Self-censorship: book banners in disguise

Censored and challenged books have been in the spotlight for long time. Intellectual freedom is one of the hottest issues in our libraries today. Many debates were initiated about the librarians’ role in promoting intellectual freedom and ensuring that every book reaches its audience. Self-censorship is an informal type of censorship where librarians hide behind budgets limitations and other reasons to prevent some books from reaching the shelves.
Debra Lau Whelan interviewed authors of challenged young adult novels and librarians who experienced censorship of books in their libraries to explain the challenges and difficulties that are faced by both authors and librarians involved in collection development and selection of materials. Barry Lyga, the author of Boy Toy said that some bookstores are placing the novel in the adult section if buying it at all, while librarians who loved the book are not adding it to the collection because they are afraid of users’ complaints. Whelan termed this kind of censorship as “dirty little secret.” She describes self-censorship as a secret where librarians never admit that they are practicing it. The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom reported that only one out of five challenged books cases are discovered because self-censorship cases are hard to identify. In a survey conducted by the School Library Journal, 70% of librarians answered that they won’t buy some youth books that they think will provoke reactions from the parents’ side, while 23% replied that their personal ideas play a role in ignoring certain books. Pat Scales, the president of the Association of Library Services to Children, believes that librarians who practice self-censorship tend to cover their actions by hiding the real reason for not buying some books behind budget or space problems. The censored subjects are not sexual only but offensive language, violence, homosexuality, racism, and religion as well. In addition, authors of youth adult novels are affected by the public pressure. Many of them revealed that they changed some titles and omitted words from their books because they want to avoid headaches. Scales recommended giving young people the access to any book because they are able to adjust themselves if they have the freedom to do so. She also recommended for librarians to make sure that they have written selection policies in order to protect themselves.
Intellectual freedom is protected by the U.S. first amendment. Yet, librarians are standing between two evils, the complaints of the community as a reaction of adding a challenged book to the library’s collection from one side, and the fear from getting fired or sued if they cannot comply with the first amendment’s requirements from the other side. As recommended by Scales, the best solution for librarians is to adopt selection policies that reduce their personal intervention in selection decisions and protect them from future litigations.

Whelan, Debra (2009). "A Dirty Little Secret." School library journal (New York, N.Y.) (0362-8930), 55 (2), p. 27.