Reflection- Employing Selection principles to avoid Censorship
The activity- Analysis of a peer reviewed article
It’s a hot topic at the moment. Here in Australia, we hear horror stories of book banning in American schools reaching extreme levels. “Fifty-two books in Utah’s Alpine School District. Forty-three books in Oklahoma. Thirty books in Kansas. Four hundred and sixty-five books in Pennsylvania’s Central York School District; 204 books in Florida; 713 books in Texas, with 435 bans in North East Independent School District.” (Walter, 2022, P.1) People got fired up when it was announced that Roald Dahl books were being re-written for a modern audience. (Bryson-Taylor, Feb. 20, 2023) Whilst censorship in all its forms has long been a challenge, the issue has evolved into a broader problem than book bans and changing words. Herein lies the difficult obligations of librarians: the commitment to ideals that protect the interests and rights of young readers. I analysed Danielle Hartsfield’s and Sue Kimmel’s 2020 study that proposed, “Supporting the Right to Read: Principles for Selecting Children’s Books” (2020). The study was primarily addressing educators and the school library environment, but the premise of the study extends to the public library context as well. Hartsfield’s and Kimmel’s work highlights the importance of policy and application of principles designed to improve the quality and range of materials presented to children.
Professional Learning
When we talk about censorship it’s often of the angle of ‘us against them’. But do librarians play a role in pre-emptive censorship by imposing our own belief systems on books and judging their appropriateness? Hartsfield & Kimmel argue that we do, “When educators make decisions with selection principles in mind, they are considering reasons why a book should be available to students. Yet when educators make decisions based on discomfort with a book’s content or to avoid controversy, they are engaging in pre-emptive censorship, which undermines students’ intellectual freedom and unjustly limits their access to books”. (Hartsfield & Kimmel, 2020, p.2) Pre-emptive censorship is defined as to “avoid the selection of a book for the classroom or library for reasons other than the book’s suitability to its target audience and intended use.” (Hartsfield & Kimmel, 2020, p.2) External forces can influence the direction of collections and book selection. As such, there are many reasons for engaging in pre-emptive censorship, such as avoiding topics deemed unsuitable for particular age groups or established community beliefs. The question is how to ensure that the kinds of books available to children encourage their intellectual curiosities and challenge and expand their thinking.
| Selection Principle | Queries |
| Supporting the curriculum/ mission | Does the book address instructional objectives? |
| Appealing to children’s interests | Is this topic or treatment interesting to children? |
| Developmentally appropriate | Does this book address the range of social, emotional, and academic readiness of the students? |
| Merit | Does this book represent standards of literary excellence in the presentation? |
| Accuracy and authenticity | Does the author’s research, knowledge, or experience provide evidence of accuracy and authenticity? |
| Diverse perspectives | Does this book offer a unique or diverse perspective? |
(Hartsfield & Kimmel, 2020, p.4)
Hartsfield & Kimmel implore educators and librarians to focus more on selection rather than censorship by applying these principals to their decisions. This thinking can also apply to other programs and collections within the library environment. The application of selection criteria can help librarians make appropriate judgements backed by policy that outlines and articulates reasoning and justification for selections. Hartsfield and Kimmel’s work underpins the original findings published by Lester Ashiem in 1953 that Selection “begins with a presumption in favour of liberty of thought”, by analysing the value to the reader. (Asheim, 1953). A consistent approach to applying principles to selections is key to maintaining the quality of a collection or singular book. It’s also the positive approach to the value of the book that defines its Selection, opposed to the negative approach that encourages Censorship.
“When children are stripped of opportunities to learn about diverse groups of people through literature, they are also stripped of opportunities to develop the empathy and understanding that are so essential to living in a diverse and culturally pluralistic society.” (Hartsfield & Kimmel, 2020, p.4) Books and collections should reflect a child’s worldview and provide each of them with representation and a variety of choice and (as outlined in the International Literacy Association’s initiative Children’s Right to Read), control over what they read, exercising their own choices within supportive environments. (Children’s Rights to Read, n.d.). Intellectual freedom is imperative to their development, their learning and their ability to formulate their own ideas and opinions. The implementation of principles helps to ensure that the child’s needs are at the centre of the selection and provides perspective as to the important nature of the role that librarians play in our communities.
Reference
Asheim, L. (1953). Not censorship but selection. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/NotCensorshipButSelection
Bryson-Taylor, D. (2023, February 20). Roald Dahl’s Books Are Rewritten to Cut Potentially Offensive Language. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/books/roald-dahl-books-changes.html#:~:text=the%20main%20story
Hartsfield, D. E., & Kimmel, S. C. (2021). Supporting the Right to Read: Principles for Selecting Children’s Books. The Reading Teacher, 74(4), 419–427. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1954
Hartsfield, D. & Kimmel, S. (2020) Please Let This be the Crassest Thing My Child Reads! Exploring Community Perceptions of Challenged Children’s Literature, Reading Psychology, 41:5, 369-402, DOI: 10.1080/02702711.2020.1768983
International Literacy Association (n.d.) Children’s Rights to Read. https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/resource-documents/ila-childrens-rights-to-read.pdf
Walters, J. (2022) Out of Many: One Practicing Defensive Librarianship. Chicago: American Library Association Children & libraries, Vol.20 (4). https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.20.4.5