The last few years has seen global discussions (and even outrage) over the controversial topic of censorship – particularly around books that students may have access to in school libraries. There seems to be two types of censorship that prompt fast and furious discussion. Censorship where publishers might change or omit certain words in books – we all remember the Roald Dahl global event – changing the description of character Augustus Gloop from fat to enormous. Many of us might laugh at the absurdity of these word changes and want our beloved stories to stay as they were originally written. Classic works that potentially paint people in a stereotypical or racial light are also subject to publisher censorship – changes to Australian classics, such as Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner, or My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin (Kelly, 2023) are also at the forefront of public discourse.
The second type of censorship is particularly notable in the school library context – that is the removal or access rights to certain texts being controlled by either the public or librarians themselves. This seems to be particularly rife in countries like America and Canada, where parents accounted for 60% of the challenges to materials (Jenkinson, 2002). Although this seems to be a daunting statistic, it is possible that this is merely a fly in the ointment than compared to perhaps the more dangerous form of censorship – school librarians themselves. This type of censorship can even be described as unconscious – when librarians own beliefs and values are projected onto the collection via the selection process (Moody, 2005). In a progressive society like Australia, is censorship really a big problem?
It seems that it might be – possibly without the hype and news coverage we might see from our American counterparts. Censorship occurs in Australian school libraries, and has for decades. Instances such as Harry Potter being removed from libraries in Queensland, and such strict internet filtering that the name Virginia could not be accessed because of the first 6 letters of the name and its connotations (Credaro, 2001) Just because we don’t see images of protest against books, or hear of beloved classics being removed from shelves, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen in Australia, and will keep happening. The 7.30 report on ABC Australia recently interviewed the former head of the American Library Association, who painted a dire picture of censorship occuring all over the world, and reminded us of protecting individuals ‘right to read’. The video can be viewed here: 7.30 Report Video
As teacher librarians, it is a critical and important issue. If part of our role is information access, then being educated on issues of censorship is important – to ensure we offer our students valuable access to the information that have the right to.
Credaro, A. (2001). Double jeopardy: censorship in school libraries. Orana, 37(1), 4–8. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/ielapa.200109829
Jenkinson, D. (2002). Selection and censorship: It’s simple arithmetic. School libraries in Canada, 2(4), 22.
Moody, K. (2005) Covert censorship in libraries: a discussion paper in The Australian Library Journal, 54(2), 138-147.
Tingle, L. (Director). (2023, December 5) Librarians warn the push for book censorship is widening in the United States. 7.30 Report, ABC. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-05/librarians-warn-the-us-push-for-book-censorship-is-widening/103192880