Behind The Ban

by Claire Schneider

From bygone book burnings to contemporary social media crusades.

Banned books have always been a tricky issue.

The process of removing a book from a library ranges in intricacy. Books are often banned for similar reasons. Most agree there are right and wrong reasons for removing a book from shelves.

The word banned brings to mind roaring flames and book club meetings in the dead of night. While this is true of the past and a few isolated incidents of the present, in the modern day the process of removing a book from the shelves has taken to a more sensible approach. Most libraries, including Bullitt County Public Libraries, use a process called weeding. Weeding prioritizes maintaining “a collection that is vital, relevant, and useful” according to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.The most common method of weeding a public library is the CREW method. The CREW method follows the five step process of inventory, collection evaluation, collection maintenance, weeding and discarding, the acronym CREW standing for continuous review, evaluation and weeding.

However, removing a book due to reasons beyond decaying spines and outdated content can be a different story. In the case of the Bullitt East library, Kellie Davis has removed several books due to provocative content. “Books I have read myself and decided did not need to be there,” Davis said.

On the other hand, removing books in good condition from public libraries is a lot less common than people think. “In my six years with the Bullitt County Public Library, no items have been removed due to a challenge,” a Bullitt County Public Libraries worker, Angel Holbert, said. In the professional world of public libraries, it is unlikely you would find a book referred to as banned. Challenged is instead used to refer to a book someone has attempted to restrict or remove.

Some years passed in Bullitt County without formal requests for books to be restricted or removed. “The most we've had under review at once is six titles,” Holbert said. Those six books are “Gender Queer: A Memoir”, “The Gender Quest Workbook”, “Rick”, “Anti-Racist Baby”, “Woke Baby” and “Our Skin”. On the chance one wishes to have a book removed, one must send in a formal request. Public libraries have reconsideration forms that can be requested. “The form asks for the patron's name, their contact information, the specific titles they are asking to be reconsidered, their concerns about the title and what their desired outcome from the library would be,” Holbert said. Requests in the past have come from individuals, such as parents, as opposed to organizations.

The review process of removing a book can be a long one. A review committee is put together, unaware of each other’s identity. This committee consists of various library staff. It is vital members of the committee read the entirety of the book.

“This is important because sometimes a complaint is based on a very small excerpt of the work,” Holbert said. The committee researches the book, and finally submits an anonymous form on which they cite their research and give a recommendation on what action the library should take. A summary of these forms is written, and the final choice rests with the library director.

The process of removing a book from shelves may be complicated, but the reasons are often simple. Throughout history reasons for banning books have included profanity, religion and politics. The various reasons for banning books, and the books that have been banned because of them, have been cataloged by the American Library Association for Intellectual Freedom. Their top ten most challenged books of 2021 are books you are most likely familiar with. “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe is at number one on the list, having been banned and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, and was considered to have sexually explicit images. “Gender Queer: A Memoir”, a graphic novel, was twice challenged in Bullitt County Public Libraries in 2021. “In my experience, graphic novels and manga are the most challenged,” Holbert said. Number five on the list is “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, challenged for “profanity, violence and because it was thought to promote an anti-police message and indoctrination of a social agenda,” according to the American Library Association.

Going back to 2019, the “Harry Potter” series by J. K. Rowling appeared at number nine for referencing magic and witchcraft. This is by no means the first time the middle-grade fantasy classic has appeared on the American Library Association’s list. Going all the way back to 1997, the book has been challenged and restricted, usually by parents and religious organizations. In Feb. 2022, a Tennessee pastor led a book burning, livestreamed on Facebook, where attendees dropped copies of the “Harry Potter” series and “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer into the red-hot blaze. This alarming book burning followed a recent rise in challenged books. In 2020 the American Library Association reported 156 challenged books, while in 2021 they reported 330. “It's not common, until the last year or so, for us to have any titles formally under review,” Holbert said. Beyond the past few decades, books many consider to be classics have been banned. “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzegerald was banned at a college in South Carolina in 1987 due to the language and sexual references in the book. In 1960 a high school teacher in Oklahoma was fired for assigning “The Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger. Though the teacher was reinstated, the book was removed from the curriculum. Classics have never been exempt from shelf purging. In the 1930s the world saw the rise of the German Nazi political party. The Nazis were infamous for their censorship and book burnings. Any book that seemed to oppose nationalism, promote socialism or was authored by a minority could find itself victim to the blaze.

Banned by Nazi Germany. One of many books to be burned on May 10, 1933, in front of the University of Berlin.

Banned by the Soviet Union for being antiauthoritarian. In 1990, the title was finally unbanned although not before heavy editing.

In some cases, books were burned due to the author’s personal political views, rather than the actual content of the book. “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London was banned in Yugoslavia and Italy in the early 20th century, and burned in Germany due to the author’s socialist views. “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque was largely inspired by the author’s own experiences in World War I, but found itself in the blaze for criticizing war itself and supposedly making Germany look bad.

When faced with the usual reasons books are banned, one wonders if there are good reasons a book could be banned. Many point out that some content could be inappropriate, especially when it comes to school libraries. “I think that definitely, depending on the age level, it makes sense not to have a book in a library,” senior Grace Strobel said. Strobel points out that some books just aren’t appropriate for younger children, dark themes and inappropriate language could have negative effects on youth. But Strobel also points out that as children mature, so should their reading material. “I think that once you start hitting grades like middle and high school, I think it is better to have those books in there,” Strobel said. Children are often more aware than some think. “By taking away those resources, taking away those books, you’re just hiding a difference of opinion, which I don’t think is healthy for middle and high schoolers,” Strobel said.

Freshman Rue Brown has come to similar conclusions to Strobel. “I mean, if you are banning a book telling you to kill your parents in a not satire way, but other than that, censorship on purely fictional literature, there’s no point,” Brown said. Most would also agree that there are selfish reasons for banning a book. “I think that if you’re banning a book simply for monetary value, or monetary gain for yourself, or for another group, that just isn’t right to do,” Strobel said. One notorious example of banning a book for monetary gain was when “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss was banned in a California school in 1989 because it possibly would turn children against the logging industry.

“If you are banning a book, it should be for the safety and sake of the people you are banning it from, not for the sake of your own loss or gain,” Strobel said.

Illustrates the author’s exploration of sexual and gender identities. The most challenged book of 2021, the book was often banned for LGBTQIA+ content.