Two important articles from the Independent newspaper of interest to anyone following the debate about censorship and banning books in libraries from Index on Censorship which campaigns on freedom of expression.
In Censorship in UK school libraries is worse than you think – and it’s up to us to fight it, Katie Dancey-Downs says that in contrast to the publicity given to book challenges in the United States, in the UK, “it’s all happening behind closed doors. One parent complains, the books in question are hastily removed – usually to the objection of the school librarian – and everything is all hushed up. A typically British response perhaps. Let’s not make a fuss.”
Self-censorship – by librarians who don’t want to cause controversy and school senior leadership teams who are very risk averse – is a real risk. But there is also the risk that this is part of a wider culture war in which LGBT+ rights are being eroded. In the article Investigation reveals UK schools are banning LGBT+ books after complaints from parents author Simon James Green, who was banned from giving a talk at a faith schools, warns that the “publicity the banning brought means librarians often want to talk to me about censorship issues, and many of them have been receiving more pushback about LGBTQ+ library books than ever before.”
CILIP is the Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals. You can read CILIP’s statement on Freedom of Information as well as our position statement on Censorship and Intellectual Freedom in School Libraries.
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