Transcript Banned Books Week - University of Pittsburgh

George Orwell
Judy Bloom
Mark Twain
Erich Maria Remarque
Richard Wright
Banned Books Week
A focus on Intellectual Freedom
and Censorship
Jack London
Boris Pasternak
J. D. Salinger
Salmon Rushdie
Sir Thomas Paine
What is Banned Books
Week?
• Banned Books Week is a yearly world-wide ALA-sponsored week
of events.
• The ALA is fervently against any form of censorship, fully
supporting intellectual freedom.
• Banned Books Week is intended to celebrate the freedom to choose
and the freedom to express one’s opinion, even if that opinion might
be considered unorthodox or unpopular.
•
Banned Books Week also stresses the importance of ensuring the
availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who
wish to read them.
What is Banned Books
Week?
• The majority of the books featured during the week are not banned,
but “merely” challenged.
• However, a challenge is an attempt to ban or restrict materials,
based upon the objections of a person or group. A successful
challenge would result in materials being banned or restricted.
• The efforts of librarians and other intellectual freedom activists
allow most works to remain in collections.
Why are books challenged?
• Books usually are challenged to protect others, frequently children,
from difficult ideas and information.
• Most librarians see challenges as grounded in good intention and
pure in conviction, but they are ultimately illegal and restrictive.
• Books are often challenged by people and groups of all persuasions.
• Free Speech for Me—But Not for Thee: How the American Left and
Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other
• By Nat Hentoff
2005 Trends
• “Only” 405 books were challenged in 2005.
• “Only” 44 books were removed from the shelf in 2005.
• The website “www.ala.org” has lists of banned books for review.
ISSUES SURROUNDING
BANNED BOOKS
• First Amendment Rights
• Intellectual Freedom
• Family Values
• Political Views
What is Intellectual Freedom?
“Intellectual Freedom is the right of every individual to both seek
and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It
provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any
and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored.
Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and
disseminate ideas.”
– American Library Association
Our Laws Support
Intellectual Freedom
• Our laws, starting with the first amendment to our constitution,
support the right to intellectual freedom
• CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN
ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE
EXERCISE THEREOF; OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF
SPEECH, OR OF THE PRESS; OR THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE
PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE, AND TO PETITION THE
GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES.
– ratified December 15, 1791
The American Issue:
“Family Values”
• The want to preserve “family values” drives much of the debate over
book challenges.
• Upfront Informed Parental Consent/Parents Against Bad Books In
Schools (PABBIS)
• kidSPEAK
• ALA Library Bill of Rights
The Most Frequently
Challenged Book of 2005
The nature of the Challenge
• “Page 73 of the 1996 paperback edition lists nine reasons to have an
abortion, capped by this masterpiece of moral anorexia: ‘The female
did not want or intend to become pregnant.’ There are no reasons
offered not to have an abortion.”
– Lee Duigon, Concerned Women for America
• “It is one of those sex education books trumpeted by the experts as
being just what our children need. Never mind that it contains all
kinds of graphic illustrations. Never mind that it tells our children
that it's okay to engage in all kinds of sexual activity. Never mind
the fact that any normal person can just look at its contents and tell
immediately it's kiddie porn.”
– Jim Sedlak, American Life League
In Support of “Its Perfectly
Normal”
•
“[It’s Perfectly Normal] was one way of giving kids and teens information about
staying healthy. We as adults — no matter what our values — want our kids to
stay healthy as they grow up, and in particular, through those very difficult
adolescent years. And one thing we can do is to educate them and give them
honest, up-to-date, and accurate information that's clear and accessible to them.
– Robie H. Harris, Author of “Its Perfectly Normal”
•
"This caring, conscientious, and well-crafted book will be a fine library resource as
well as a marvelous adjunct to the middle-school sex-education curriculum...
Children will find this a comforting, informative precursor to Lynda Madaras'
book on puberty; librarians will find it well worth fighting for if, by some chance,
the need arises."
– Booklist
How modern Libraries
Address Challenged Books
•
Once a book is challenged, the work is reevaluated by the entire department to
determine whether it complies with the department’s collection mission.
•
A department’s “collection mission” is a statement of intent aimed at keeping a
library department’s selection process focused on providing relevant and rich
information to the public.
•
Sometimes a book may be passed on to the library board for determination.
•
If the book is determined to be within the department’s collection mission, it will
remain in circulation, no matter how many times it is challenged.
Brief Discussion
• This is not a political debate! Remember to stay focused on the issues
of librarianship, please…
• Is the Carnegie Library’s method of addressing book challenges fair?
Do you have any suggestions to improve upon this strategy?
• Do you think it is right for librarians to make the ultimate decision
regarding what works stay and what works are removed from the
shelves? Does this make librarians an “information vanguard?
• Is it legitimate for librarians to declare intellectual freedom as king?
What about what the community wants in their library?
Books That Have Been Banned
Ulysses, by James Joyce
• Barred from the United States as obscene for 15 years
• Seized by U.S Postal Authorities in 1918 and 1930.
• Ban lifted in 1933 as a result of advocates’ actions.
Books That Have Been Banned
Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman
• Withdrawn in Boston in 1881 for the use of explicit language in some
poems.
• Later published in Philadelphia.
Taking the Issue Further
How should librarians deal with truly inflammatory works, such as
extremist literature? What is the librarian’s responsibility to the
community at that point?
Where the Issue Becomes
Difficult…
• Do you consider libraries banning or not carrying extremist
literature as censorship? Should libraries ever carry books of this
nature?
• Many libraries avoid this trap by setting
standards for selection which involve only
carrying book which have received wide
positive reviews from respected journals
and magazines.
Ernst Zündel
Library 2.0
Do Libraries Still Matter?
Library 2.0 (L2)
A complex concept with many
divergent and conflicting views
stemming about the library world of
the future in relation to technology.
Walt Crawford
Library 2.0 doesn’t
(or shouldn’t) allow for a
concise definition.
Walt Crawford
Wikipedia/Casey/Bisson
L2 is a model for modernizing libraries that
borrows many concepts and technologies
from Web 2.0. The goals are to promote a
participatory role for library patrons, and to
facilitate libraries’ capacity to adapt
Examples of L2
Technology
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Interacting websites
Virtual reference
Personalized OPAC interfaces (LibraryThing.com)
Wikis (Saint Joseph County Public Library in South Bend, IN)
Blogs (beiffert.net/liblog) (Banned Books)
Tags
Podcasts
Screencasting
RSS
Toolbars
Personalized library web pages
Writely and Writeboard
Electronic access to top-quality databases
Downloadable audiobooks and music
Instant messaging reference services
L2 Affects Individuals
• Better informed
• More involved
• Communication on many levels
• Wider scope of interest
L2 Affects Libraries
• Book discussion groups can take place
asynchronously
• Patrons can interact with data
• A wider variety of patrons will be drawn to the
library
• The system invites and embraces change
L2 Affects Communities
• Bring together the knowledge of community members
• Community knowledge is available to all
• Local history, through stories as well as archives will be preserved
• A community's uniqueness can be celebrated, through
history,handicrafts, heritage, recipes, lore, and much more
• A larger number of community members will have an interest in the
library
Implementing L2
• Determine needs
• Determine resources
• Develop goals and a plan
• Make it a collaboration between staff and users
• Implement slowly, even piecemeal
• Frequent and extensive evaluation
Topics To Consider
• What are the expectations of a library by most people?
• What would an ideal L2 entail? Is this a realistic model for the
real world?
• How is L2 influenced by W2?
• How can libraries remain vital to the public they serve?
• What are your views about L2? Is it a viable link for the future of
librarians or is it insignificant hype?