by Karyn Wynn, AWC Zürich
Throughout history, books have been banned or burned when they challenge power, mores or social conventions. Ovid’s works were banned by Julius Caesar. Countless books were banned or burned during the Middle Ages by the powerful religious forces. In the last century, images of Nazi book burnings symbolize a past of authoritarian control. And memorably, Salman Rushie’s The Satanic Verses earned him a ban in dozens of countries and threats to his life. But today, in the age of the internet and with a world of information at our fingertips, doesn’t book banning seem like a thing of the past?
Not so. The Pen America organization has catalogued 2,532 instances of individual books being banned in the period between July 2021 and June 2022 in its Index of School Book Bans, affecting 1,648 unique book titles. These titles include 1,261 different authors, 290 illustrators, and 18 translators, impacting the literary, scholarly, and creative work of 1,553 people.
Books deemed “classics,” which were once routinely taught in classrooms across the country, such as The Color Purple, Beloved, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Catcher in the Rye, are being taken off shelves. Newer titles that address issues of race, gender, identity and sexuality have been under the microscope across the country and some schools and public libraries are pulling titles from shelves. And in some cases, award-winning books are being taken out of school and public libraries.
Rebecca believes she has a responsibility as a librarian to actively educate the community. “It is disturbing that so many books have been targeted in recent years,” says Rebecca. As she was reading about controversial titles being pulled off the shelves in the US, Rebecca found herself cataloguing the same books while she was doing inventory.
When asked about the reaction to her display, Rebecca replied, “The Club is fairly liberal leaning. I didn’t hear any negative feedback. It was more that people were shocked by some of the books that were banned.” She continued, “Children would see books they’d already loved on the banned books display, and be kind of shocked that they’d been banned, and that led to some great discussions with our younger patrons about the bans and how they felt about them.”
Rebecca encourages librarians everywhere to use their space to make displays current and relevant to their community. “You can get creative and make a display that draws the people in.” The display certainly has drawn in many Club members and fostered conversation between members and their children.
Photos credit: Lyla Taylor
