Ending the week

The October edition of American Libraries (unfortunately the online link's recent issue is September) was in my mailbox early this week. After browsing through it, I will go back and read things of interest later, I was intrigued by Will Manley's column, Speaking of Dissent. This year, American Libraries is celebrating it's 100th anniversary. Manley has been revisiting various moments in ALA history and the October 2007 column details what he mentions as possibly the "biggest controversy to hit ALA;" an Office of Intellectual Freedom film titled "The Speaker" that was sponsored by ALA and shown thirty years ago at the ALA Annual meeting in Detroit, 1977 (Manley, AL, 10/07, p. 88).

Unfamiliar with this instance in ALA history, I spent time this evening trying to locate more information; there was very little available. An ERIC document discussion guide abstract (ED151880) provides the full title, "The Speaker: A Film about Freedom," and includes this blurb in their abstract concerning the discussion guide:

"'The Speaker,' a film about the First Amendment concept of freedom of expression, deals with the personal torment that individuals experience in learning tolerance for ideas they fear or reject" (ED151880, 1977).

I also found the ALA archives, housed at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, contains evaluation forms presented to the membership at the June 1977 meeting when the film was shown. However, from Manley's column the plot of this movie:

"centers around an attempt by a high school history teacher to invite controversial speakers to campus to give presentation on volatile issues not taught in the classroom. One of the invitees is a famous scientist notorious for espousing the theory that black people are genetically inferior. After a significant number of parents and students protest this invitation, the school board steps in and prohibits the man from speaking. End of film." (Manley, AL, 10/07, p. 88)

As Banned Books week draws to a close, I find myself very interested in the final paragraph of "Speaking of Dissent."

"Does the advocate of an ugly and discriminatory point of view have the right to be heard by an audience of young and impressionable students?"

There is obviously no simple ansswer; just as there are no easy answers and lack of opinions concerning books and censorship. That is why it's so important to stop each year and bring attention to Banned Books week.

Tags: Banned Books Week, American Libraries magazine, Will Manley

Just thinking ...

Everyone has an opinion regarding censorship and banned books, it's inevitable. As an adult I have issue with the idea of someone presuming to tell me what I can read.

I have great respect for a parents right to determine what their children should, or should not, be allowed to read. However, I do not need the same parent to determine what other children should read. Nowhere is this type of conversation more interesting than in a library.

We have a new librarian on staff who is younger (praise be) and has made the move to academics from a large public library. Previously a young adult librarian, she has a fresh take on what is currently popular for teens. I relied heavily on my pubic library purchases with beginning basic juvenile purchases here and as such mentioned if there were any books she felt we needed to let me know; she could order them with her general money, I could incorporate them into one of my orders, or our cataloging librarian (she also a fantasy and sci-fi buff so I do not need to purchase much in that genre), who purchases children's books with an endowment fund and is always glad for input, could add them. A quick request was to purchase additional titles, we had one, in the Stephanie Myer series featuring Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. It has generated some buzz on staff and opinions have been fun to hear. I can listen but not participate as I have not read the books, I do not care for the vampire portion of the paranormal genre. Talk has ranged from "the next Harry Potter, I don't think so" to "I was disappointed" to "this is great" and "do we really need books on vampires?" No one has said we should not have the series, but some are not thrilled.

I finished reading a book on Monday that was well-written, though a bit slow at the beginning, dealt with a teenage boy's struggle with his mother's death from cancer, his fear of not living up to his more popular older brother, very real issues of abandonment, and the deeper concept of assisted suicide. The main character's struggle and feelings of abandonment were realistic, as was the dialogue between adults and young adults. I was not thrilled with the cavalier use of drugs throughout the story; no one saw anything wrong with the older brother, younger brother, and friends using drugs and in one instance the main character has dinner with his father while stoned. In some ways this effected my enjoyment of the book and was a personal observation. With it being banned books week I admit to pondering how parents might react to this title in a school library. While the argument could be made it was reflective of real life, it could also be said "not my real life."

The comic strip blurb at the top of this post is from Unshelved, it is the strip from today, Thursday, October 4, 2007. As previously mentioned, the site is running their Banned Books Week panels from 2003 - library patrons are being allowed to ban books as they see fit.

Just another instance of early lunch blogging. I'll need a new book on the way out today.

Tags: Banned Books Week, Unshelved

Banned Books Week 2007

Banned Books Week 2007, September 29 - October 6, is almost half over; have you read a banned book? What about one of the most frequently challenged titles? Here are a few links from ALA and information pertaining to Banned Books Week.

• Celebrating Virtually - OIF
• Most challenged book of 2006
• Listing challenges by book and author
• 100 Most Frequently challenged books (by initiator) 1990-2000
• Banned Books Week - Celebrate the Freedom to Read - Quotes & Links
• Top 10 Challenged Authors 1990 - 2004
• Challenged and Banned Books

One of the most difficult aspects with this week is understanding a challenged book is not necessarily banned and vice versa. ALA has a section on Banned Books site titled "What's the Difference between a Challenge and a Banning?" that makes it a bit less complicated.

"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. The positive message of Banned Books Week: Free People Read Freely is that due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection." (ALA, Challenged and Banned Books)

I remember an exercise we did for a class while I was getting my MLIS at Pitt; we held mock school board meetings (per say). I may have discussed this before, if so my apologies and you can skip this paragraph. Each group of six or eight students was divided into two committees, one the school librarian and board members and the other enraged parents wanting a book removed from the library. I was assigned to be one of the parents and found it both enlightening - and distasteful - to present an opinion completely against my beliefs.

Yesterday morning I put up a small Banned Books week display outside of the resource center. Many of the children's literature classes have been discussing this topic and I was curious to see if it would garner any attention. I placed three large pieces of blank tagboard on the wall, along with pens for opinions, and asked the students to write what they thought about Banned Books Week, censorship verses collection development, and book challenges. So far, no takers.

Tags: Banned Books Week 2007, ALA

Banned Books Week

It is the beginning of Banned Books Week, and while I plan to do a post or two during the course of this week, I can not think of a better way to start off than referring to the most recent Unshelved comic strip and blog entry Read Irresponsibly.

"Celebrate it yourself by reading something
appalling and offensive."

Visit Unshelved to view the strip, September 29, 2007.

Unshelved c. Overdue Media, LLC.


Tags: Banned Books Week, Unshelved