In early October 2024, a patron visiting the Ruth Bach Branch Library on Bellflower Boulevard noticed a shelf full of books hidden by wrapping paper to showcase the effects of book and library censorship, which is currently making a comeback in certain areas, one very close to Long Beach.
Books from “Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain to “The Kinsey Report” have been challenged and removed in various locations in times past. Long Beach has mainly avoided being part of this tradition. Historically, nationwide censors and some in various California jurisdictions have suppressed freedom of expression and freedom of speech in books, recordings and public appearances.
In an April 24, 1958 Press-Telegram article, City Manager Sam E. Vickers said the police have done what they can to remove objectionable comic books from newsstands, but parents need to be aware of what their offspring are reading. This was a full censorship era, though Vickers granted that much of this material is among best-sellers.
On January 23, 1959, two women and a man picketed the Long Beach Library with signs that read “Ban Lolita” and “Lolita Must Go” about the “racy” Vladimir Nabokov novel. However, the women vanished and the man spoke about making a living when asked about motivation. City Librarian Edwin Castagna said if books people object to are banned, “We wouldn’t have a library.”
In October 1960, the City Council rejected a citizen request for the “red probe” over a gift of a “People’s Weekly,” two magazine subscriptions and a book of Khrushchev speeches, voting instead for the Library Bill of Rights.
As Gerrie Schipske wrote in the October 12, 2017 Beachcomber, Long Beach’s newly appointed head librarian, Blanche Collins, approved the purchase of “The Last Temptation of Christ,” by Nikos Kazantzakis in 1960. After two years on the shelf, someone complained in an apparent “orchestrated attempt in Southern California to remove books that were considered by some as ‘blasphemous’ or ‘salacious,’ Kazantzakis’ book portrayed Jesus Christ as more human than god-like. For some, that was “morally offensive.”
When called before the City Council, Collins said, “When one begins pulling books from the shelves there is no stopping place.” The item festered for two years, until December 1962 when the council voted against a ban, restricting the book to adult readers. During that debate, City Manager John Mansell recalled only three books were called into question over a period of 15 years.
“That’s how our Friends of the Library was formed in 1963,” said DeLeon. “Blanche Collins, got a group of advocates together, fighting against banned books and doing banned books events.
In 1964, Collins was summoned for a five-hour City Council hearing “to explain whether or not the library contained sufficient ‘conservative publications.’” After her testimony, “the council voted unanimously to reject the charge that the library ‘bars conservative publications.’”
Bringing us to Banned Books Week, Cathy DeLeon, director of library arts and culture in Long Beach, “Banned Books Week was started by the American Library Association, our professional organization which guides a lot of our practices. In this case, September 22 to 28 was banned books week.” Along with the display, a bookmark titled the “Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022,” in the number one position, “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe.
DeLeon noted, “most of the books on the list have been checked out. In Long Beach, there has been little or no pressure to ban books.” The most recent formal challenge she could recall was in 2016. There have been a “couple of comments. One I know of was by a school employee who questioned why a student brought in a romance book that had been checked out.” Other recent comments have to do with books that explore racial themes.
However, all is not quiet on the censorship front. According to DeLeon, “Huntington Beach is the greatest challenge. The City Council has created certain ‘outlaw books’ they think are questionable and have created a citizen’s advisory panel, basically a handful of citizens who they think know more than the library staff to review books. The idea is to “limit books about people of color, LGBTQ and overtly sexual themes and teaching kids about puberty.”
In other library developments, the Zip Books Program in which patrons can order books from Amazon free of charge that are not part of the library collection with the understanding that they will be turned over to the library, was dropped during the pandemic. Now, the Zip program has had “funding restored with $20,127 approved by the council. As soon as we use the funds, we have to cut off the program. It should be coming back soon.”
Long Beach and Los Angeles County libraries will no longer levy fines for material returned after the due date. “A few studies have been done,” said DeLeon, who believes in encouraging patrons to check out more books without worry over dropping a quarter or two. “Several hundred libraries across the country have dropped fines. We started doing it fiscal year 2023.”
[Thanks to Dave Grudt for press clippings.]
This post was originally published on here
