From American Libraries: Milwaukee-area citizen Robert C. Braun of the Christian Civil Liberties Union (CCLU) distributed at the meeting copies of a claim for damages he and three other plaintiffs filed April 28 with the city; the complainants seek the right to publicly burn or destroy by another means the library’s copy of Baby Be-Bop. The claim also demands $120,000 in compensatory damages ($30,000 per plaintiff) for being exposed to the book in a library display, and the resignation of West Bend Mayor Kristine Deiss for “allow[ing] this book to be viewed by the public.”

While we watch the story unfold in Wisconsin, what can we do?

Perhaps the plantiffs only requested to destroy the book because they wanted more media attention.  Or maybe they really do want to burn it.  Whatever their reasons, the case for intellectual freedom can be made in our libraries, with “anti-burning” activities.

• Programs – Have an “Anti-Burning” or “Un-Burning” Party, where teens learn how to restore bindings and mend books!  It’s the opposite of destroying them, and it may save your library money.
• Displays –  Create a book display in your library that features Baby Be-Bop.  It’s not too late for a Pride Month theme.  You could also focus on Francesca Lia Block titles.   Add a sign detailing the case in Wisconsin.
• Advisory groups - Discuss this issue with your teen advisory group.  Are they aware of the case?   What do adults need to know about teens’ right to read?
• Video Booktalks – Staff or teens can create video booktalks for Baby Be-Bop.

Happy Anti-Burning, everyone!

Holly Anderton
Chair, Intellectual Freedom Committee

Get in on the ground floor of something interesting!

As you may have heard, YALSA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee will be transitioning into an Interest Group.   This means that anyone interested can sign up to participate, and conference attendance is not mandatory.   All you need is a passion for intellectual freedom and the First Amendment!

 The transformation will be complete by 2010.  We need at least 15 interested YALSA members to send their information right away, so we may submit a formal petition in June. 
What is expected of IF committee members, and what will be expected of the IF Interest Group?  YALSA-IF members:

• Stay informed about current and past issues surrounding intellectual freedom and libraries
• Plan ALA Conference programs in conjunction with AASL and ALSC
• Update the Censorship & Challenges portion of the YALSA Wiki, Blog for YALSA, and update YALSA’s Intellectual Freedom page
• Liaison with ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom & the Freedom to Read Foundation.

 
If these activities sound like fun to you,  please send the following information to andertonh@carnegielibrary.org: name, ALA member number, institution, email, address,  and phone number.

Your name will then be added to  the petition submitted to the YALSA Board.  If you have any questions at all about the YALSA Intellectual Freedom Interest Group, please feel free to contact me.

Holly Anderton

Chair, YALSA Intellectual Freedom Committee

Steve Martin’s play Picasso at the Lapin Agile, was recently banned from production in a La Grande, OR high school, because parents objected to it’s adult content.  The play is about an imagined meeting between Picasso and Einstein in Paris.  ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom reports that over 420 books were challenged in 2007 (this is the most recent data available).   If only every book could have a celebrity in it’s corner, writing a letter to the editor in the community newspaper, as Steve Martin did.

Martin writes in his letter:  ”So while the question of whether students should perform the play at their high school remains something to be determined by the community, I firmly believe that seeing the play will bring no harm to them and might well uplift them —  and acting in the play, if they are permitted by their parents, would also bring them no harm, and may help them to understand the potency, power and beauty of the arts and sciences.”

Martin is indeed funding the independent production of the play in La Grande, as promised in the letter, under the direction of the high school teacher who originally planned to produce it.

Holly Anderton,
Chair, Intellectual Freedom Committee

• To serve as a liaison between the YALSA and the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee and all other groups within the Association concerned with intellectual freedom.
• To advise the YALSA on matters pertaining to the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution and the ALA Library Bill of Rights and their implications to library service to young adults and to make recommendations to the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee for changes in policy on issues involving library service to young adults.
• To prepare and gather materials which will advise the young adult librarian of available services and support for resisting local pressure and community action designed to impair the rights of young adult users.
• To assume responsibility for the continuing education of young adult librarians regarding intellectual freedom.

