Tag intellectual freedom

The banner image depicts a rainbow-colored series of birds launching into flight against a backdrop of open books.

Celebrate Banned Books Week: September 18 – 24

sahanacallahan Leave a comment
The banner image depicts a rainbow-colored series of birds launching into flight against a backdrop of open books.

by Sahana C.

Banned Books Week is a party. We celebrate our unfettered access to whichever books we choose.

The national theme of Banned Books Week stands firm in its message against censorship. When it began in 1982, Banned Books Week was not a protest, but a reaction to an increasing number of book challenges. Banned Books Week is a space away from the intensity of media speculation and divisive press coverage.

The picture depicts the places where book challenges take place: school libraries, public libraries, schools, and academic/other. In the upper right hand corner is a graphic of rainbow-colored birds launching into flight, and the entire background is a faint depiction of open books.

The American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom tracked almost 1,600 books that were challenged in 2021 alone, but Banned Books Week is not when those challenges are contested. It is, in the words of the official website, a time for, “shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”

The ALA is one of the loudest proponents of this effort as it supports the declaration from libraries to wholly commit to combat disinformation, promote the perspectives of historically excluded groups, and increase access to information. This is the mandate of public libraries, written into the mission statement of Howard County Library System: “We deliver high-quality public education for all.”

It is our responsibility to provide access to materials that encourage conversation and provoke thought; every addition to our collection is a choice, and decisions are never neutral. HCLS continues this practice with its Brave Voices, Brave Choices initiative. We have committed to not hiding hard conversations from our community. Discussions about appropriateness usually center the idea of balance, meaning we amplify the voices of people from historically excluded, marginalized, and unheard communities. Libraries cannot be neutral in this effort toward radical inclusion.

The picture is a rainbow-colored infographic of words and phrases cited in 2021 censorship reports as reasons for book challenges. In the upper right corner is a graphic of rainbow-colored birds launching into flight, and the entire background is a faint depiction of open books.

Kelvin Watson, director of libraries in Broward County, Florida, put it well: “Claiming neutrality endangers us as an institution by resulting in an unconscious adoption of the values of the dominant political model and framework… (w)e cannot be neutral on social and political issues that impact our customers because…these social and political issues impact us as well.” While a policy of neutrality appears to be equal, it is not equitable – it does not allow for different facets of our community to see themselves represented meaningfully, without stereotype, by people who share their life experiences.

We, as a library, stand to protect the brave voices who write, publish, and lead us into a more equitable future. We, in turn, make the brave choice to stand against the idea that we can be neutral in the battle against misinformation. The library is a steward of knowledge, led for and by the community it serves.

So, join the party! Everyone’s invited.

Sahana is an Instructor and Research Specialist at the Savage Branch. She enjoys adding books to her “want to read” list despite having a mountain of books waiting for her already.

The image depicts a red book on a white background, wrapped in yellow tape with the words "Banned Books Week" written on it in black.

It’s Banned Books Week

juliefitzreader Leave a comment
The picture shows a multicolored open book with the description, "Censorship is a Dead End. Find your freedom to read during Banned Books Week! September 27 - October 3, 2020 bannedbooksweek.org

by Julie F.

“The novel, the story. the poem, are still subjected to a paradox with a long history: Fighting the written word acknowledges its power” (53). – from Freedom of Speech: Mightier Than the Sword by David K. Shipler

It’s easy to think of Banned Books in terms of the classics, many of which are read in high school and challenged at that level: Beloved, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Slaughterhouse-Five are three that spring to mind even before I look at a list. In fact, you can even listen here to Benedict Cumberbatch reading Kurt Vonnegut’s famous letter to the Drake County School Board after they banned and burned his masterpiece. Sherlock Holmes himself in support of our First Amendment!

But Banned Books Week involves so much more than the classics, and organizations like the American Library Association, PEN America, and the National Coalition Against Censorship are continually working “to promote freedom of thought, inquiry and expression and oppose censorship in all its forms” (from the mission statement on the NCAC website).

What other forms, you might ask? Award-winning musicals and plays, from Sweeney Todd to Shakespeare’s own Twelfth Night, have been censored and banned in recent years. The Defender Database of the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund has a comprehensive list of theatrical challenges and bans nationwide, and works “to educate everyone about the subjective and transient standards that have been employed by censor[s].”

Another form of censorship you may not have considered is the banning of books in prisons and jails, which is often arbitrary, with no efficient review mechanisms and no independent oversight outside of the prison system. PEN America has also found that literature about topics including race and civil rights is disproportionally subject to banning; you can read about their findings here and learn more about their Literature Locked Up initiative.

The American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom provides a continually updated list of resources for those interested in crucial First Amendment issues. To begin, I would suggest reading the Library Bill of Rights and the ALA’s Freedom to Read statement, both of which advocate for our nation to trust individual citizens – not government censors – to make their own best decisions about reading, expression, and the free and open exchange of ideas. After all, as Justice John Marshall Harlan famously wrote for the court in Paul Robert Cohen v. California in 1971, “One man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric.”

Julie is an instructor and research specialist at HCLS Miller Branch. She loves gardening, reading, journalism, and all kinds of music.