Hot take: I used to think book bans were just pearl-clutching till I saw one play out at my local library

I always figured people were overreacting when they talked about banned books being a big deal. Like sure, a few dusty titles get pulled from some school in a small town, whatever. But last month my public library in Eugene put a book on the restricted shelf because a parent complained about a sex scene. It was a novel about a teenager's coming of age, nothing crazy. I went to check it out and the librarian told me I had to show ID and sign a form. That just felt weird and wrong. It wasn't a ban, but it was censorship with extra steps. I spent three afternoons attending the library board meetings to argue against it, and they eventually moved it back to general fiction. That whole week of debating with neighbors and reading policy docs changed my mind completely. Has anyone else had to deal with this kind of soft censorship at their local branch?

2 comments

2 Comments

phoenix_campbell883d ago

Eugene's a weird place for that kind of nonsense.

jesse7733d ago

Yeah, @phoenix_campbell88, Eugene usually is pretty chill about this stuff, but it only takes one upset parent to cause a headache. You gotta hit the board meetings hard and bring copies of the library's own collection policy. That's what worked for me when they tried to restrict a book with a gay character. I printed out their policy on intellectual freedom and handed it to every board member. Also, showing up with a few other people who read the book makes a big difference. Lone voices get dismissed, but a small group makes them nervous.