ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190045
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
THE AMERICAN Library Association this week issued its annual report on "challenged" books and requests to remove books from library shelves. The report speaks volumes about continuing threats to democratic and intellectual freedom in America.
Of the hundreds of such incidents reported to the association from March 1995 to March 1996, the three most challenged titles were the autobiography of Maya Angelou, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings;" Lois Lowry's "The Giver," and Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Not exactly trash.
Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, says most challenges involve books that contain sexual content, witchcraft and the occult, or offensive language. "Most people are motivated by genuine concern," she observes. "But if everyone who disapproved of something succeeded in having materials removed, library shelves would be bare. Part of living in a democracy means respecting each other's differences and the right of all people to choose for themselves what they and their families read."
Fortunately, challenges don't commonly result in outright bans. But sometimes they do, and in any case it's not for lack of trying. The librarians do well to remind us that the right to read should not be taken for granted.
Come to think of it, reports of books actually removed from shelves in response to citizen objections - from Canterbury Tales and To Kill a Mockingbird to Witches and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - make a pretty decent reading list.
LENGTH: Short : 36 linesby CNB