The New Jersey ACLU filed an open records request and uncovered some email documents at libraries that have removed Revolutionary Voices from their shelves.
An active censorship campaign is underway in New Jersey, to remove a book entitled Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie, an anthology of literature and art recommended by GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educational Alliance. A conservative group told the Philadelphia Inquirer l that the book, which contains some sexually explicit material, is "pervasively vulgar, obscene, and inappropriate.”
The book has been removed from two libraries. The
Rancocas Valley Regional High School received a formal challenge,
convened a
review committee pursuant to its established policies, and voted to
take the
book off its shelves. The challenge at the high school attracted international
attention. http://www.torontosun.com/
The ACLU found that a public library had also received an informal complaint from the same individual, that staff recommended removal, and that the library commission also voted to remove the title. In contrast, the library did not appear to follow its own policies for handling challenges of controversial materials. The open records documents (see below) show that the reasoning for taking the book off the shelves is because it is "child pornography."
The ACLU has asked other regional libraries whether they have similarly removed the volume from their collections and, if so, whether they followed their deselection policies. A second school library is missing the title, and at present is not replacing it.
The take-home message for libraries, especially public
institutions, is that book removal policies are immensely important.
Libraries
can protect themselves against exposure to lawsuits, if they adopt
procedures
for handling challenges http://www.ala.org/ala/
Thank you to ACLU-NJ for Open Records documents.
OPEN RECORDS REQUEST DOCUMENTS:
Press coverage of School #1 and background including LibraryLaw interview with author
Public Library emails - removal of book
Public Library Controversial Materials policy
New information:
Revolutionary Readings Review: Go See It
http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2010/08/revolutionary-readings-review-go-see-it.html
Posted by: Dan Kleinman | August 21, 2010 at 12:48 AM
See my response to this here:
"Et tu, Mary Minow? Then Fall, Gail Sweet!"
http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2010/08/et-tu-mary-minow-then-fall-gail-sweet.html
And thank you, Mary, for commenting on my blog post. You are the professional I expected.
Posted by: Dan Kleinman | August 02, 2010 at 08:52 PM