Book censorship is not a new concept even to the United States where freedom of speech is considered a right. For a number of reasons, books have been censored or challenged by school boards in cities and towns across America. The debate stems over controversial issues in the material itself such as nudity, racism, offensive language and objectionable religious views, to name a few.
Many American libraries faced censorship issues as the challenge to remove or restrict books heightened by groups of people or a single person. Freedom of thought, freedom to express individual opinion was contested over the content of certain books. According to the American Library Association (ALA) some 500 titles are challenged annually, amounting to more than 10,000 cases since 1990. Whether a book is banned or challenged, the ALA promotes the freedom to choose and the freedom to express opinions that might be considered unpopular. ALA further stresses the same approach to those who wish read the books.
In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case against the school board from a New York district in Island Trees known as Island Trees School District v. Pico. The school district voted to remove nine books because they contained offensive material. The books in question were The Fixer by Bernard Malamud, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver, Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris, A Hero Ain't Nothing but a Sandwich by Alice Childress, Go Ask Alice by an anonymous author, The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers edited by Langston Hughes and A Reader for Writers edited by Jerome Archer. Student senior Steven Pico along with four other students challenged the school board’s decision. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students based on constitutional grounds, holding that the right to read is implied by the First Amendment.
While the conflicts over censorship of library materials was hardly a new area of inquiry, the concept was again under fire with this case. The significance of the case outcome and public interest that followed inspired the “Friends of the Library” to sponsor the first library colloquium appropriately titled “Censorship and Libraries.” It was held on March 15 of that same year in Memorial Library Auditorium.
Mary Katherine Russell, Director of the Washington County Virginia Public Library spoke of her experience as the director of a library that was challenged by censors advocating a fundamentalist point of view. She discussed the attempt to censor material from her library the year before by a group called Citizens for Decency. Russell took on this type of censorship and the struggle with library censorship in general stating “It is up to us to convince our fellow citizens that the strength of the nation lies not in the book learning but in in the free exchange of ideas. “ Russell ultimately credits the ALA and the community for supporting the library’s stand against censorship.
John Robinson, attorney and visiting professor of philosophy at Notre Dame talked on the legal tradition of the First Amendment freedoms and the "Island Trees" case which was at that time before the U.S. Supreme Court. Robinson stated “If we are to remain politically free then our educational system must foster the development of critical skills where the students think for themselves.”
You can listen to the entire public lecture in audio - Censorship and the Library
Experience 50 Milestones through the life of the Hesburgh Library!
Like Hesburgh Libraries on Facebook and follow @NDLibraries on Twitter.
