Book censorship, and consequently the censorship of intellectual freedom, is not a modern construct. Long before Gutenberg developed his press around 1439, books, pamphlets and any other materials that were hand-written and later copied, were often burned or destroyed when it was felt that said materials were deemed dangerous, immoral, unsuitable or even heretical. The ones who usually would bring up these charges would be religious or governmental authorities, typically when said works were reactions against the current ideologies or policies of the time.
The suppression of intellectual freedom even goes so far back to Plato, whom in 360 B.C.E. is quoted as saying in regards to his building of an ideal Republic, “Our first business will be to supervise the making of fables and legends; rejecting all which are unsatisfactory…” (Mullally, 2008 ¶ 2).

Thus, as long as there has been printed material available for the consummation by the masses, there has been a centuries long war on the idea of just what is acceptable and what is not acceptable for the general public. History has a long and detailed account of book censorship that encompasses rulers such as Henry VIII enacting a licensing scheme in which all books were to be submitted to the Church of England for approval before publication to the Roman Catholic Church forming the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1559 as the first published book containing a list of forbidden and banned publications. The Index was kept active, totaling over 5000 entries, until it was eradicated in 1966 by Pope Paul VI.

In the 21st century, book challenges and banning, and yes even book burning, is still as prevalent in society as it was when Gutenberg developed his moveable type. In 2003, in Greenville, MI, Pastor Tommy Turner of the Jesus Non-denominational Church organized a book burning specifically for the Harry Potter series. But what was to be a local event, became nationwide media. The reason for the burning, according to Pastor Turner, was to save the souls and that the Harry Potter series in particular, “glorify wizardry and sorcery will lead people to accept and believe in Satan” (WZZM, 2003 ¶ 3). Other items, including CDS, that did not glorify God were also burned.

According to the American Library Association (ALA), more than a book a day is challenged and or removed from U.S. public libraries and schools (ALA). The reasons for the challenges tend to fall in one of four categories:

  • 1. Family values.
  • 2. Religion.
  • 3. Political views.
  • 4. Minority rights.

In the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights, Article 3 states, “Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment” (ALA, 1996). Even the landmark case of Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico, in 1982 in which the students of Island Trees sued the school district for access to challenged and banned books, in which the students won by a 5-4 vote in the Supreme Court, has not seemingly created enough of a headway to allow students (and consequently, the public) the freedom to read what they like, when they like.

Topic questions:

  • 1. One way that libraries are working towards making their collections accessible to everyone is by making their collections prevalent to the community that they serve. This could mean that some topics that may not be considered as something that will circulate (and thus taking up valuable shelf space) may not be included in their collections. Is this a good compromise? Why or why not?
  • 2. The Federal Anti-Obscenity Law, also known as the Comstock Law, came into being in 1873 and remarkably, still remains on the books. The Comstock Law bans the mailing of materials that could be deemed “lewd, indecent, filthy or obscene.” One could interpret that using ILL to transport a book that could fall into one of those categories is illegal. Should libraries make patrons aware of this? Why or why not? Also, should libraries (and subsequently, the ALA) works to getting the law abolished? Why or why not?
  • 3. One topic that kept coming up was the cleansing of books to make them more politically correct or modernized. Several examples were used such as the Tin Tin graphic novels, which have been often challenged as being racist due to the artists depiction of Africans and African-Americans. One perspective is that one has to take into consideration of when the book was published, the political climates and the culture of the times the books were written in. Do you think that books that are not, today, considered “politically correct” should receive this treatment? Why or why not?

References

– (1982). Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico by Pico (No. 80-2043). Retrieved October 11, 2008, from http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0457_0853_ZS.html

– (2003). Church Burns Harry Potter Books. Retrieved October 11, 2008, from                   http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=8041

– (n.d.). American Library Association. Retrieved October 11, 2008 from http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.cfm

– (n.d.). National Coallition Against Censorship. Retrieved October 11, 2008 from http://www.ncac.org/action_issues/Books.cfm

Maxwell, Ronald F. (2008). Sweeping Questions: On banning books and hunting witches. Retrieved October 11, 2008, from http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTgwNTdiZTNjNjdlMThlNDExZmZiYWQ0MGUyYTM4ZjE=#more

Mullally, Clarie (2008). Banned Books. Retrieved October 11, 2008, from http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/libraries/topic.aspx?topic=banned_books

Ockerbloom, John Mark (n.d.). Banned Books Online. Retrieved October 11, 2008, from       http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html

Ockerbloom, John Mark (2008). Why Banned Books Matter. Retrieved October 11, 2008, from http://everybodyslibraries.com/2008/09/29/why-banned-books-week-matters/

For Fun
Guardian’s Banned Book Quiz.

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