Empire, ethnicity and LGBTQ+: a third of British librarians have been asked to remove books for these topics

2023-04-20 16:59:14
The culture war and the censorship that has been revealed with the editing or rewriting of texts by authors such as Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl or Ian Fleming to avoid hurting the sensibilities of some readers, has also reached libraries. At least this is suggested by the results of an investigation carried out by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (Cilip), the association of libraries and information in the United Kingdom, which, according to the newspaper ‘The Guardian’, discovered that members of the public In general, they have asked a third of booksellers to censor or remove books from their shelves, especially on topics related to ethnicity, LGBTQ+ content or the history of the British empire. These incidences “have increased significantly in recent years,” as explained by the executive director of Cilip, Nick Poole, who explained that part of the public debate is reaching librarians. There are “reports of requests to remove material having to do with race and Britain’s empire and colonial heritage.” Poole noted that “we’ve even had a roundtable with some librarians who have received personal threats of violence around their work decolonizing collections or balancing the historical perspective in their collections,” but “part of our job is to keep stocks of books that tell the whole story” as well as “don’t be afraid to tell that story.” “No bookseller should fear for their well-being or safety as a result of doing their work for the public,” he said. In the survey, around 82% of these professionals said they were concerned about the increase in these types of requests, which has led the organization to launch a process to update the national guide for booksellers, which includes stock management , spaces, events and activities, with a special section on how to handle book withdrawal requests. The guide is expected to see the light next month. “We want to get past this period of culture and political warfare and really focus on the job at hand,” said Poole, adding optimistically that “it remains true that it only takes a spark in a children’s book to inspire a youngster. to do something brilliant, and that’s what we want to focus on.”
#Empire #ethnicity #LGBTQ #British #librarians #asked #remove #books #topics