The fine line between selection and censorship October 1, 2007
Posted by Debbie Stafford in : Community , 1 comment so farSeptember is always a busy month for school librarians. For me it was a busier month than ever. A nearby school closed last year, and I had an opportunity to select from its books to add to my collection. I had a mountain of books silently staring at me waiting for my okay.
I just could have downloaded the marc records and then shelved them. But I personally wanted to look at each item so that I really knew them, and could alert teachers about items of special interest, and also make sure the books met our school’s needs.
During this process, I was reminded of ongoing discussions among my fellow librarians about censorship and challenged materials. However, these were not books I was previewing for possible selection; these were books that had already been selected. In theory the job had been done already.
However, as I leafed through the pages, I found two books that gave me pause. It wasn’t over a bad word or two or over a questionable image. There are many items in my collection that someone could complain about because of language or images. They also didn’t focus on topics I disliked. I have other books on topics I don’t care for and viewpoints I disagree with. School libraries need books on controversial topics presenting opposing viewpoints.
I also wasn’t worried about possible challenges. A number of my books could be challenged because of questionable content or type of presentation. DoDDS has a liberal selection and challenged materials policy, and I believe this policy allowed these books to stay.
However, I decided not to keep them. I just felt the overall presentation of the content of these books to include the topics, the language, and the images was simply inappropriate.
Am I being a censor? I don’t think so. As a school librarian, I have to make these judgments even though I always try to keep the idea of intellectual freedom in mind. In the final analysis, however, it’s my decision as the professional and in this case I exercised my professional judgment.