ALA OIF's Challenge Reporting

The library profession's commitment to intellectual freedom is the reason above all others that I am proud to be a member of it. (See Don't Defend That Book, LMC, Aug 2007)  So when I received this appeal from Andy Woodworth, how could I turn him down? His e-mail follows:

To my fellow librarians,

I'm writing to the people I consider to be the online voices of librarians and librarian values with a personal request. Back in October, I worked with the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom to start an awareness campaign to encourage people to report book challenges and/or removals. I feel that the under-reporting of book challenges represents a major impairment to the proper analysis and defense of intellectual freedom in libraries of all types. With better data and information from increased reporting, we as librarians can get a better grasp as to what materials are getting challenged and why and be able to detect trends and patterns to such activities.

In looking to raise awareness, I am asking you to consider adding a link to your blog sidebar that links to the ALA OIF's Challenge Reporting website
(http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/challengereporting/index.cfm). There is artwork that could go with this link, but a simple descriptive word link would be great as well. So it's clear, I am doing this on my own; I have not been asked by the ALA OIF to contact bloggers. I'm asking this as a personal request because I was involved in a book removal several years ago that received international attention. At the time, I felt completely helpless and without any form of recourse. Since then, it is my personal motivation and mission to work towards ensuring that no other librarian experiences what I
did in the future.

If you are able to, you have my thanks. If you are not, I understand (we're still cool). Either way, I want to thank you for your time considering what I ask.

Cheers,

Andy

So if you look on the lower left side of this blog site, you'll see Andy's graphic with the link that takes you to the reporting page. Please use this link to record any book challenges you might encounter. Thanks!

Oh, I hope that librarians also report "Blocked Web Sites" as well as banned books.

Comments

[Jeff]

How about banned words?

I recently posted a website with 6-10 links to free resources online, including old book archives, radio drama archives, and Soviet science images. It was swiftly banned because the website's title was "Here's Where Awesome Free Shit Lives on the Internet". The explanation given was that we would lose thousands of dollars in funding for letting an offensive website through the filters. The titular Shit was the only offensive word on the site.

This will become a rapidly-growing problem. As podcasts & blogs boom, much of the most up-to-date, thorough, thoughtful discussion on issues is simultaneously peppered with mature language. And we are banning it outright because of words that anyone chatting or playing online has probably already seen. We are operating on an obsolete courtesy censorship that cuts out any mature discussion of/involving swearing, leaving only the most immature, insulting, racist uses of it as examples for our kids.

How should we handle swearing in this environment?

(Mental exercise: How much funding would a school lose if a book in its library contained an obscene word?)

[teachermrw]

I personally wouldn't mind seeing Mein Kempf removed, or DW Griffith's film, " Birth of A Nation", for that matter. The former promotes the mind of a lunatic, and the latter, domestic terrorism, aka the Ku Klux Klan. Otherwise, I'm opposed to book/media banning.

[Doug Johnson]

HI Jeff,

Like I said in the post, online censorship is a bigger deal than print censorship today. Your example of how we treat a "dirty word" online and in print is right on target. (BTW, CIPA only requires that images be blocked.)

Thanks for the comment,

Doug

Teachermrw,

I find quite a number of ideas personally objectionable as well, but it the funny thing about freedom of expression is that everyone gets it or no one gets it. While I find the ideas horrible, I find that removing these things from the library would be worse.

Sorry,

Doug

[teachermrw]

@Doug No need to apologize. It's your opinion, right? I suspected you wouldn't agree with mine :) I am, however, pleased to know you share my opinion about the content Mein Kempf and "Birth of A Nation". I'm also glad you chose to post my comment.