Libraries As Selectors, Not Censors - Editorial
With September upon us and school back in session, we took a moment to consider the current fever of book challenges and bans currently sweeping the nation and decided to test Bourne’s temperature. After some conversations with the library director at the Jonathan Bourne Public Library and the chairwoman of the Bourne School Committee, we’d like to applaud the people of Bourne for not getting caught up in the fervor.
Irja Finn has been a library director in Bourne for three years and said that in that time, there are no real instances where a book has been challenged or called on for a ban. Although there are policies and training protocols in place for such an event, the Bourne library rarely has any challenges when it comes to the material it carries.
Whether it’s due to patrons understanding that a library is a public place intended to provide equal access to ideas or it’s due to an absence of substantial ire from patrons over the library’s materials, the fact that there are no challenges or attempted bans is a good sign for Bourne.
We’re inclined to believe that it’s because Bourne is a place that understands and prioritizes education, knowledge and the benefit of various voices and points of view. And what else can provide all these things but a library?
The school district is in a similar position, with chairwoman Emily Berry confirming that, at least during her tenure on the committee, they’ve never had to deal with attempted book bans. This, to us, feels positive; proof that the people of Bourne recognize the value of the differing viewpoints that books can offer.
Elsewhere in the country, things look dire. One of the more recent headlines that caught our eye was the choice of a Michigan town to defund its only public library. The slim majority that voted against renewing the library’s public funding, which is responsible for most of its budget, did so after a storm of hate and vitriol was slung at librarians—two of whom quit for safety reasons. All of this for carrying a hotly debated book, an illustrated memoir called “Gender Queer.”
The goings-on in this small Michigan town, sadly, is not an anomaly: the American Libraries Association reported that book banning efforts jumped fourfold in 2021, with “Gender Queer” topping the list. A quick search of the CLAMS library catalogue reveals that this book is available in more than a dozen libraries across Cape Cod. As it should be.
We’re willing to bet that every person in town, if given the time, could find at least one book in the Bourne library collection that they would find offensive, no matter how open-minded they consider themselves to be.
Maybe that book is “Gender Queer,” which depicts the author’s coming-of-age experience in a raw and honest way. Or maybe it would be “Mein Kampf,” Adolph Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto detailing his anti-Semitic and political ideologies, or John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice And Men,” which has been criticized for its racist language.
Regardless, each of these books has a place on the shelves at the Bourne library, and that’s just as it should be, like it or not. And this is something that seems to resonate with the people of Bourne, evident in the fact that instances of book challenges and bans in town are virtually nonexistent, as censorship has no place in a community that values education.
“I think it has to do with what the demographic of the patrons are,” Ms. Finn said. “I really do. I think that people who value library service, communities that see what the library offers, realize that we are selectors, not editors and not censors.”