SOUTH BEND — For Banned Books Week, the St. Joseph County Public Library system has special book displays at all of its locations through Saturday, Sept. 28, as part of its “SJCPL — Open For All” initiative, according to a press release.
As the Indy Star has described it, Banned Books Week is “an annual effort by the American Library Association to raise awareness about censorship. Each year, the ALA creates a top ten list of the most challenged books filed by librarians and gleaned from news stories published throughout the country.”
The displays at SJCPL locations present materials from a variety of perspectives on “important political, social and historical topics,” the press release said, and also include curated booklists that demonstrate how its “collections reflect a wide range of ideas for readers to explore.”
This year’s Banned Books Week comes after several years of increased challenges to books in public libraries’ and public school libraries’ collections.
USA Today reported March 14 that book bannings and attempted bannings of books continued to soar in 2023, when “4,240 works in school and public libraries had been targeted in 2023, a substantial hike from the then-record 2,571 books in 2022,” according to information provided by the ALA.
That set a new record for the statistic the ALA began tallying more than 20 years ago, USA Today reported.
As it had been the case in recent years, the story continued, 47% of the banned or targeted books had LGBTQ and racial themes.
One school district, the Indian River County School Board in Florida, USA Today reported June 12, has even voted to remove “Ban This Book” by Alan Gratz from its shelves, “overruling its own district book-review committee’s decision to keep it.”
Locally, members of the “Michiana Proud Boys,” apparently a local chapter of the white nationalist hate group, forced the postponement of “Rainbow Storytime” at SJCPL’s Tutt Branch in June 2022, as The Tribune reported at the time.
Two months later, 20 or so people attended the rescheduled event, which occurred without any disruptions.
In July 2023, SJCPL fielded a challenge to the shelving of the LGBTQ book “This Book Is Gay” by Juno Dawson in the teenage section. A committee formed by the library to review reconsideration forms, The Tribune reported, upheld its placement there.
At both the August and September 2023 meetings of the library board, opponents of that decision voiced their opposition but were “vastly outnumbered by people who showed up to support the library’s initial decision and to oppose any step toward what they fear is censorship,” The Tribune reported Aug. 29, 2023.
Of the 20 people who spoke at the September meeting, supporters of the library’s decision outnumbered opponents 17 to 3.
“In a time when censorship and book challenges are becoming more common, SJCPL stands firmly in support of intellectual freedom,” the press release about “SJCPL — Open For All” said. “Books should not be banned or removed because they present a perspective someone might disagree with. Instead, the library seeks to show that many viewpoints can coexist on our shelves, and our mission is to offer access to a diverse range of viewpoints and ideas.”
The press release presents the initiative as a “unique approach” to Banned Books Week that “focuses on promoting intellectual freedom and showcasing the diversity of viewpoints within our collection.”
The displays at the library locations, the release said, are meant to show “how different sides of an issue are represented” and encourage people “to explore viewpoints they may not typically consider.”
“Often, when people encounter a book they disagree with, they may question its place in the collection,” SJCPL Executive Director Stephanie Murphy said in the release. “These displays remind patrons that for every book that challenges you, there’s another that likely aligns with your views. Supporting intellectual freedom means offering both — because if you ban one side, you risk banning the other. That’s the danger of pushing for book bans.”
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