Don’t be frightened by book challenges—be prepared
I live in fear that someone will challenge one of our books. I’m not very confident about dealing with censorship because I didn’t have a single course about it in library school. Now that I’m an elementary school librarian, I feel that my library school failed me. Where can I go for help?
I don’t know very many library schools that offer a course that deals exclusively with intellectual freedom issues. Most deal with this topic in collection development and administration courses. I’m puzzled that you didn’t have a single course that dealt with censorship. Intellectual freedom is the heart of library service. Many colleges and universities offer online courses that will prepare you for dealing with challenges. There are also online seminars offered through the American Library Association (ALA). Plus, there are a vast number of articles that deal with materials selection and policies. ALA offers an Intellectual Freedom Manual, and its Office for Intellectual Freedom has helpful information and guidelines on its Web site. You must take the responsibility to prepare yourself. Check your school district Board Policy Manual to see if there are materials selection policies. If not, find out the appropriate person to talk to about getting those policies written. Without selection and materials review policies, you and your district’s librarians are quite vulnerable should a challenge arise. Don’t be frightened. Just get prepared.
Has a school library been sued because its students couldn’t access the online information they needed?
The Tennessee ACLU is currently suing the Knoxville school district for violating a student’s constitutional right to obtain online information about homosexuality (for more details, visit www.aclu-tn.org). The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires schools to use filtering software if they receive e-rate funds or Museum and Library Services Act grants. But CIPA applies only to “visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors.” It makes no reference to text. The courts have recognized that minors have constitutional rights and that filters block constitutionally protected speech. It’s imperative that school districts have an Internet Use Policy that addresses student access to online information. The policy should make provisions for unblocking information deemed “educational” upon a student’s request. Otherwise, the school district could end up in court.
I’m a teen librarian in a large public library system. We’re having so many book challenges that we need a full-time librarian just to handle the cases. I believe that teen books have gotten too edgy, and I’m uncomfortable with some of the books in our collection, like The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I don’t want to be guilty of censorship, but I think some teen books really belong in our adult section. How should I deal with these edgy books?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (MTV, 1999) is a young adult novel, and therefore, it belongs in the teen section. I don’t know what other teen titles concern you, but I hope that you and your colleagues are reading the books and not making judgments based on the flap copy. You may not personally like some of the books in your teen collection, but you need to separate your personal values from your professional decisions. Dealing with book challenges can take a lot of time, but procedures must be followed. That’s part of a librarian’s job description.
I’m a middle school librarian. For years I’ve created summer reading lists for our students, and I’ve never had any problems. But recently a woman who doesn’t have a child in our school saw our summer reading list on the school’s Web site and complained about one of the titles—Gail Giles’s Shattering Glass. I’m worried she’ll get some of our parents upset. How should I handle her?
Tell her that she has a right to her opinion, but that you’ve created the summer reading list based on students’ interests and quality teen literature. My guess is that she belongs to some organized group that’s monitoring library collections and services throughout the nation. She would really have no other reason to be looking at your Web site. Plus, Shattering Glass (Roaring Brook, 2002) appears on a long list of books that such groups have labeled “inappropriate” for teens. Defend the summer reading list in the same way you’d defend any book in your collection. And be ready to follow your policy if a parent complains.