For the Censorship section of the assignment, I read Miranda Doyle’s opinion article from the School Library Journal (SLJ) website, ‘Choosing Not to Highlight Dr Seuss Books Is Not Censorship’, and commented on the article’s Facebook feed. I also read and (tried to) comment on Marva Hinton’s SLJ article, ‘Little House, Big Problem: What To Do With “Classic” Books That Are Also Racist’ (unfortunately, there were technical difficulties).
Reading about the censorship issue and people’s varied response to it forced me to examine my attitudes on the subject and think about what libraries and librarians do in response to this highly politicised topic.
I learned that, as public institutions, libraries cannot simply remove books with disagreeable ideologies from the collection since that would be censorship. Instead, books have to meet specific criteria before they can be ‘weeded’ or removed, such as infrequent checking out by patrons, a damaged or unsatisfactory appearance, or if it contains incorrect or outdated facts (Doyle, 2021, para. 3).
Even if libraries were allowed to, I do not believe the right answer is to remove problematic titles from the shelves. This would only continue to aggravate people who already think that too much is being lost to ‘cancel culture’ and political correctness. Instead, this is a chance to educate and for teachers and librarians to explain the book's historical context and why the author wrote it the way they did (Doyle, 2021; Hinton, 2020).
Instead of sanitising, libraries should continue to ‘deemphasise’ (Hinton, 2020, para. 13); that is, displaying, promoting, teaching, and recommending books that are newer and more diverse (Doyle, 2021, para. 4; Hinton, 2020, para. 32).
Libraries should always give users the freedom to choose what they want to read. Otherwise, resentful patrons may brand the library as biased and turn elsewhere for other, potentially misguided sources of information.
Libraries that remove problematic titles before they meet the criteria may justly be accused of engaging in censorship. However, keeping these titles available but using them as a teaching experience and focusing more on other works seems like the most diplomatic course.
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| Nonsap Visuals, 2017 |
Earlier this year, Dr Seuss Enterprises made headlines when it announced that six Dr Seuss titles would no longer be published because they contain “racist and insensitive imagery” (ABC News, 2021, paras. 1-2). The decision sparked much controversy, with some American conservatives decrying the move as another blow dealt by cancel culture (Peek, 2021).
The current social justice movement affects children’s literature as well, with ‘classic’ books and authors now being scrutinised for racist, sexist or homophobic attitudes and steps taken to redress past harms. For example, the Association for Library Service to Children changed the name of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, attributing the change to instances of harmful racial stereotypes found in Wilder’s famous Little House series (Yorio, 2018, para. 1).
Censorship is a thorny topic, with people on both sides of politics emotionally invested. Since libraries are supposed to be unbiased public institutions, librarians need to find a way around censoring books while still promoting the values of diversity, equity and inclusion that are foundational to many libraries’ plans and programming (Mallon, 2019, p. 319).
Reference List
ABC News. (2021). Six Dr Seuss books removed from publication over racist imagery. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-03/six-dr-seuss-books-withdrawn-from-publicatoin-for-racist-images/13209190
Doyle, M. (2021). Choosing not to highlight Dr Seuss books is not censorship. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=dr-seuss-library-policies-and-cancel-culture-opinion
Hinton, M. (2020). Little house, big problem: What to do with “classic” books that are also racist. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=Little-House-Big-Problem-Little-House-Big-Problem-What-To-Do-with-Classic-Books-That-Are-Also-Racist
Mallon, M. (2019). Diversity, equity, and inclusion. Public Services Quarterly, 15(4), 319-325.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15228959.2019.1664360
Peek, L. (2021). Liz Peek: CPAC blasts cancel culture – could the attacks on Dr. Seuss be the tipping point? https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/cpac-cancel-culture-attacks-dr-seuss-liz-peek
Yorio, K. (2018). ALSC changes Wilder Award to Children’s Literature Legacy Award. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=alsc-changes-name-wilder-award-childrens-literature-legacy-award
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