From Garrett Eastman, Director of Libraries: Inconceivable it seems that many books considered classic today were once banned or challenged, including, but by no means limited to The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird. And censorship persists today. The American Library Association (ALA,) celebrating Banned Books Week beginning Sunday, September 22, maintains a website chronicling such censorship efforts even in recent history, with lists from the current and previous years, including John Green’s Looking for Alaska, assigned to our first year students as a community read. Intellectual freedom, especially the freedom to read, then, is not a given. Libraries have been at the forefront of anti-censorship efforts; see the Library Bill of Rights, adopted by the ALA in 1939, which the Becker College Libraries endorse in our collection policy. Notably, Doug Johnson of the Mankato, Minnesota schools recommended adding the following: “We teach our library users to be critical users of information.” Obviously, censorship precludes learning this. By acknowledging Banned Books Week, the Becker College Libraries encourage reading, reflection and discussion, and certainly critical information evaluation and use. Please see our displays in both campus libraries and check out our catalog (search under “censorship” or “freedom of speech”) and databases (particularly Opposing Viewpoints in Context which addresses multiple aspects of the subjects, though these are not necessarily the only nuances or viewpoints.) Among other potential pitfalls, censorship reinforces the old adage “tell them they can’t have it and they’ll want it,” like when Mitch Daniels, then governor of Indiana, tried to ban a book not to his liking from the state’s public institutions of learning, though the technique has been used advantageously for marketing in other contexts. Even then, beware of unintended consequences, even with seemingly good intentions.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 19:44:31 +0000
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