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Is our current understanding of the First Amendment eroding?  In 2004 the Knight Foundation studied high school students’ understanding of the First Amendment.  The study surveyed over 100,000 students nationwide.  The published survey, “The Future of the First Amendment,” revealed 75% of students believed flag burning was illegal, nearly 50% believed the government could censor the internet, and many students did not believe newspapers should be able to publish freely.

The Foundation’s report explains, “that public support for the First Amendment is neither universal nor stable: it rises and falls during times of national crisis.”  While discouraging, the survey also found that students could be taught to understand First Amendment rights.  Students who participated in journalism classes and discussed First Amendment issues in school were more likely to understand Americans’ freedoms granted by the First Amendment.

Librarians should participate in educating patrons and community members about our freedom to read and our freedom to obtain information.  The American Library Association (ALA) works tirelessly to educate librarians and library users about our freedom to all types of information and emphasizes the roles libraries take to protect our rights as American citizens.  The ALA, however, has not always held this strong stance protecting this valuable freedom.  There have been many librarians who have stood on their own along the way, and worked to create the foundation on which we stand today.

One of the early and most publicized reactions involving book banning happened in Kern County, California.  During a week in August in 1939 while County Librarian, Gretchen Knief, was on vacation, the library board voted to ban John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, a book that was based in Kern County. It was the first time in California history that a library board had banned a book. The board stated, “Where as The Grapes of Wrath is filled with profanity, lewd, foul, and obscene language unfit for us in American homes, therefore be it resolved that we the board of supervisors in defense of our free enterprises and of people who have been unduly wrong request that The Grapes of Wrath be banned from our library and schools.”

At the time of the book’s banning, the library’s patron waiting list for the book was 600 people long.   Upon her return from vacation, Knief followed the Librarian Code of Ethics as it was written at the time, and complied with the library board’s demands.  She removed the library’s 60 copies of The Grapes of Wrath from circulation.  An ever-resourceful librarian, Knief sent the banned books to nearby libraries that also had long patron waiting lists. 

In response to the board’s demands, Knief wrote a letter of protest which said in part, “I was extremely sorry, both as a librarian of our proud and free Kern County Library and as an intelligent adult reader.  This is the first instance of censorship in the entire history of the library… Banning books is so utterly hopeless and futile.  Ideas don’t die because a book is forbidden reading.”   While Knief did not win the battle immediately, The Grapes of Wrath was eventually returned to the shelves of the Kern County Library in 1941 when a new board of supervisors was elected.

During this situation in Kern County, the ALA remained silent on the issue of banning books and intellectual freedom.  In the 1930s the ALA was at a crossroads in American values.  One set of beliefs in the women-dominated field of librarianship encouraged librarians to do as they were instructed while another portion of the library community believed that librarians should be protectors of intellectual freedom.  Gretchen Knief stood up, and protected Americans’ right to read.

One year after The Grapes of Wrath incident in California, the ALA created the Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF).  Today the OIF supports libraries and librarians by providing advisory services to librarians who are facing challenges, educational opportunities, statistics, and example policy statements. The OIF helps mobilize the library community into action and continues to defend intellectual freedom when legislation begins to impinge upon our rights to read freely.

Today New Mexico’s librarians are on the frontlines, defending intellectual freedom and protecting the First Amendment.  School, public, and academic librarians must deal with material challenges.  For many librarians faced with a book challenge the ALA and the Office of Intellectual Freedom provide vital tools and support.

In early 2006 Socorro High School Librarian, Marian Royal, discovered books had been removed from the library’s collection without her knowledge after school administrators and a parent issued a complaint about a book entitled 3x3 Eyes.   Royal confronted the school administration and threatened to take the issue to the ALA and American Civil Liberties Union.  The school’s administration quickly reversed its decision and returned the books to the library.  Marian Royal was quoted in School Library Journal as saying, "I would willingly have sacrificed my job if necessary, however, since I was only defending board-approved policy, I hope that wouldn't have been the final outcome." 

As librarians, we need to continue to uphold our rights as free Americans.  We can work to recognize this freedom by celebrating Banned Books Week, September 23-30, 2006.  For inspiration on ways to celebrate this important freedom, visit ALA’s Banned Books Week website listed below.

Resources:

American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/

Banned Books Week

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm

Library Bill of Rights:

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/statementsif/librarybillrights.htm

References:

American Library Association, Intellectual Freedom Manual. 6th. Chicago: American

Library Association, 2002.

"Future of the First Amendment." 31 Jan 2005. Knight Foundation. 13 Sep 2006

http://firstamendment.jideas.org/findings/findings.php.

Lingo, Marci. "Forbidden fruit: the banning of The Grapes of Wrath in Kern County Free

Library." Libraries & Culture 38(Fall 2003): 351-378.

Robbins, Louise S. "The overseas libraries controversy and the freedom to read: U.S.

librarians and publishers confront Joseph McCarthy." Libraries & Culture

36(Winter 2001): 27-39.

Whelan, Debra Lau. "New Mexico librarian forces Principal to adhere to book challenge

rules." School Library Journal 15 March 2006 http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6316110.html.