EDITORIAL: Banned Books?

EDITORIAL By Publisher Matt McMillan and Editor Doug Hanneman

Attacks on books and other forms of intellectual freedom are not
only found in Nazi Germany and other dictatorships. Libraries
in Hutchinson and across America also must be on the watch.

Visit the Hutchinson Public Library this week and you’ll be able to view a display of books that have been challenged by library patrons across the nation.

You might be astounded by the titles. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “The Color Purple,” “Where’s Waldo?” and “Flowers for Algernon” are in the display. Many of the books have been used in middle school and high school English classes for years.

The display is designed to raise awareness of Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, which this year is from Sept. 27 to Oct. 4.

The event celebrates the freedom to choose or express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular. The First Amendment guarantees our right to express and learn of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints. It’s a matter of intellectual freedom.

An outrageous idea?

Intellectual freedom might sound like an outrageous idea to some people. But the American Library Association says intellectual freedom can only exist when all individuals “have the right to hold any belief on any subject to convey our ideas in any form we deem appropriate.”

The association adds that intellectual freedom can only exist if society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and consumer.

When someone asks a book to be banned, it infringes on the rights of other library users. Most folks who want a book banned are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. These are good intentions.

But censorship by librarians of constitutionally protected speech, whether for protection or for any other reason, violates the First Amendment. We prefer that parents talk with their children about what they read, and steer them toward “acceptable” books. That shouldn’t be the librarian’s job. A librarian is not every child’s parent.

Placement is often resolved

Hutchinson librarian Mary Henke said most people who express concerns about a book’s content simply want the book placed in a different section of the library. “Sometimes they’ve objected to where a book is found,” Ms. Henke said. “Rather than in the Second and Third Grade Fiction, they’d like it to go into the Young Adult Fiction.”

That’s a reasonable request, and the Hutchinson library staff will consider it. “A lot of the time, talking about the issue locally will resolve it,” Ms. Henke said.

But the library staff will not act unless the person who’s concerned about a book reads it first.

Any book — or any other piece in the library collection — is open for reconsideration by the library staff. Typically, someone who wants to comment about the content of a book is asked to complete a “Statement of Concern about Library Resources.”

Ms. Henke recalls only one instance in recent memory when a Hutchinson library patron wanted an item banned. The item was a video based on Dr. Suess’s book “Sneetches,” which teaches children not to call others names. The patron was concerned that the name calling used in the video was offensive and should not be allowed. The patron and library staff discussed the contents of the video at length, and the patron’s concerns were resolved. The video remains in the library’s collection.