As a librarian seeking to develop the library’s collection, you have performed a detailed community analysis, set service priorities, and determined the role your public library will play. You have carefully reviewed and selected materials to ensure they meet both the needs of your community and the criteria set forth by the ALA, stating that “Librarians have a professional responsibility to be inclusive, not exclusive, in collection development and in the provision of interlibrary loan. Access to all materials and resources legally obtainable should be assured to the user, and policies should not unjustly exclude materials and resources even if they are offensive to the librarian or the user. This includes materials and resources that reflect a diversity of political, economic, religious, social, minority, and sexual issues. A balanced collection reflects a diversity of materials and resources, not an equality of numbers” (Diversity in Collection Development: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights). Yet, even after such careful consideration, you are now facing a challenge to a “controversial” book.
According to the ALA in Reporting a Challenge, “a challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.” Whether a religious group is decrying a moral affront, a parent thinks that content will corrupt their child, or there’s a question of compromised national security, most reasons for challenges boil down to fear. “Most attempts at suppression rest on a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy: that the ordinary individual, by exercising critical judgment, will select the good and reject the bad” (ALA, Freedom to Read Statement). Challenges often occur when books contain violence, sex, profanity, homosexuality, occult themes or rebellious youth. The result of restricting access to certain books often backfires. Staples (1996) states “for one thing, librarians say the primary effect of keeping kids from reading a book is that they want to read it above all others.” The NCTE’s Students Right to Read Guideline further asserts that “Censorship leaves students with an inadequate and distorted picture of the ideals, values, and problems of their culture.”
Robert P. Doyle (2008) documented over 80 books on this year’s list of challenged books, though it includes only the known challenges. He states, “Surveys indicate approximately 85 percent of the challenges to library materials receive no media attention and remain unreported. Moreover, this list is limited to books and does not include challenges to magazines, newspapers, films, broadcasts, plays, performances, electronic publications, or exhibits.” In addition to challenges, “stealth censorship,” occurs when books quietly disappear from our libraries’ shelves in various ways. Parents often choose to forego a formal challenge, and simply slip a book off the shelf. Librarians, either fearing controversy, loss of employment, reduced funding, or pressure from administration, may contribute to censorship by being overly cautious about the books they order, or physically flagging controversial books already on the shelves. Publishers contribute to censorship by avoiding stories on controversial topics, and authors censor themselves by changing content, even if it affects the credibility of their work.
One of the main sources of help in defending a challenged book is the ALA, which has set forth many policies and posted links to other resources on its website. Some of the most important links to the ALA, The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and others, are included in the sources section below.
Discussion Questions:
A patron approaches you, explaining that a specific book shouldn’t be available for young people due to violence and sexual situations. What do you, as the librarian, do now? Do you think that there circumstances in which censorship would be necessary?
Sources:
American Library Association (ALA)
Support for dealing with or reporting challenges to library materials. Accessed November 30, 2008. http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/challengesupport/challengesupport.cfm
Reporting a Challenge. Accessed November 30, 2008. http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/challengesupport/reporting/reportingchallenge.cfm
Workbook for Selection Policy Writing. Accessed November 30, 2008. http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/challengesupport/dealing/workbookselection.cfm
Code of Ethics of the American Library Association. Accessed November 30, 2008. http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/statementspols/codeofethics/codeethics.cfm
The Library Bill of Rights. Accessed November 30, 2008. http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/statementspols/statementsif/librarybillrights.cfm
Diversity in Collection Development: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights. Accessed November 30, 2008. http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/statementspols/statementsif/interpretations/diversitycollection.cfm
The Freedom to Read Statement. Accessed November 30, 2008. http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/statementspols/ftrstatement/freedomreadstatement.cfm
Random House Children’s Books. First Amendment First Aid Kit. Accessed November 30, 2008. http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/firstamendment/talking.html
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), Guideline on The Students' Right to Read. 1981. Accessed November 30, 2008. http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/righttoreadguideline
Staples, Suzanne Fisher. What Johnny Can’t Read: Censorship in American Libraries. The Alan Review, Volume 23, Number 2, Winter 1996. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter96/pubCONN.html
Robert P. Doyle, Books Challenged or Banned in 2007-2008, 2008. http://www.ila.org/pdf/2008banned.pdf
6 comments:
My apologies people. That was an ugly post. I received several errors, and ended up posting an unedited version. I hope you can read it.
Beth
I like the resources you have included with your post. Good job. If a patron approached me with concerns about a book for young people I would take advice from the ALA for handling the situation. The ALA emphasizes the importance of knowing your library's collection development policy and being able to explain it clearly and in terms that everyone can understand -not just library jargon. They stress the importance of looking calm and approachable as you speak with the patron, so that you don't give a "threatening librarian" impression. I think I would make sure that I let the patron know that I understood their concern, but also explain (in a calm and friendly way) that the library as a public place has policies that allow anyone using the library services to have access to the information. It would be a good idea to have the library collection development policy readily available so that you could show it to concerned parents. I would also let the parent know that the library does not act "in loco parentis" and that the responsibility for what the child reads or views lies with the parent and not the library. (The non-loco parentis policy can also be found on library card applications as my group showed in our ethical scenario PowerPoint). I would also explain that the library's collection development policy emphasizes diversity within its collection. I would say that while we need to make sure that the library has a wide range of materials for all people who use the library and not everyone is going to agree with our choices. I would stress that the choice in children's reading/viewing material is clearly up to the parent.
