[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Banned Books Week - question

[Shaun Hately]

On 28 Sep 2004 at 4:08, Beth wrote:

> I have really enjoyed reading the opinions expressed in this thread! I
> am still hopelessly inept at addressing multiple threads (anyone
> interested in giving me a tutorial? :-)), so I just picked one to add
> to... sorry!
> 
> In my city's library, there is a children's section (with a connected
> "teen" section) and an adult section, but as far as I know, there is
> no restriction on children checking out a book from the adult
> section--it is just a way of organizing the books. What I am trying to
> understand is, the way I read the ALA's website, if I ask that a book
> be moved to the adult section, I am "challenging" that book. 

Generally speaking, no, that would not be regarded as a challenge 
in itself.

For a challenge to occur there must "an attempt to remove or 
restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. 
A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not 
simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they 
are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, 
thereby restricting the access of others."

Whether moving a book from a children's section of a library to an 
adult section is a challenge or not would depend on whether or not 
children have full access to the adult sections of the library.

In many public libraries, while there are separate adults and 
childrens sections, children are fully entitled to peruse the adult 
shelves and borrow books from the adult shelves. In that situation, 
simply asking for a book to be moved from one section to another is 
not a challenge.

It becomes a challenge if moving the books serves to restrict 
access to them.

> If that
> book is still accessible to any child who seeks it out--say it's one
> of the science fiction books Shaun mentionned and that's how s/he
> searches for and finds it--why should I be lumped in the same category
> as the parents who want Harry Potter removed from the library? I'm not
> asking for it to be removed, restricted or burned. 

Well, I wouldn't place you in that category. There's absolutely 
nothing wrong in my view with having separate sections for adult 
and children's books - provided these divisions are not used to 
deny access to the books.

The main public library I grew up with had separate sections for 
children and adults - but children were perfectly at liberty to 
browse the adult shelves and borrow. Very few young children did so 
- but as kids got older they certainly started to.

I read a story
> recently in _The Hiding Place_ by Corrie ten Boom in which her father
> made the analogy that, just like a certain suitcase was too heavy for
> her to carry /at that moment/, so too was certain information too much
> for her to handle. I really liked that mental picture!
> 
> It does appear, though, that some within the ALA would consider even
> having a children's section as a form of restriction. I can reason
> through some of the rationale behind it, but I'm not sure I can truly
> understand why we should allow children we don't find rational enough
> to vote to find The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy next to their Disney
> illustrated version (okay, dumb example, but I can't think of another
> one right now). 

As far as I am aware the ALA would not consider having a children's 
section to be a form of restriction, provided children still had 
access to the adults sections of the library.

> I accept that it is my responsibility to decide what is and isn't
> appropriate for my child, and to that end, I probably read more
> children's literature than the "grown up" kind. (Which explains a lot,
> but that's a different thread entirely.) I /don't/ want the
> responsibility for deciding what is appropriate for other people's
> children, nor do I want other parents deciding what is right for
> mine.  
> I see the danger in banning books one doesn't agree with, and I don't
> ask for that. But is it really wrong to ask that certain books be
> moved so that children (like the ones for whom Shaun advocates so well
> or are just a little older) prove by their tenacity in searching them
> out that they are ready for them? Isn't it just like making sure they
> can handle the Samsonite before handing them the steamer trunk?

As long as the kids aren't blocked from seeing the books and 
borrowing the books, I have no problem with certain books being in 
an adult section of a library, and with there being a children's 
section.

But the books must be available for the children to see them and 
borrow them in the same basic way as they are found in the 
children's section.




Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia