Brittany Ballantyne
Equinox Staff
Having the right to read can be considered the right to expand one’s mind, one’s imagination, and one’s knowledge. This right is being stripped away in many schools and libraries across the country due to the banning and challenging of books. Keeene State College explored these books and their importance in literature in Banned Books Week, Sept. 24 through Oct. 1.
Banned Books Week, sponsored by many organizations such as the American Library Association, began in 1982 and is the only national holiday celebrating the freedom to read. This week-long event is held every Sept. and focuses on spotlighting banned or challenged books in libraries, schools, and communities.
According to the American Library Association, there was a total of 348 challenged books reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom last year. Since the recognition of Banned Books Week began, there have been an astounding 11,000 recorded books challenged. The KSC Mason Library has 8 of out the 10 most challenged titles of 2010.
Kathy Halverson of the KSC library said that “people in the community will challenge books and try to get them off the shelf.” Halverson informed me that the library keeps lists of these books to inform the public and she believes “we can condemn censorship.”
Halverson “believe[s] in equal access to information and intellectual freedom” and pointed out that during this week, the library is “making a statement.” The library does this because “librarians are the guardians of public access,” Haleverson said.
When asked how she personally felt about censorship of literature, Halverson said she doesn’t “believe in it as a librarian” but that she “believe[s] in pointing out the harm that can come from censorship.”
Halverson also said that “the library tries to represent all points of view when selecting books and tries to be as unbiased as we [they] can with our [their] choices.”
Among Halverson are other professors who have a similar opinion on the issue. Journalism Professor Mark Timney said that “this country has always fought for a balance between liberty and security” and that “people thought banning books would make better for security.” Timney personally feels that this is not worth the banning of books.
Timney is “frightened by some school districts that still seek to ban books. “I don’t know how to fix that other than through education,” he said.
Another point Timney made is that “things people fear will happen because of these books rarely ever do.”
Timney said he has “been fortunate enough to never have a favorite book banned” when questioned whether or not any of his favorites had been taken off the shelf.
“It is easy to control the people when you control what they know, even though it’s risky to have controversial content, it’s important to allow the flow of even the most offensive of ideas to prevent the government or other of controlling our lives inappropriately,” said Timney.
English Professor Beth Stickney said that she thinks, “the really important thing is to remind us the banning of books happens every year” and that “challenges to books are found in libraries and teacher assignments.”
[singlepic id=446 w=320 h=240 float=right]
Stickney explained a situation that occurred at a high school in Bedford, NH. It was there that author Barbara Enright’s book “Nickel and Dimed” caused an upset when a parent complained about its content. This book is about minimum wage jobs and personal experiences Enright had while exploring these occupations herself.
Enright’s book was being used for learning purposes in an economics class when it was taken out of the school district. Due to this occurrence, questions now have to be asked before reading and/or studying a book in that school district. This being one of Stickney’s favorite banned books, she said this dilemma was “bogus” and explained that Banned Books Week is “to make us aware that not only is this still happening” but the desire to censor “is on the rise.”
Stickney also expressed that we “need to be on guard” about these banned or challenged books. “Once we allow any group to begin to censor what we can read, access, get at the library, it’s hard to know if we’re living in democracy,” she said.
Stickney says, “we should be more open to a greater division of viewpoints and lifestyles” and that celebrating books during this week “benefits students and reminds us that censorship is an on-going problem.” She pointed out that this conflict is not only happening in other countries or something that has only happened in the past.
The librarians had decided that this year, for this week-long celebration, they would conduct a virtual read-out consisting of volunteers speaking about their favorite banned books and quoting a few lines from these stories. The library staff worked towards getting these opinions and citations on camera and uploaded to the library’s Facebook site.
Some students spoke of their own views on the banned books issue. Junior Nicole Lackie, who works in the library, said, “writing is like art, authors should be able to express themselves.” Lackie disagrees with censorship, however she “understand[s] it in school, like religion shouldn’t be taught” but said that “in the library it should be fine no matter what… Otherwise there should be no issue with these books being sold or checked out.” Some of Lackie’s most beloved banned or challenged books include “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “Of Mice and Men” written by John Steinback.
Lackie says that “this is the real world, we ‘gotta get used to it’” in regards to the touchy matters in the context of a number of books.
To Lackie, reading is “very important. I [Lackie] love[s] to read the authors and books I [Lackie] like, but reading in general” as well.
“I can always learn from a book whether it’s fiction or non-fiction,” Lackie said.
Sophomore Brian Cote, who works in the library as well, feels that this celebrated week in particular is not made known enough.
Keene should make a bigger deal of it because “these books we grew up with aren’t going to be in the next generation. Especially since we’re known to be an education school it should be more well known,” Cote said.
Cote also said that he “can see why books are challenged, but just for different age groups” and made a point that while the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling is banned in some schools, “people still have the movies.”
“How are younger generations supposed to be educated on things?” Cote asked.
Cote mentioned a challenged book about homosexuality and said, “If parents are ignorant enough, how are their kids supposed to learn? It should be known, basic information is fine-detailed can be iffy… but it’s a very broad subject.”
When asked what he thought about the censoring of books Cote said, “People need to look at the education versus opinions side” and also said that whoever does censor these books should “alter certain aspects of censoring, just a tweak here and there.”
Some of Cote’s favorite banned books are by Mark Twain, Harper Lee, and Dav Pilkey. “Those books helped people think and see different aspects of everything,” Cote said.
He also said that, “I [Cote] feel that people overthink too much, I [Cote] feel[s] like our [KSC students] generation turned out fine and we [KSC students] had all of those books.”
“If my kids wanna read ‘Harry Potter’ hell yeah, I’ll read it with them,” Cote strongly said.
While book challenges are on-going across the country in various locations, people are still reading nonetheless.
Although many books may be restricted from school districts or local libraries, there is and always will be a way to access them somehow. The right to read is a fundamental one that students, professors, librarians, and others alike still have today. Behind closed doors and bookshelves one can continue to flip through the pages of books they enjoy for whatever purpose they see fit.
Brittany Ballantyne can be contacted at bballantyne@ksc.mailcruiser.com