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ABOVE: School libraries in the UK are a new battleground for censorship

“It’s not to say that having one wouldn’t necessarily be helpful in terms of having some sort of data on how much it was going on,” she said. “But I’m not sure it’s a solution in and of itself.”

CILIP and the SLG’s position is to monitor the situation.Cavender said that having “a robust collection development plan can guide school librarians and it can help get school management on board”.

Tarrant said that the DfE position is for headteachers to make the best decisions for their schools, adding that as every school was different, there did need to be the ability to respond to local contexts. But that doesn’t help headteachers looking for advice.

In the meantime, many librarians are proactively fighting for the freedom to read. Some, Gwen explained, are looking at the lists of banned books coming out of the USA and actively choosing them for their libraries. David’s school library service puts together recommended reading, with a good cross-section of representation.

“We know that children are more likely to read if they’re reading about stories, and characters and situations, be they fact or fiction, which relate to them,” Tarrant said. “It is about allowing all children to understand the world that they’re operating in, through imagination, through facts and through stories.”

School libraries shouldn’t be a battleground for cancel culture and librarians can’t be expected to deal with censorship by themselves. With a new UK government, it is an opportunity for Ofsted and those who represent teachers and librarians to demand an end to this pernicious practice.

Katie Dancey-Downs is assistant editor at Index

53(02):14/21|DOI:10.1177/03064220241270325

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