Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Oh great, check out all the different kinds of censorship
I’ve been thinking, for a few days, about this article in School Library Journal discussing the various issues to be considered when shelving Neil Gaiman’s 2009 Newbery winner, The Graveyard Book. It says that shelving it in YA, instead of in little kids, is censorship. One thing that I was thinking was that there’s a bit of a niftier-than-thou aspect to the intellectual freedom scene, and that I want to avoid that. Yes, IF is really important, and it’s really important to me in this sort of emotional way. Still, there is a reality in which we operate and in it, we need real food, not Neverland pretend food, as well as shelter and stuff. It’s easy for me to say that I would lose my job to fight for principles that are important, but how can I say whether I really really would? Then I saw this article tonight and it made me wonder: how can I really trust myself to not self-censor? (Totally not at the barricades now, friends.) I think that, if I am really intentional in my consideration process, I can trust that I’ll be honest with myself, but what about the times when I just dismiss a book as not being high quality? I could see those kinds of decisions getting muddy for me. I need a tool, either developed by someone else or by myownself, to help me through rocky collection development questions. Do any of you nice folks have any suggestions for a resource that makes a lot of sense to you?
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2 comments:
Yes-a tool! I also worry about selection decisions, and my personal opinions getting in the way. I remember reading an article while doing research for the collection development class where the author talked about (I think he called it) intellectual discrimination. Sure, librarians should still order (insert popular author of choice)'s books, but they should somehow encourage patrons to read better, more intellectually stimulating ones. But if the patron feels what they're reading is intellectually stimulating, and they're happy with it, well, that was their choice, right?
Intentionally and self-awareness really are critical in monitoring our tendency to self-censor. When it comes to collection development and intellectual freedom issues I always turn to Lester Asheim. Gone but not forgotten.
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