As a YALSA Intellectual Freedom Committee member, I have my choice of a smorgasbord of Intellectual Freedom meetings and activities to attend at Conference.  However by far, the best part of my trip to Midwinter was attending the Freedom to Read Foundation’s Fourth Annual Author Event featuring Lauren Myracle.

Lauren specifically addressed the banning and challenging of her books.  She spoke about how she could empathize with parents who find her books objectionable.   Because the world is truly a scary place,  protecting your children is a priority.  Lauren stressed that she believes firmly in a parent’s right to choose what is book is right for their family, while allowing every other family to make this decision on their own.  This understanding approach has helped her when she responds  to the hate mail she receives at least once per day.  Lauren read aloud some of the angry emails from parents. They called books like Eleven and TTYL  “disgusting, filthy, and awful,” and one parent even referred to Lauren as “Satan.” 

TTYL was on the list of Most Frequently Challenged Books in 2007, and has recently been banned at the Round Rock Independent School District near Austin, Texas.  After the parent of a middle schooler objected to the book,  the superintendent  removed all copies of the book in the school district.  It was removed in spite of that fact that two committees reviewed the book and found it suitable for the library.

You can send Lauren Myracle a little email of support or encouragment, or you might ask your Teen Advisory Group to do so.  She promises to write back!

If you haven’t already, join the Freedom to Read Foundation.  Your $35 membership fee will go directly toward fighting the good First Amendment fight in courtrooms all over America.

Holly Anderton
Intellectual Freedom Committee

One of my esteemed IF Committee colleagues touched on this point a couple of posts back, but I find a need to bring it up again. There have been a couple of intellectual freedom related issues that have cropped up in my library and community as of late; The debates were centered around two books: Elizabeth Scott’s ‘Living Dead Girl’ and Susanna Kaysen’s ‘Girl, Interrupted’ and their suitability for a teen audience. This has had me pondering the meaning of the word “appropriate” and the way it sometimes gets tossed about in our line of work. We often use the word, I think, to justify our own nervousness about more explicit language or content, and to defend our fear of potential confrontation.The New Oxford American Dictionary (2^nd Edition) defines the word as such:

Appropriate. Adj.“Suitable or proper in the circumstances.”

I like this definition because it reminds me that we cannot know the circumstances of every teenager’s life in the communities we serve. It is easy to shout “this book is not appropriate for 9^th graders!!!” (And heck, maybe it isn’t, for many of them.) But it is not necessarily our place to make that assumption, and it may be *exactly* the right book for a particular teen (or group thereof) at a particular time. Should we deny that kid their right to that book because we are afraid of the possibility of a negative community response? I hope not. We would end up throwing out half the YA collection in the process, including a Printz winner or two.

I think it is important to remember who it is we are developing our collections for: the teenagers that we serve, in all their wildly differing glory. Not their parents, not the politicians, not the adult community at large. And while I would never, ever dispute a parent’s right to decide what is right for their children to read, I am ever uncomfortable with us as librarians deciding what is and is not appropriate for our collections outside of the bounds of literary merit, demand and potential popularity.

I know that some may disagree with my sentiments, and I also know that I am speaking from a public library perspective; school libraries certainly have their own difficulties in this area. But I sincerely hope that most of us are thinking hard about our potential for self-censoring when we are developing our collections.

After all, it’s the “appropriate” thing to do!

See you all in Denver,
Ken Petrilli, IF Committee

Neil Gaiman responding to a question on why defending free speech you don’t like is necessary  made me realize how important it is to remind ourselves as young adult librarians to push our comfort levels when buying potentially controversial materials.  In thinking about graphic novels, I wonder if larger systems with three different sections of GN might be more willing to start something in YA knowing they can always move to A if needed.  10 years ago when it was harder to find enough Children’s GN to fill up a shelf, there was more danger of having Tintin next to Watchman, but now it seems easier.

I have only worked for large metropolitan systems, so my experience with patrons seeking to remove materials has been limited to spending time writing letters justifying the material questioned, and then at most reclasifying, but never removing the item.  A senior librarian once told me when I started that she would never ban anything because that would “start a train that would never stop”.

I agree with Neil Gaiman that if it happens once, it’s so much easier to go down that path again.

