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Something banned, something gained

This week, library patrons are urged to celebrate their freedom by reading books that have been banned or challenged in the past.

By MELISSA TULLY
Published September 25, 2005

How would you feel if someone said you weren't allowed to read The Great Gatsby? The Catcher in the Rye? To Kill a Mockingbird?

Officials at the Citrus County Library System imagine such an order would outrage residents. They hope people feel fortunate to live in a society that promotes the freedom to enjoy these books.

Library officials hope for one more thing: that residents will take advantage of that freedom during Banned and Challenged Books Week, now under way.

Celebrated since 1982, Banned and Challenged Books Week takes place each year during the last week of September. Five Citrus library branches are hanging up posters, displaying books that have been banned or challenged over the years, and encouraging patrons to celebrate their freedom by checking out one of those books.

What does it mean for a book to be "challenged?" According to a statement compiled by Jim Ehlers, communications facilitator for the library system, "a challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school about a book's content or appropriateness. Each challenge represents an effort to restrict or remove books from school curricula or library shelves."

The American Library Association says the top reasons people challenge books are sexually explicit content, offensive language, and perceived unsuitability for a particular age group.

Other reasons: nudity, racism, sex education and antifamily messages.

Readers can find more information, including a list of the 100 most frequently challenged books, at the library association Web site, ala.org. Among the authors on the list are Mark Twain, Richard Wright, James Joyce, Willa Cather, John Steinbeck, Stephen King and J.K. Rowling.

Jim O'Brien, a field librarian for the Lakes Region Library in Inverness, was enthusiastic about the preparation for Banned and Challenged Books Week.

"It has brought in many readers. Young people are going back to the classics, and older people are revisiting their favorites," he said. O'Brien was happy to report that many students were reading banned or challenged books for pleasure, not for school assignments.

The library system's administrative director, Flossie Benton Rogers, said book challengers "often do not think of their behavior as promoting censorship." But she argued that people who challenge books "challenge the right of the material to be available to others; we are either all free to read, or none of us is free to read."

Rogers said Banned and Challenged Books Week is important because "it emphasizes the library's important role in providing access to a wide variety of books, ideas and information."

However, she is sure to fulfill her obligation to intellectual freedom on all sides: When a patron objects to a material, they are free to fill out a Request to Re-evaluate Library Materials form.

Rogers said the library system usually receives one or two such forms per year. "This year we have had one," she said.

Rogers said patrons who fill out such forms receive a written response after the objection is "evaluated by a committee of professional librarians in light of the Collection Development and Management Policy."

[Last modified September 25, 2005, 02:15:40]