True Stories of Censorship Battles in America's Libraries

This book has some of the most interesting stories on library challenges and censors that I have read yet. It is thoroughly enjoyable and I am going to continue to read more of it after this initial browse-through. Particularly enjoyable are the different formats that the stories are told in. For example, The Princess Librarian: An Allegory is told as if it were a fairy tale, Long Live the King (Novels)! is a memory, I Owe It All To Madonna is someone’s reason for a career choice, and A Serial Killer Visits the Library is told from an outside view by a lawyer who did not know all of the details, yet more than he should have at the time. Some of the stories are not focused at all around the issue of the challenge, but rather on how a good librarian will have policies in place and will talk to people about how freedom of speech and freedom to search for library materials matter. If the right policies are in place, censorship will not be a large issue for a library. Also, if the librarian has the right contacts and is willing to round up people who also agree in the freedom to check out whatever book one wishes, than they will be able to properly defend any challenges that may arise out of misguided but well-intended censurers. I liked the way that one of the librarians phrased her explanations to the school board, and I hope one day that I will be able to explain things as smoothly. There is an art to explaining important concepts to people without sounding condescending, childish, or ignorant that I do not think I have grasped yet, but I am continuing to try. I look for how people choose their words in certain situations and later I tend to dwell on them, thinking how I would rephrase them or keep them the same if I were in the same situation. I really want to read about more of these stories; I feel the best ways to learn are from the experiences of others and from trial and error. This way you have reasonable, substantial belief that something can be done that way. It may not always be the right way though, which is why as librarians we need to revise policies often and keep up to date on what is going on in our surrounding world.