INDEX ON CENSORSHIP | VOL.53 | NO.2
Some parents withdrew their children from the talk, although others sent supportive messages
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opinions that are different from their own in considered ways”.
Nick Cavender, the chair of CILIP’s School Libraries Group (SLG), told Index that school librarians had always been aware of censorship.
“I don’t think we are at a stage where we can see any particular patterns,” he said. “But as professional librarians we need to bear in mind our duties to promote intellectual freedom and oppose censorship, while at the same time making sure that our collections meet the needs of our users – the school community.”
Top-down attitude Like Leggatt, David said that every complaint he had heard, bar one, had stemmed from books with LGBT+ themes, and that it had escalated in the last couple of years. He said that the government’s attempt to ban gender identity discussions from sex education has had an impact on his conversations with schools.
“Some schools, for example, have said, ‘Well, we can’t have books that discuss LGBT characters, because that links to sex education, and therefore we can’t have that in primary schools’,” he explained.
While the USA has an organised system of book challenging, spearheaded by chapters of right-wing Christian groups and politicians, the librarians who spoke to Index haven’t seen anything particularly organised in the UK – although David does have concerns about the influence of agitator groups who protest drag queen story time in libraries, and he said they “seem to be getting their scripts from the American playbook”.
On online forums, book-banning sentiment is inseparable from the culture wars around sex and gender. In one Mumsnet thread, a user seeks guidance in drafting a complaint about the book She’s My Dad due to the links with gender identity, later adding: “I’m really looking for experiences and complaints about this book/author, and how to write to ask for it to be removed/ immediately stopped being used until a parent consultation has gone ahead.”
There are dozens of replies. Some offer advice, others cry “inappropriate content”, and others argue that teaching the book is a political move.
The Safe Schools Alliance UK (SSA), a group which describes itself as “a grassroots organisation which campaigns to uphold child safeguarding in schools”, ran a review of Juno Dawson’s young adult novel Wonderland, beginning: “We had our ex-English teacher reviewer read it so that you – and your kids – do not have to.”
The review was less than favourable. Out-of-context scenes are plucked from the book, peppered with dismissal of protagonist Alice’s gender identity and accusations of “male sex fantasy tropes” and the “reckless statements Dawson plants in Alice’s mouth”.
Another group, Transgender Trend, which uses the strapline “No child is born in the wrong body”, has published a lengthy essay on “trans picture books for little children” and describes some of them as “militantly activist”.
A number of school librarians also told Index about FOI requests their schools had received.
They ask about LGBT+ material in their schools and whether those books are being used to “encourage the acceptance” of transgender identities. The feeling from librarians is that the FOIs are sent to be an agitation.
A censorship-free future? Having worked in school libraries for a long time, David believes a recent uptick in complaints is related to the wealth of available LGBT+ material that wasn’t around before – a sentiment echoed by others.
He wants to see a top-down approach, a central message so that headteachers know they will be protected. Others want to see professional bodies taking the problem more seriously and libraries becoming statutory.
Many of the librarians who spoke to Index reported feeling on their own. Tarrant said the SLA had training and an advice line, but would also be reflecting, following Index’s investigation, to consider how it can increase support.
“I would urge anyone going through a situation to pick up the phone and call us or to reach out on socials,” she said.
Cavender said that CILIP members could also seek support from the SLG, adding: “It can be difficult as a school librarian as we work within schools and we have to be mindful of the culture and demographic of the school community. However, we still have obligations, such as under the Equalities Act 2010, to provide information for all our borrowers.”
There are mixed feelings from librarians on whether an ALA-style list of challenged books would help or hinder the UK’s fight against censorship.
Is it a way to shine a light on a growing problem or a ready-made list of targets for those who want to purge school libraries of particular material? For the SLA, a small national charity with six members of staff, the first problem with this approach would be the resources needed.
“I also think you’d have to have very careful consideration of what happened with that list afterwards,” Tarrant said. “I hesitate about inflaming the situation.”
She also worries about the wellbeing of authors who might find themselves on that list.
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