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What is intellectual freedom?
What is intellectual freedom?
The ALA defines intellectual freedom as, "the rights of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment" (ALA, 2008).
Every one has the right to intellectual freedom, including minors.
How do libraries protect the intellectual freedom rights of LGBTQIA+ patrons?
How do libraries protect the intellectual freedom rights of LGBTQIA+ patrons?
"The American Library Association stringently and unequivocally maintains that libraries and librarians have an obligation to resist efforts that systematically exclude materials dealing with any subject matter, including sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation" (ALA, 2007).
How do libraries protect the intellectual freedoms of minors?
How do libraries protect the intellectual freedoms of minors?
"The American Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users. Article V of the Library Bill of Rights states, 'A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views'" (ALA, 2006).
Public libraries treat young adult patrons as they would adult patrons. We should defend the privacy of our young adult patrons.
Photo Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times
For many LGBTQIA2S+ teens, books are a way to learn, be curious, find answers to questions, and explore.
Selina Van Horn, a professor who researches LGBTQ+ literature in K-12 schools, states that, “For children and young adults seeing stories that represent their identity can be an essential part of developing positive self-worth” (Wolfe, 2023).
In 2023, there was a 65% rise in censorship – 47% of those titles represented LGBTQ+ and BIPOC voices (Yale LGBTQ Center, 2024).
By challenging and removing books with LGBTQ+ characters or themes, we tell LGBTQ+ teens that there is something wrong with them. Lee-Ann Gill, a teen library in Rhode Island, says, “the book challenges and the book banning—what it says to the teens, who may identify with those books, [is] that they are banned. That they should be challenged, not allowed to be who they are. Not able to be themselves. [That] it’s not normal, it’s not okay” (Yao, 2022).
Common Types of Censorship
Common Types of Censorship
Self Censorship
Self Censorship
Whelan (2009) writes in an interview with David Levithan, “ Librarians often let ‘fear, not principle, guide their choices, which is deeply unfair to the teens they serve’” (p. 29). Here Whelan is referring to the act of self-censorship by librarians. Librarians lets the fear of possible conflict (whether with patrons, parents, or administration) or personal beliefs affect their decisions when it comes to collection management.
Soft Censorship
Soft Censorship
According to the ALA (2024), soft censorship is when books are purchased but placed in restricted areas, are not included in books displays, or kept hidden due to fear of challenges. "In some circumstances, books have been preemptively excluded from library collections, taken off the shelves before they are banned, or not purchased for library collections in the first place" (ALA, 2024).
Censorship of LGBTQ+ titles harms the LGBTQ+ community, especially teens.
“Pulling [LGBTQ+] stories from shelves…deprives readers of all ages of essential, affirming representation of the LGBTQ community’s lives and history” (Wolfe, 2023).
Reasons for LGBTQ+ challenges include (Natanson, 2023):
a wish to shield children from sexual content
desire to prevent children from reading about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary and queer lives
“We look for ourselves in the pages,” says Amie Jones, founder of the UK based Kind Kids Book Club. “So to take books off the shelves that contain, for example, LQBTQIA+ characters and lives is extremely damaging, especially for queer teens on the brink of becoming who they are meant to be. It’s essentially saying: ‘This way of living isn’t palatable to us. We don’t accept it. Don’t do it.’ And what could be more painful and distressing than that?” (Yao, 2022).
Advocates in the community are trying to combat LGBTQ book challenges through projects such as the Queer Liberation Library, which is an entirely online free collection of ebooks and audiobooks featuring LGBTQ+ stories and authors. Kieran Hickey, the founder and executive director, created the Queer Liberation Library to “create a haven for queer literature” (Wolfe, 2023).
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