Banned Books Week, Post #2
We’re now in Day 2 of Banned Books Week.
A few days ago, The New York Times invited teens to comment on whether or not books should be banned in school libraries, especially after a Missouri management professor wrote indicating his belief that Laurie Halse Anderson’s now-classic Speak was equivalent to soft pornography. (You can read the author’s response here.)
I returned to the Times blog post today to see what kinds of responses students had made. (You can do the same by following the link below.)
Most don’t agree that books should be banned.
That’s good.
But it’s not the whole story.
That’s bad.
Why do some teens (or commenters posing as teens) not believe in book banning?
BECAUSE THEY DON’T USE THE LIBRARY. It’s not their place, so it’s not their issue. It just doesn’t matter to them.
We’ve got teens who somehow make it to the New York Times Web site (so there’s some reading going on in their lives, or parents/teachers pushing them to the site) WHO DO NOT FEEL CONNECTED TO THEIR SCHOOL LIBRARY and don’t care what happens there.
If you’re reading this, you’re more-than-likely a school librarian. And if you’ve been reading this blog for a few years, you know this issue of teens articulating that the library isn’t their place has been discussed before.
Last spring, we wrung our hands and mourned the loss of many more school library jobs around the country. In our moments of greatest pique, we (and I mean the universal we — “we” as a profession) pointed fingers at small-visioned administrators or unsupportive parents.
Now it’s fall and we’re settling into our new realities. Some of the pique has been forgotten. We’re soldiering on. But now is not a time to forget that advocacy is an everyday activity … or that we may have teens in our libraries who would say exactly what the commenters in the blog post say: the library isn’t a place that matters to them, so who cares.
Who are the teens in your school who say they’d rather go to Barnes and Noble than your library? Who say there’s nothing in your library worth reading? Those are the folks we need to be reaching out to.
A thought: set yourself a goal this week to reach out to at least one non-library student this week. Let us know how it goes.
September 26th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I’d like to know more about what a highly functional school library advisory committee looks like. How do you start one? How do you keep it going? What kind of book budget is necessary if you hope to compete with Barnes and Noble? I’d love to hear about some success stories.