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Books still being contested in libraries, but not for the reasons you think

(Photo: Thinkstock)
(Photo: Thinkstock)

While book banning is no longer a common practice, and the flaming books piles are things of the past, libraries across North America are still getting requests to have material pulled from their shelves. And some of them are pretty surprising requests, too.

Last week, the American Library Association (ALA) observed its Banned Books Week, an international celebration heralded by the is a time to be glad that banning books is a rare occurrence on both sides of the border. While many books continue to be challenged in schools and public libraries, the book burning fires have been put out.

The Canadian Freedom to Read foundation, which celebrates their own reading week in February, works hard to compile various sources showing what kinds of material is still contested in Canada. “Freedom of expression is a fundamental right of all Canadians, and freedom to read is part of that precious heritage,” their mission statement affirms. But is that right in any kind of danger?

You might suspect that complaints about the books on the shelves might be exclusive to the Children’s or Young Adult sections - cautious parents looking out for their kids. But the Canadian Library Association’s most recent survey results, from 2013, showed that while movies and music are responsible for a sizable portion of the complaints received, and children’s books certainly do get their share of attention, a surprising number of adult non-fiction books also made the list. The organization registered 85 individual challenges across 21 publicly-funded libraries in six different provinces.

About two thirds of these reports were for books, and there were twice as many reports for adult materials as for children’s. Of the thirty or so adult books receiving attention, it’s interesting to note that many were non-fiction titles challenged on the basis that they contained factually incorrect information.

Gone is the Footloose image of religious or fundamentalist with picket signs surrounding barrels filled with smouldering ashes, trying to protect their innocent children from the “obscenities” that might offend more delicate sensibilities. Which isn’t to say those attitudes have completely disappeared; Canadian comic book artist, Fiona Staples, and American writer Brian Vaughan have received several complaints internationally about the “anti-family” nature of their adult sci-fi/fantasy graphic novel, Saga. Finding itself among the top ten challenged books in the U.S. this past year, reports for Saga cite nudity, offensive language, and sexually explicit content as the primary concerns.

When it comes to books for a younger audience, or even books perceived as being for youth, such as Saga, “unsuited for the age group” is a commonly cited issue. Confusion about the intended audience for books seems common. Even Adam Mansbach’s “mock children’s book”, Go the F**k to Sleep, was reported in a Canadian library for being “age inappropriate.” Similarly, non-fiction books like, What’s Happening to Me? An Illustrated Guide to Puberty and popular fiction like Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials have at least a few concerned parents worried about what is “age appropriate” for their children. (And, in the case of Pullman’s fantasy series, apparently also the possible influence of Satan.)

But a few people have used this reporting system in more surprising ways.

The CLA has recorded several instances of complaints against women’s magazines in the library, for example, over concerns about objectification and the body image of young girls. Books like Bob Davies and Lori Rentzel’s Coming Out of Homosexuality: New Freedom for Men and Women, about the debunked practice of conversion therapy, or Richard L. Rubenstein’s Jihad and Genocide, about the conflict in the Middle East, have been contested over their lack of factual basis and their likelihood to promote hate. Multiple complaints were received across the country pertaining to literature about Lance Armstrong published before his doping scandal. One reader even reported that pick-up artist Mystery’s sexually-explicit book The Mystery Method: How to Get Beautiful Women into Bed was, “misbound in the cover of children’s novel Twelve by Lauren Myracle.” Book bans seem to be a thing of the past, but some things really shouldn’t be on the shelves.

A look at Canada’s complaints shows that we do still find ourselves concerned over what our children and our community are reading, even if, thanks to the internet, it is mostly out of our control. This begs the question: can banning books ever be a good thing? Are limits in the library synonymous with your computer’s parental controls? And if that kind of control is ethical, does the freedom to read trump the need to control the flow of information, inaccurate as it may be?