Richmond Public Library: Banned Books Week 2021

Press release from the Richmond Public Library:

Nae D'Archangel

2021-09-27

This year’s Banned Books Week theme is Books Unite Us, Censorship Divides Us. I personally find this to be a universal truth. With a book I can be a cyborg Cinderella on the run in a dystopian future, a Latinx brujo helping a recently dead boy figure out what happened to him, or an Inuit shaman forging an unlikely alliance with a Viking warrior and going on a quest to save our peoples. Books can open your eyes, if only you are willing to look. I hope you’ll pardon the Disney reference, lyrics from a certain Aladdin song feels appropriate here.

“A whole new world (don’t you dare close your eyes)A hundred thousand things to see (hold your breath, it gets better)I’m like a shooting star, I’ve come so farI can’t go back to where I used to beA whole new worldWith new horizons to pursueI’ll chase them anywhereThere’s time to spareLet me share this whole new world with you“

To be clear, by “banned book” I mean to say that the particular title has been in the news because multiple groups decided or attempted to take it off their shelves for very specific reasons. Publishers stopping publication or authors pulling their own titles do not count.

We at RPL are constantly evaluating our collection, making sure our patrons have access to the most accurate and recent information. We use the CREW (Continuous Review Evaluation and Weeding) method when deciding to take books off our shelves, also known as weeding. The three main things that we look at are its appearance (is it worn, shabby, ripped pages?), its use (has it checked out in the last 3-5 years?), and its content (does it have inaccurate or harmful information? is it racist or sexist? is it outdated or obsolete?). Other factors apply, but those are the first considerations.

Now, let’s go over the top 10 most challenged books from 2020, breaking it down, book by book.

To conclude, most of these books have been on the top 10 most challenged book list for multiple years. A couple of these books I was assigned in high school, a couple were on my seemingly-mile-long TBR list for a few years, and some I had never heard of before preparing for this post. Just because these are the top 10, doesn’t mean they are the only challenged books. ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) tracked 156 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services, affecting 273 books in 2020 alone. The office also noted a focus on demands to remove books that addressed racism and racial justice or those that shared the stories of Black, Indigenous, or people of color. Take that as you will.

This press release was produced by the Richmond Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.