Date: 07/12/2023
Presenter: Tracie D. Hall, former executive director of the American Libraries Association (ALA)
Format: Online Webinar
Time: 2 hrs
Organisers: State Library of Victoria (SLV)
Level: Librarians, the general public
Subject Area: Literacy, censorship, information access, right to read freely.
Objective: Orientation with foundations and issues of censorship.
Reason for attending: Comprehension of parallels between American and Australian historical and contemporary socio-political environments, and familiarisation with marginalisation of literature creators and reading audiences.
What was learnt:
Censorship refers to actions that restrict free access to information. Hall introduced the subject of modern censorship as having “grass roots” in historical political agendas limiting freedom of information due to racism, discrimination and oppression in both the US and Australia. She stated it as a strong tactic of repression openly utilised in the 1950’s American “McCarthy Era” in which oppression of communist “ideals” lead to defamation and persecution of any information service thought to be “left-leaning” in their materials or services.
Hall discussed the deep-rooted political censorship formerly used by American and Australian governments as a dominative strategy to silence Indigenous and African American communities from expressing the mistreatment and injustice they have suffered since colonisation – “when we don’t or can’t read, we are more susceptible to misinformation and less likely to care or notice information withdrawal”. Governmental control of resources culminates in information poverty, seclusion and segregation, denying equality and undermining resilience within minority communities.
Although freedom of speech/ expression is now considered a basic right in both Australia and the US reading materials are still prohibited in the latter for not “aligning” with state policies, religious doctrines and dominant morals and beliefs. Laws restricting school curriculum in the areas of race, racism, gender identity and sexual orientation, and the defunding of public libraries in several states has restricted reader access and increased government control over information.
Hall describes this denial of freedom as “information redlining” referring to “the systematic denial of equitable access to credible and reliable information sources, information infrastructure, and information services and retrieval methods.” This equates to marginalisation and disempowerment of diverse populaces. Generational poverty, poor health and low literacy are cyclic in underprivileged communities where information is censored and access repressed. In Australia at least colonial and racist histories are being repositioned from an Indigenous perspective, however First Nation Australians face ongoing issues of high unemployment, low education, elevated percentages of incarceration and segregation due to information poverty.
Additionally censorship of representation for non-cisgender and diverse sexual orientation/identity creates division and phobia, particularly in impressionable adolescents.
Repression of social and environmental comment restricts individual choice, democracy and the right to “transform (their) lives through literacy and education”. Individual and community strength comes from information; information emanates from many sources including books; “books make us accountable” – Tracie D. Hall. (The New School News, 2023, para 8).
Relationship to work or study
Hall’s webinar was insightful and educational, and resonated with my interest in book censorship for young adults. Cultural, social and ethical issues underpinned by censorship related to INF111: Introduction to the Information Professions where the work, practices and responsibilities of the Information Professional were identified, whilst resource need, selection and evaluation principles contained in INF210: Collections acquired more relevance.
Having studied ICK101: First Nations Foundations – Knowing, Relating and Understanding Country I was familiar with the ongoing repercussions of colonialisation, racism, institutionalisation, segregation and misinformation/ disinformation of Australian First Nations Peoples. Hall discussed these last concepts in which the former refers to unintended ignorance or inaccuracy in education while the latter describes deliberate and harmful falsifications intended to mislead and influence public opinion and obscure fact.
Contemporary information resources openly discuss this history and its ramifications, and are increasingly inclusive of Aboriginal voices, culture and representation. Connected Libraries has just relabelled all Indigenous material to elevate authors and promote their stories, in addition to LGBTQIA+ designation and advocacy. Both CL and FHS have anti-censorship and inclusivity policies allowing for diversity, information freedom and choice of the individual, principles I believe in.
References
The New School News. (2023). Tracie D. Hall addresses literacy, censorship, and book bans as The New School’s Scholar-in-Residence. https://blogs.newschool.edu/news/2023/05/tracie-d-hall-the-new-schools-scholar-in-residence-talks-literacy-censorship-and-book-bans/