CHALLENGES, CENSORSHIP, and BANNED BOOKS WEEK
There are typically two primary forms of anti-intellectual freedom behaviors: censorship and challenges. In the broad sense of the terms, censorship is “the action by government officials to prohibit or suppress publications or services on the basis of their content,” while a challenge “is a request that a government body or official practice censorship.” (LaRue, 2007) Regardless of whether a publication is censored or challenged, there is a common denominator between each, which stems from the controversy surrounding these materials.
Indeed, controversial books can be a big challenge to the librarian’s important stance of impartiality and what sort of materials the library chooses to supply. The ALA website offers support for librarians dealing with reporting challenges of library materials. Special terminology to help clarify the actions of challenged materials was developed by the Intellectual Freedom committee in 1986 to assist librarians dealing with challenges for the first time:
Expression of Concern. An inquiry that has judgmental overtones.
Oral Complaint. An oral challenge to the presence and/or appropriateness of the material in question.
Written Complaint. A formal, written complaint filed with the institution (library, school, etc.), challenging the presence and/or appropriateness of specific material.
Public Attack. A publicly disseminated statement challenging the value of the material, presented to the media and/or others outside the institutional organization in order to gain public support for further action.
Censorship. A change in the access status of material, based on the content of the work and made by a governing authority or its representatives. Such changes include exclusion, restriction, removal, or age/grade level changes. ("Support for Dealing with or Reporting Challenges to Library Materials,")
Banned Books Week has been celebrated the last week of September every year since 1982, in order to bring awareness to the importance of intellectual freedom in the United States. This year marks the 27th anniversary of Banned Book Week. As stated by the ALA, “BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.” ("Banned Books Week,")
By providing lists of banned books and doing things such as public readings from controversial books, librarians can be creative and inspire people to celebrate their freedom to read. The ALA provides a partial list of novels written in the twentieth century that have been banned or challenged and the reasoning behind that. See Banned or Challenged Books List. Is there a book on that list that you feel should not be there? If you faced a challenge to that book, how would you handle it?
8 comments:
It seems that there will always be someone who will disagree with something. The goal of the library should be to provide its users with a variety and diversity of materials. The librarian or libraries may not agree with all the materials contained in a library, however, they should remain neutral on the topics. We knowledge managers, we connect others to the information they seek.
It seems, to put it lightly, old fashioned to ban any information from the public. In the 1930's, according to the ALA list of banned or challenged books, materials were banned, challenged and even burned for containing profanities. As time went on, alcohol abuse, sexual references, and anti white content was considered inappropriate for the public eye. What I find ironic is that the public sets the tone and standard for the content that is produced by writers and musicians, and it seems ridiculous to then restrict the public from viewing it after someone has written the public's story in a book, a song or a movie script. As this group noted, libraries are supposed to maintain a neutral stance of impartiality. How can the library remain impartial and also participate in filtering materials for the public? It is the public's issue to decide which material is appropriate on an individual basis. It is the library's challenge to articulate the necessity of making any and all information available for the public to filter according to every individual's views.
Gone with the Wind should not be on the list. If I had to defend it I would stress that the book is a great representation of how African-Americans were perceived. To ignore the book would be like trying to erase history even if the view of the south is romanticized, it shows how people liked to think of slavery this includes the usage of offensive words.
The University of Pennsylvania posted a list of banned books and controversial issues over time in the United States and throughout the world.
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html
I found it interesting that a lot of the banned books on the list ended up being very famous and classic books that today are well known because they pushed the envelope of what was viewed as “correct” issues during their time. The libraries role within the community is not to tell others what should, or should not be read, but to educate the public on past and current issues, even if they are controversial.
There is an interesting angle on censorship that comes from a group of librarians. However, it does not bash the government or outside groups that seek patrons' records or challenge books at the library. It looks at the power that lirarians have in shaping the availability of information by their selection process.
In short, it enlists the librarian as the first line of censorhip. It's interesting. Of course we all know about the balance we strive for in serving our communities specific needs yet providing a well rounded pool of information, but it really needs a lot more consideration as it is one of the major issues in censorship.
http://webpages.charter.net/tomeboy/censorship.html
I don't think any of the books on that list should be there! The thought of someone making a decision for me, or thinking they know what is best for me is just gives me shivers up my spine. Actually, almost worse is someone deciding for me what is appropriate for my children to read! Some of the books that are banned do have words or actions that are shocking or unusual to us today, but in these cases it is often a window into the history of our country, or a situation that is merely unfamiliar to us, one that we have never experienced- therefore maybe it does seem foreign when reading, but that is the purpose of reading, to help us think critically about ourselves and the world around us and making discoveries about this world we live in.
I was very surprised by some of the titles on the banned books list such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Call of the Wild, Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, and Gone With the Wind. I don’t feel these or any of the others mentioned should be on the list. What is particularly concerning was the number of schools that had banned these books. Educators already have so much power on what they are including and excluding in the curriculum but to ban a classic from the institution is very disheartening. As another classmate mentioned these books encourage the reader to think critically, to take the view points, life styles, and characters in the stories and compare them with them with today’s society and how it has or has not changed.
Some of the banned book's history makes me wonder---The Lord of the Flies being banned for violence and language?! Others lists at ALA cite challenged books and authors from current decades, which was an eye-opener. I knew JK Rowling has often been challenged, but Judy Blume? It seems like for every book that makes you think, there is a challenge to it from someone that doesn't like it.
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