A Letter From Your Library Director: November 2022
After observing National Banned Book Week in September, and with recent headlines about the rise in book challenges across the country, it seems appropriate to talk a little more about the topic. The American Library Association (ALA) reports that between January 1 and August 31 of this year, there were 681 attempts to ban or restrict library resources in the United States, targeting 1,651 unique titles. This is an unprecedented number. In 2021, there were 729 reported attempts to censor library resources, which is the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began documenting these numbers over 20 years ago. We are well on our way to outpacing that number in 2022. Here at CBCPL, we always offer patrons the opportunity to file a formal “reconsideration request" in addition to providing feedback. In these cases, patrons fill out a form that documents their concerns and our response to their request. We have received 4 requests so far in 2022, and we received 11 in 2021. Both of these are high numbers for the state of Oregon, though not the highest in our state, either. These numbers do not include “informal” requests, where a patron may suggest the removal of an item or provide feedback for our consideration on a particular item in the collection. During the review process, our library’s management team and the selector for that particular collection analyze the item in question to determine if it violates the principles found in our guiding documents. Our two main guiding documents for the selection of library materials are the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights and a City of Corvallis Administrative Policy that covers the Selection of Library Materials. The ALA Freedom to [Read more]