Krug's Conclusions
Staff -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2000
During the past decade, the American Library Association (ALA) received some 5,600 challenges, calling for the removal of many controversial books from library shelves. (See "Most Un-Wanted List.") We discussed censorship with Judith Krug, director of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, in Chicago.
Does our society's social or economic climate have any impact on censorship? We know that when the economy goes to hell in a handbasket our complaints are going to become more numerous, because more people are going to have time on their hands. They're going to be looking over their kids' shoulders more. And yet, the Internet and, I would say, the Columbine shootings, really have led to more parents being more concerned and spending more time identifying what their kids are doing in their spare time.
What's your advice to librarians who are dealing with book challenges? I always recommend you get back to your materials selection statement, because that is the document that forms, in effect, the foundation on which you build your collection. ... You have to base your justification on your policy statement.
How well does that defense work? Just because you're rational and logical and you have all your ducks in order and you have given a wonderful defense, that doesn't mean that the books aren't going to be removed from the libraryâ?¦. [But] in probably 95 instances out of a hundred, those books are going to remain on the shelf exactly where they were before the process began.