Marcus Lowry

Reading news items and YALSA-Bk listserv postings during this past month, I noticed two recurring intellectual freedom themes…determining the suitability/appropriateness of materials for teens and balancing that suitability/appropriateness within the current definition of YA literature. “Appropriateness” concerns have been raised recently about a whole gamut of materials from DVD TV movies (Freedom Song) to manga titles (Alice 19 and Treasure), popular fiction (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Succession), and L. Ron Hubbard audio books. Most of the postings asked for guidance in evaluating these titles for suitability for a YA audience.

It struck me that we librarians depend more and more on the opinions of blog and listserv posters and less on our own familiarity with the material in question. Are we in danger of basing our decisions on incomplete information then? Do we prefer postings because we don’t have enough time to read, view, and/or listen to new acquisitions or to become more familiar with our collections? Is it because we fear challenges and it’s simply easier, this way, to avoid them?

I rely on the opinions of my flesh & bone, print, and virtual colleagues to help me make selection decisions. I readily admit that I often don’t remember every detail when I read, so I am occasionally surprised when I hear about a possible objection… Alice 19 being to “graphic” for 8^th & 9^th graders or Diary of a Wimpy Kid having a sex scene…prompting me to re-visit those titles.

What do others do? What can we do to better utilize the wealth of information and opinion available to us now? It’s nice to have a heads-up in advance about possible difficulties, especially in a school setting, but how does this ubiquitous access change how we select materials for our libraries? YALSA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee is putting the finishing touches on our proposed program, Walking the Line: The Fine Line Between Selection & Censorship, for ALA 2009 this summer in Chicago. We invite your input.

Taffey Anderson, the Oregon woman who had been refusing to return The Book of Bunny Suicides to her 13 year old son’s school library, has returned the book and softened her stance after the story provoked several negative editorials and blog posts. Anderson spoke to the American Libraries, telling them that the book was returned on October 24^th. She was quoted as saying “I was talking completely out of anger,” and “I did apologize in the newspaper and should never have said that, but I don’t think it’s a book for school-age children.”

This is a great reminder that how we deal with an initial challenge can make a difference in the outcome. It can be tempting to dismiss challenges without really listening to the person’s real concern. Staying calm and courteous and practicing active listening can sometimes prevent a concern from becoming a public challenge. ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom offers a helpful guide to dealing with challenges. We all hope we never find ourselves in that situation but in case we do, it is important to be prepared.

It’s not too late to celebrate Banned Books Week with teens at your library!   Here are some ideas to get teens thinking and talking about banned books:

1. Create your own banned books booklist, or order the ALA Banned Books List 07-08.  Display these booklists near your reference desk and encourage discussion.  One classic exchange I had with a teen went like this: a teen approached the desk and casually glanced over at our Banned Books Week list.  She asked, “What’s a banned book?”  I explained.  The teen’s face crinkled up and she asked, incredulously, “If people don’t like the books, why don’t they just not read them?”  Great question!  Off-the-cuff discussions at our reference desk, with both teens and their parents, have been the most rewarding way for me to inform patrons about banned books.  You might also tuck these booklists into the challenged books that are sitting on your shelves, to create awareness among those teens who are hesitant to approach staff.
2. Hold a banned books discussion.  Choose one (or all) books from this year’s list  and ask teens to discuss the specific reasons for challenges.
3. Promote remotely! Use your blog, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or library website to write a quick blurb about Banned Books Week.  You can link to relevant websites such as The Comic Legal Defense Fund and AS IF!, or embed one of John Green’s Brotherhood 2.0 videos about book banning.
4. Create a display.  You can use YALSA booklists, such as those from Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, to guide you.  As mentioned in a previous YALSA blog post, this is a committee not afraid to tackle controversial subjects.
5. Hold a banned books reading.  You can invite teens to bring their favorite banned books from a multitude of lists provided by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
6. Look within.  Is your Materials Consideration Policy up to date?  You may want to look at what practices your library has in place to deal with material challenges.  Check out YALSA’s Dealing with Challenges to Young Adult Materials page for resources.  You may also want to have a look at the laws regarding privacy in your state, to help inform your policy process.

Happy Banned Books Week, everyone!