Banned Books Week was last week, but that doesn’t mean banned books are not a consistent topic of conversation for a lot of parents, school administrators and librarians.
It’s no secret that, within the last few years, certain books and their content have been under attack in terms of getting them banned from school and public libraries.
It’s something that has been happening all across the United States. It’s especially something that Alabama is not a stranger to. I would even go as far to say that Alabama is one of the states that has become one of the front runners of banning books and trying to take away the freedoms of open reading.
Starting a couple of years back, Alabama Governor, Kay Ivey, made public statements of recommendations that public libraries can follow to get what she considers “inappropriate” and “sexually explicit” off library shelves.
Her “recommendations” have gone so far to the point where if libraries don’t follow her recommendations by October 1, then the libraries won’t get state funding.
At the beginning of this year, Alabama’s Public Library Service Board didn’t renew its membership for the American Library Association. The ALA is an organization that works to help improve libraries and sustain libraries’ rights to intellectual freedom in terms of reading.
Last year, Ozark Mayor, Mark Blan- kenship, was in a very public feud with an Ozark-Dale County Library support group about certain books that were in the children/young adult section. Those books had characters and plots that dealt with the LGBTQIA+ community.
These are only just a few situations where books and their contents are getting attacked in the state of Alabama. Imagine all the situations we aren’t hearing about or the situations that aren’t going mainstream because librarians are too scared to fight for the cause.
Librarians are losing their jobs. Li- brarians are quitting because the review system is getting dangerous and going against public libraries’ missions to give the local people a space to pick up whatever book they desire and openly read it.
This system and cycle are hurting a large community that cannot afford to be lost in America these days.
Over the summer, the Ozark-Dale County Library had to close for an entire month because the library staff had to go through the children and young adult sections to make sure they had sections complying with Governor Ivey’s recommendations so they could get $45,000 from state funding.
The library had to be temporarily closed so staff members could go through nearly 8,000 books so they could get state funding to continue running the library, to continue paying workers’ salaries, to continue being a resource for its people.
Most of these situations of banning books and getting them off shelves are for books that would be in the children and young adult section. I understand the worry of making sure children or tweenagers aren’t picking up books that can talk about certain topics that they aren’t ready for.
It’s normal for adults to worry about things like that. However, the ability to challenge a library about a book is getting so out of hand that the true purpose and mission of libraries are being forgotten.
Libraries are open for people to immerse themselves in different worlds and learn from each and every book that people decide to pick up.
The way things are going now, libraries are going to be a source where people feel the need to police every single option a young reader would be able to explore and learn from.
This is happening in a society where people are so sensitive about every single thing that instead of having productive conversations about real and serious topics, it’s stunting not only children and young adults’ minds, but it’s also stunting the growth of libraries.
It’s sad because libraries are something, in my opinion, that deserve nothing but growth as they help people in many different aspects.
To conclude, I hope there is a pause in the competitive and harsh feud with people and “inappropriate” books so a new conversation can be made that will benefit libraries and people.
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