The articles in lesson 10 bring up many good points regarding censorship. I liked Barbra Miner's article, "Reading, Writing, and Censorship" and her definitions on different levels of censoring. Her comment that censorship crosses the line when a parent demands that other members of the class, or an entire school, should not be allowed to read a certain book, not just their own child. It gives me a clear indicator to follow when dealing with concerned parents and individuals. It’s okay for a parent to restrict their child's exposure to materials and I have seen TL put a flag on a student’s checkout file that they can not take out a certain book. It is not okay to remove a book from the library without formal procedure or allow other students to check something out.
Her article also reminds me to take extra care in choosing resources in the first place and to make sure I have policy to fall back on to defend materials in challenges. Miner's discussions of "community standards" as being an argument to censor materials is worth reading. We have to know what "community" is being represented. We have many religious complaints regarding materials in our schools as there is a strong fundamentalist Christian population in Kelowna. The Harry Potter books were a great source of contention for awhile and many teachers choose not to read them as a group, but instead the books were available for individuals in the library. Many parents wanted the books removed from the library. Now Harry Potter is studied in University and is becoming more accepted as a powerful Christian fiction. For myself, being as widely read as possible, consulting many different points of views, and following policy will help me create a collection that is open minded.
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