Banned Books Week began Monday and is being celebrated in local book stores with readings and information about why and when various books have been banned. It is a yearly event, and one worth noting. That books are rarely banned in the United States these days makes it all the more so.
Supporters of the yearly event include booksellers and the Library of Congress. The principal organizer and sponsor, however, is the American Library Association. And more than anyone, it is to librarians that we owe our literary freedom.
This year, Banned Books Week is focusing on young adult fiction. That is, of course, the category of literature that generates the most complaints as teens are branching out intellectually and exploring the world around them.
Typically, it is parents who complain about their son or daughter reading something they find objectionable. The complaints usually center on sexual themes or passages – particularly those involving homosexuality – or subject matter the parents consider anti-family or opposed to their religion. Violence, offensive language, drug and alcohol use and perceived Satanic images are cited as well.
The targets of these complaints – or “challenges” as the American Library Association calls them – are usually schools or libraries. The ALA tracks the ones it finds out about and it is in those numbers that critics find an opportunity to push back.
Few challenges result in a book being take off the shelves or excluded from a reading list. But the ALA keeps raw data confidential to shield whistle blowers. And with that, there really is no way to analyze the data properly. Moreover, there is no reporting requirement, so it is impossible to know how many challenges occur or how many result in a school or library caving in to complaints.
Critics suggest therefore that “Banned Books” overstates the issue. The numbers of challenges is both small and essentially anecdotal, and, critics say, conjures up an unsubstantiated and perhaps non-existent threat to freedom.
That misses the point. The ALA is not trying to run a comprehensive data base. It is simply tracking the attempts it hears about to limit what people can read. And it is doing so, not to quantify those efforts, but to oppose them.
Which book is challenged most often or has faced the most challenges is simply a count of what has been reported to the ALA. It is not a statistical analysis and is not represented as one.
Banned Books Week is not meant to promote the idea that banning books is becoming common or that censorship is a worsening problem. At least in this country, it is not at this time.
But that is neither a fluke nor a natural state. Banned Books Week is meant to remind us that not long ago books were routinely banned and that there are still those among us who might do so again if it were allowed.
That censorship and book banning are not regular features of American life – as they were in living memory – is precisely because of events like Banned Books Week and the efforts of people nationwide who value reading, books, freedom of speech and information.
And no one deserves more credit for that than America’s librarians.
