Censorship, book banning, book challenges have always been of interest to me in the library world.
Ultimately as Librarians we may have the authority to make some decisions as to what books will be on our shelves. As a Library Aide in a school I encountered the issue of "Self-Censorship" first hand with a parent who was convinced that the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books were "full of witchcraft" based on some propaganda she'd recieved from her church. No matter what I did, she did not want to read the books or allow her children to read the books. In order to appease this parent,the principal decided I should let her have a say in some of the book choices that were made for the library. I still have a bad feeling about this. There were books that some of the other students wanted to read, that were taken off the wish list based on this one parents opinions. All because nobody wanted to deal with being accused of excluding her children based on their religious beliefs. What would you have done? How can we resist the urge to choose what is "polically correct"? How do we support the Freedom to Read and keep ALL of our community happy and well-read?
I don't believe that the parent had the right to have a say in what other children read. It is her right to censor her children only. The library (or school) should have taken a firmer stand on this. I know that the school library has the right to "guide" students to reading material that is more appropriate for their age and abilities but I don't believe that a parent has that right for children other than their own.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Deb on this one. Freedom of religion also means I can chose to have none at all, and that no one can force me to practice a particular faith. That woman has the right (and responsibility) to censor what her family reads, but cannot make that decision for anyone else. It's galling that she feels she knows best for everyone, what nerve! Shame on the library for buckling under PC pressure from one in-DUH-vidual!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is a toughie. Although I can sit back and say I would have stood up for what was right for all students as a whole and not just the children of that parent, I don't think that this is always going to be an option for many people. You could have possibly lost your job. We cannot censor information because it is for everyone not just a specific community of people. However, in a school library, there is a consideration of what is appropriate for a child of a certain age. I think the freedom to read supersedes keeping everyone happy. You will never keep everyone happy but we can provide access to materials that will be of use to different parts of the community. Whether or not everyone agrees with it should not be our primary concern.
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