This past week, one of the topics we've been discussing is challenged books. I found something interesting about challenges and self censorship.
In an article by Paul McMasters for the First Amendment Center, he exalts libraries as the last bastions of first amendment rights, where other institutions who are supposed to be protecting these rights are failing. Even though Mr. McMasters is referring to the library itself, where does the library board of trustees fit into his scenerio? What happened here is kind of the ultimate in self censorship. The FTRF, the OIF and the Library Bill of Rights all support the patron's right to choose. In particular, if that right is taken away, then according to the Library Bill of Rights, the library "should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment."
In Gulfport, Miss., the Jackson-George Regional Library System board of trustees banned Jon Stewart's book, "America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction", because it showed Supreme Court Justice's faces on naked bodies, showing full frontal nudity. As a result of the ban, the board received significant criticism from people both locally and out of state, and it reversed it's decision. Evidently, they discovered that reading a book is a lot like watching TV. If you don't want to read it or watch it, choose something else. The following is a direct quote from the article: "We have come under intense scrutiny by the outside community," said David Ables, board chairman. "We don't decide for the community whether to read this book or not, but whether to make it available."
My opinion is that a board of trustees is set up to protect the organization that it represents, and is bound by the same tenents as the organization itsef, in this case the eight libraries of the Jackson-George Regional library system. It is a form of self censorship to, in effect, challenge the book that they are bound to protect based on the Library Bill of Rights. In this case, the board censored it's libraries, and then reconsidered its own decision (challenge) and reversed the ban.
References
McMasters, Paul K.. "firstamendmentcenter.org: Libraries & First Amendment in Speech - Overview." firstamendmentcenter.org: Welcome to the First Amendment Center Online. 22 May 2009
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