National Library Week --- and censorship

One of my goals this week, National Library Week (April 23-29), is to visit the Chariton Free Public Library, something I've not done in a long time. No substantive reason for the lapse other than the fact I've always bought the books I've wanted to read.

But the piles of paper have gotten too high as the years passed and I've found myself reading about too many books lately --- rather than actually reading them --- if they're outside my usual range of interest which, for the most part, is history, the natural world and in some cases religion. Lifelong interests.

The Iowa Legislature, too, this spring has piqued my interest in banned books as public school libraries and librarians have been targeted by the Republican supermajority.

So I was interested in this graphic presentation, issued on Monday by the American Library Association. Have I read any of the challenged 13? No. But that's more a sign of my intellectual decrepitude than anything else. Perhaps I should. We'll see ....

Many of the books on the list are there because they include LGBTQIA+ content. I have shelves of books from earlier eras with similar content, all purchased because they were for the most part published at a time when few public or school libraries would even consider adding such content to their shelves. 

So on the one hand, the fact such titles now are shelved in age-appropriate ways in many public and school libraries represents progress. But the fact that they're challenged so often, in most cases by folks who have never read them or who are unaware that librarians are careful to ensure appropriate access, makes clear that old biases die hard and sometimes, as is the case in Iowa this spring, are enshrined in law.