of censorship, such as librarians' self-censorship and about student activism against censorship.
Ending now with the quintessential quote from the book: "Who do they think they are? What gives them the right to decide what I can and can't read?" (p.49)
While the most common involved parents freaking out about their kids' reading material, there were also really thought-provoking stories about other types of censorship, such as librarians' self-censorship and about student activism against censorship.
Ending now with the quintessential quote from the book: "Who do they think they are? What gives them the right to decide what I can and can't read?" (p.49)
July 31, 2013
A good collection of many first-person accounts from the front-lines in the battle for intellectual freedom in America. I enjoyed the diversity of experiences (some are full-on, drag-your-name-into-the-mud-and-the-courts attempts at book banning while others are only slight passes at challenging) and the relative diversity of outcomes that show the real-world application of ALA ideals as library workers of all types deal with the unique details of their particular situations. A must-read for anyone who cares about libraries and/or the First Amendment.
May 18, 2013
A valuable look at the importance of standing up for intellectual freedom. For librarians, this also means having set down firm policies that will help to withstand challenges, which is something many of these articles reiterate. Even today, there's no room for complacency when it comes to censorship.
December 14, 2013
Though I am not a librarian, this book has hope to think about how censorship and intellectual freedom work on a practical level. I was also struck by the fact that a few of that incidents of challenge library materials occurred in my home state and region. One doesn't always think of censorship as something so close to home.
August 29, 2014
Cover to cover in one night. Yes I am a geek,
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews