Selection and Censorship of Children's Lit - 2008

[Judi Moreillon]

Dear Children's Lit for a Diverse Society Group,
Next week, school and public librarian graduate students from the University of Arizona will be posting questions and thoughts related to selection and censorship of children's lit in school libraries.

My goal (as their professor) is for them to broaden their understanding of the issues by hearing from and communicating with people in the field.

I hope you are willing to share your expertise.

Best,
Judi

[Trish Gardner]

My husband worked for the Phoenix Symphony for years, and they conduct the first round of their auditions this way. Each candidate is given a number and they are behind a screen without shoes. However, bias can be applied in other ways. The panel is able to see the resume' of the musician, and even without a name, seeing that the person attended U of A might strike a chord with other Wildcat Alumn's, or a fellow Juliard graduate might be more apt to want to at hire someone from their school. It certainly does take a concerted effort to not be drawn to what is similar and comfortable for us. However, I'd hate to be the guy that DIDN'T get hired, just because my resume was similar to one of the panel, and they were making an effort to be diverse.

[Kristina Green]

Thoughtful selection definitely seems challenging and I think it's important to include teachers and students in the selection process. It provides much needed perspectives and as you mentioned, brings attention to any special collection needs.

I also think student advisory boards are becoming more common and it seems to be a great way for students to discuss 'questionable' material and feel represented at the same time. If a student advisory decides it would be best to remove a book, I think students wouldn't feel as though they are being censored as much. As long as the student advisory is a good representation of the student body, it seems like it could work.

[Chris Ruiz]

Selection is the building of a collection for specified users. Selectors do have power by making the decisions what to add or not, but should also be open-minded and adhere to the ALA standards of intellectual freedom. Censorship is pulling off books already selected that exist in a collection.

Censorship should not be confused with inappropriate placement of books according to age group. Many times at my workplace/public library, books categorized for children actually belong in YA because of graphic subject matter. They are reviewed by collection development and changed to reflect appropriate placement if needed. But they are still available. I feel it’s essential to read book reviews for selection but even they can be wrong in age assessment. I’ve seen this happen more than once. Sometimes juvenile/ “tween” books crossover to YA and it’s important to recognize them. Challenged books might just be designated for the wrong area or age range and needn’t be censored at all!

[Selene]

Interesting that you have brought up book reviews. I do not yet have collection development experience, but a few reviews I have encountered have been off the mark and perhaps in a way then create a sort of censorship if they were to be relied upon. Is it generally more typical to make selections based solely on reviews or some combination of reviews and personal reading of the item? Are there specific policies that can differ from library to library regarding how to approach this?

[Nicole]

Reviews definitely have a say in whether or not a library purchases a title, but good collection development means looking at the "right" reviews. For example, a mainstream review source might give a horror novel (or urban romance, or Christian fiction, or any other niche genre) a bad review, but a review source that is focused on the pleasure of the horror fan might think the same title is great. Since there are certainly library patrons who read horror novels, the library wants to make sure it has a quality collection in this genre. Now, if the same genre review source though a book was horrid (in the bad way), then why buy it? The collection development department I interned in had policies laid out like this. Kids' movies are a good example of this; mainstream reviewers generally think kids' films are stupid (because their adults who are unconcerned with the target audience). However, going to a kid/family-centric review site gives a better picture of whether or not kids will enjoy it. I worked on a DVD collection, and spent a lot of time looking at such sites while working on the kids' collection.

I actually think that personal reading of the item should not be a major, decisive part of collection development; it makes it too easy for a librarian's personal biases to get in the way. If I don't enjoy reading scary stories for kids (or Christian fiction, etc.), then why should my opinion matter? Better to take direction from someone who enjoys the genre and has developed some level of expertise in it.

[Michelle Martin]

I know in the academic library world, librarians can order books, personally read/review them and decide if they want to either select the book to be added to the collection or "reject" it whereby it is shipped back to the book company. In this way librarians can evaluate the book before a final decision is made. Is this true for teacher librarians or/and public librarians?

However, a previous step (before ordering) is to read book reviews and browse catalogs from reputable sources. My professors here at SIRLS have suggested reading book reviews from Booklist, ALA website, and review articles found in databases such as LISA and Library Literature. Also, it is wise to see what peer institutions own in their collection by searching in their library OPACs or using WorldCat for library holdings.

[Michelle Martin]

You make a really good point that books may simply be inappropriately cataloged for one age group which causes concerns with parents. For example, I looked at the Pima County Public Library catalog for Golden Compass and noticed that seven out of the eight copies are identified as appropriate for Teen readers, though one copy is shelved in the Children's section- all were cataloged as belonging to the science fiction genre. This one library that decided to place Golden Compass, which is a highly controversial book and often challenged according to FactsonFictoin.org, in the "Child" section may have/will receive challenges from concerned parents who do not want their seven-year old reading what they perceive to be age-inappropriate content. According to FactsonFiction.org, Golden Compass includes themes of conflict, death, war, witchcraft, religion and crisis. While these issues may prove true or simply be subjectional beliefs it is for the librarian, teacher, and parent to determine, drawing from their personal beliefs, background, socio-econimic status, culture, etc.

[Selene]

The process of selection is the choosing of items for a collection that are in line with the needs of the library community and fit within the collection policies of the library. It seems it is the gateway that allows a resource to actually enter the library. On the other hand, censorship is more commonly taking stuff out of the library after it has passed through selection due to some objectionable content. However, there is a large potential for censorship to happen at the point of selection, particularly in subtle ways.

Based on the 1998 study by Wollman-Bonilla mentioned in Essentials of Children's Literature, it seems that in the practice of selection, it would be important to be mindful of personal reasons for selecting or not a particular resource and then also doing a mental double check regarding the reason, especially in the rejecting of a particular resource. It's that very subtle gray area that I worry about, because it is so hard to spot. Perhaps it comes down to using a particular reason based on the collection policy??

Is it typical to only have one person in change of the selection process or more than one? (With more than one there is a stronger possibility that the more subtle censorship would be revealed if there was any, at least in theory.)

[Sue Rasmussen]

It depends on the library. In a school library for example there is typically only one person to do the selecting and, as you point out, in situations like this it is especially important that the selector be mindful of whether resources are made (or rejected) for personal reasons. I've found it helps to discuss choices with the other two elementary librarians on a regular basis. Not only does this give all of us new ideas, but the discussions often helps me THINK about the reasons for my choices. I've been doing this for a long time and don't think I will ever stop worrying about "that very subtle gray area". It gets really hard when you have to pare down a final list because of budget.

[Tara F.L.]

After doing the reading on censorship in Essentials of Children's Literature (ECL) I was surprised and disconcerted by the findings of Wollman-Bonilla's study and the fact that teachers "commonly objected to texts that reflect gender, ethnic race or class experiences that differed from their own" (ECL 268.) If this is happening on a sub-concious level, I wonder how much can actually be done to remedy it? I do feel that offering classes similar to ours, that focus on diverse literature and subject matter in library and education programs is a starting point.

Lynch-Brown and Tomlinson, the authors of ECL, present a thought provoking question that I think all teachers/teacher librarians ought to consider: "do we actually teach students, by our actions as well as our words, about their first amendment rights?"

This absolutely relates to the difference between selection and censorship because, especially considering the study mentioned above, many act as censors while rationalizing this censorship as selection. Many have already mentioned that selection relates to collecting based on the needs/maturity level of the group in question, but this can be an issue if we are too narrow in this definition. Expanding upon and providing access to literature that deals with unfamiliar topics is important if we are to represent all voices. Selecting for the purpose of expanding children's horizons may come down to challenges, but it is the only way to ensure that our collections are dynamic and representative of the diversity experienced in real life.

I myself am a passionate believer in the first amendment rights of children, and I feel that too often teachers and schools make decisions to censor based on pressure from parents and outside influences. I was pleased with the emphasis ECL placed on recognizing the individual and his/her concerns, while avoiding outright censorship. A parent who is concerned with the materials their individual child is reading should be recognized and accomodated, but this should never translate into censoring these materials for the rest of the children who might access them.

When I took IRLS 520: Ethics for Library and Information professionals, I chose to focus my code of ethics on children and young adults. Feel free to look at it using the following URL: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~tfoxx1/

[Katy]

I think I have a grasp on the basic ideas between selection and censorship. Selection is geared towards creating a collection that maintains a variety of viewpoints. Selection for a collection needs to be done as objectively as possible, as it would be inappropriate for a library staff member to allow their personal beliefs to influence the materials being chosen. Censorship would be just that-involving a personal belief when deciding whether or not to include an item.

This doesn't mean that selection is an easy process. I do think it's important for libraries to be sensitive to the needs and interests of their communities and build the collection with these facts in mind. The goal of selection should be to create a collection that is as relevant to the community as possible. For instance, if a librarian sees growth in their Korean population and decides to buy more Korean titles instead of Chinese titles, this would be a wise selection decision rather than an attempt to censor.

I engaged in several conversations about this topic with my last library manager. She was a strong Christian but she understood that it was her duty to be a good steward of the public funds that her library received. I appreciate how she explained the importance of remembering that it was not her money to spend when it came to purchasing resources for the library. She said that although many of the books contradicted her standards, it would be unethical to try and build a collection only reflecting her ideas with funds that were not her own in the first place.

I thought that this was a very practical way of looking at the censorship issue-public funds should be used to purchase public viewpoints. If we want to work on building our own personal library, there's always our bookshelves back home!

[Sue Rasmussen]

Practicing “thoughtful selection that cannot be construed as censorship” is probably one of the most difficult issues for me as a teacher librarian. As others have pointed out, having a well written selection policy in place and a clear understanding of the standards and topics that are taught throughout the school is a critical first step, but this alone does not ensure that wise choices will be made. REading reviews, going to conferences where books are discussed, following blogs and getting enewlwtters are also helpful. But things can slip through.
I found the questions on page 268 of the ECL reading especially interesting because I have struggled with these same issues several times over the years. The reality is that sometimes you have to let your own feelings go and ask for another opinion as the librarians in the emails did. In my situation in a small rural district, I have taken a questionable book to the other two librarians in our district or to teachers on staff to get their opinions. This is especially important in the case of books that children recommend. The “Scary Stories” series by Alvin Schwartz is a good example of this—while I don’t especially like these books we cannot keep them on the shelves and have had to replace wornout copies several times over the years.