Book bans present no signal of slowing down, and they’re typically defended by claiming “parents’ rights” to limit entry to LGBTQ books, anti-racist supplies, and social justice texts. But does the typical guardian actually assist bans of books like Arthur’s Birthday, the dictionary, or guides to navigating puberty? To discover out, Book Riot partnered with the EveryLibrary Institute to run a sequence of surveys on parental perceptions of libraries and librarians.
Now, the outcomes of all three surveys, with greater than 3,000 individuals, are in. The first survey focuses on perceptions of public libraries, the second on perceptions of librarians, and the third on perceptions of college libraries.
The outcomes are fascinating, and effectively price digging into in depth. Kelly Jensen has been overlaying many of the most important takeaways in her weekly Censorship News Roundup: join the Literary Activism publication to maintain up to date. While you’re at it, join the EveryLibrary Institute electronic mail listing as effectively for tactics you’ll be able to combat again towards censorship.
While librarians have seen a rise in threats and accusations towards them — together with bomb threats to libraries — one of the highest outcomes of these surveys was that 92% of respondents say libraries are secure areas for his or her youngsters, and 85% say they belief librarians.
Not all outcomes are so straight-forward, although: for instance, 63% of respondents agree or considerably agree that “banning books is a waste of time,” however 57% stated banning books from college libraries is an acceptable technique to stop youngsters from studying about sure matters.
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