So, my mother recently informed me about banned books week coming up soon. Also, with Sarah Palin allegedly wanting to get multiple books banned - the topic has been brought up moreso often than usual.I am not sure how I feel about the concept of banned books. I have read a handful of the books that typically appear on the 'banned books list' and I definitely think someone somewhere is being waaaaay too sensitive. There's definitely less offensive and/or controversial material in said books than in, well, every other form of media children are exposed to.
However, that being said, I don't know how I feel about the concept of banning books. There's a certain level of, say, decency required of every other form of media and there are certain regulations out there. I'm not saying some books should 'disappear', but perhaps a little regulation in some way wouldn't hurt.
Now, I am certainly no expert on the matter - in fact, my information on the subject is very limited. I didn't do any research for this post - this post is my attempt to do research. I probably have more librarian friends than any other non-librarian - most who read this blog. I do not know much about the matter - I would like some feedback. :)
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Ok - so I am sticking my conservative librarian nose in here. While I roll my eyes at people who get huffy about the books their child is reading - my usual response is... if you feel strongly about censoring what your child reads, it is your job as a parent to do it. Read whatever books he or she is going to read before they do so that you can either take it out of your house or discuss the issue with your child.
In addition to this, because the subject comes up, every library in the country has a policy about how to ban a book and how to get it removed from the shelves; a policy that explains in detail the ridiculous amount of footwork and attendance in meetings it requires. My gut response to books being banned is this: you may truly want to shelter your children or you may just want to protect them from things they may not be ready for (a legitimate concern), but you don't have the right to decide that for other parents and their children (much as you might want to).
Here is the snopes entry on the Palin banned books issue.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/bannedbooks.asp
American Library Association released their statement, which is similar to this. What it boils down to, is that the church she belongs to was discussing 'questionable' reading material and she just asked about it - and the librarian handed her the sheet of paper with the protocol for how to get a book banned.
End of story.
P.S. - you have other librarian friends?
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