If the parent continued to get upset and angry over the matter I would direct him or her to fill out a formal complaint regarding the matter, so that the parent would feel that I am taking their concern seriously. I think it is also a good idea to have a "plan of action" in your head as you deal with the patron so that things don't escalate.
The ALA "tips" for dealing with challenged books says "be clear who you represent yourself or your library" (ALA,2008,). We are going to be dealing with challenges and complaints about books numerous times over our careers. I think the best thing to do is represent your library in a matter like this, because if you felt more comfortable representing yourself instead of the library, then why are you working at the library in the first place? Obviously, you have a personal opinion, but keep it to yourself in order to keep your job.
However, I would continue to be clear on the fact that the final choice of reading material is about to the parent. This is because I would not want a parent to say: "great, please don't let me child read book x and then (later)have the parent complain that I as the librarian wasn't monitoring the child's reading material. In keeping with the good customer service that comes with being a librarian I would also show the parent resources for their child choose a good book or to have them choose what they want their child to read. These could include large anthology-type guides like "What to Read When Your Book Report is Due Tomorrow" or "Best Books for Middle Schoolers" etc. I would let the parent know that we can provide reader advisory for young people to find great books for them because that is a major part of the job description in working with children and young adults. Like someone else said in a post a few weeks ago, good customer service in order to find books for young people is a better philosophy than having carte blanche to let young people read anything just because the material is available. If there is material in the adult section they want to read, they can, but exhaust all other resources first. In exhausting all resources first, you will find out a lot more about the child/young adult and show them that the library is a great place for them.
I also liked the section of the ALA website that offered suggestions for programming to support positive onnections between parenting, reading and library use for children, with topics such as "How to Raise a Reader" or workshops about motivating kids to read. If my library sponsored one of these I would promote it. These would be great for the community because it would emphasize that the library can have something positive for everyone. It would help emphasize freedom of choice in terms of reading because you would need to choose a wide variety of books to talk about and some people might not agree with every choice. However, you would need to be careful here too, because, if you talked about about a book that not everyone would find appropriate or didn't talk about it, would that be censoring, or bringing on a problem? The overarching point in dealing with challenged books is that we need to be prepared to deal with a variety of situations and patron responses. I would calmly respond to concerns and then make sure that I always give young patrons and parents the best experience in the youth department as possible. This way, they will be more likely to view library experiences as posivitive ones and not complain.
Great sources!! This scenario has happened to me at the library I work for. Fortunately, we have policies and procedures in place when theses issues come up. Generally, the patron is given a complaint form and asked to fill it out with their concerns. Staff will talk to the patron letting them know we take these concerns seriously. Once the patron has completed the form it is given to the director. The director and the administration will discuss the issues about the item in question and will respond back to the patron as soon as possible with the results of the decision. Most often, the book is retained by the library. It is explained to the patron that the library is a source for information that it provides different view points and issues. We try to meet the needs of everyone within the community. If the patron is still not satisfied they can go before the library board with their complaint.
The other commentors answered your question on how to deal with a challenge beautifully. In answering your question on circumstances in which censorship would be necessary, I have to say, there are NONE!! EVER!!
Lester Asheim wrote "Not Censorship, but Selection" in 1954, and what he says is still true:
"The major characteristic which makes for the all-important difference seems to me to be this: that the selector's approach is positive, while that of the censor is negative. This is more than a verbal quibble; it transforms the entire act and the steps included in it. For to the selector, the important thing is to find reasons to keep the book. Given such a guiding principle, the selector looks for values, for strengths, for virtues which will over shadow minor objections. For the censor, on the other hand, the important thing is to find reasons to reject the book; his guiding principle leads him to seek out the objectionable features, the weaknesses, the possibilities for misinterpretation. The positive selector asks what the reaction of a rational intelligent adult would be to the content of the work; the censor fears for the results on the weak, the warped, and the irrational. The selector says, if there is anything good in this book let us try to keep it; the censor says, if there is anything bad in this book, let us reject it. And since there is seldom a flawless work in any form, the censor's approach can destroy much that is worth saving."
I agree with Katherine--the others have responded nicely as to how to handle this kind of situation. But I want to piggyback on what Nate said. I think it is very important to have policies in place for just this reason. And I would definitely advocate for a policy where patrons can write down their concerns on paper. My reason for that is this. When responding to a patron in person--they come up to you and voice a complaint, things could easily become confrontational, especially if the patron is in the heat of the moment. I would probably always make the first suggestion of having them write down their concerns. I am decent at listening to complaints--I do it all the time on the phone. But frequently, the patrons do not want to hear your policy-driven explanation right then. Mostly, they just want to vent. I usually go ahead and let them do that. I try not to respond. It only fuels their fire. So for me, it is better to let them put it down on paper--they can have some time to think about it. And then they will (hopefully) get a prompt and well-reasoned response from the director or whomever is in charge of responding to challenges. If they remain aggrieved, they can always appeal, but at least it will be less confrontational.
Great resources!
I would follow the collection development policy and also let the patron know I would take the complaint to the board. I would also invite the patron to attend the board meeting. I would thank the patron for their interest in the well-being of our community's young people- and let them know my door is always open to the ideas and concerns of the library's patrons.
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