What is a book challenge?
A challenge is an attempt to ban, restrict, or remove a book from public access. Books are challenged in shops, libraries, schools, and at border crossings. Books can be challenged for many reasons, including, but not limited to:
Challenges come from all kinds of people: library patrons, parents, teachers, students, elected officials, authors, corporations, border officials, religious leaders, and more.
Some challenges are justified, for example, when a book contains dangerously misleading health information, or dated scientific information. A book might be plagiarized, full of editorial errors, or mislabelled or misshelved. A book might overtly endorse illegal acts or behaviour that society agrees is unethical.
Librarians take every challenge seriously, and will do research and consultations to decide if a challenge is appropriate, and what, if any, action needs to be taken. The results could be that no change is made, or a book can be reclassified, moved, or relabelled. On the other end of the response spectrum, a book can be made less accessible or removed from a library or curriculum entirely. Libraries have a responsiblity to create collections that reflect their communities and societies, to provide reading material that engages, challenges and inspires, and to promote thoughtful criticism and debate.
Why do we defend challenged material?
Defending everyone's right to read is not defending racism, sexism, obscenity and violence. It is defending everyone's right to choose what they read and make up their own minds about things. Banning or hiding controversial books violates principles of intellectual freedom, which is a key aspect of democratic society.
Ask us