The Indianapolis Public Library kicked off National Banned Books Week Oct. 3 with a fireside chat conversation with John Green and State Senator and educator Andrea Hunley.
Although book banning has long been a controversial topic, it remains on the forefront of Hoosiers’ minds following legislation aimed at pulling “inappropriate materials” from school libraries and a policy at Hamilton East Public Library that would reshelve more than 2,000 books to the adult section. Green, the Indiana-based author known for frequently challenged books “Looking for Alaska” and “The Fault in Our Stars,” sat down with Hunley to discuss censorship and intellectual freedom in schools and libraries.
“I think it makes a big difference in kids’ lives to have access to stories that connect to them deeply, and that matter to them, and reflect who they are, and reflect what their experiences of the world are, and that show them the world as they see it, not the world as maybe adults would wish for them to see it,” Green said. “But I think [banning books in schools] would have negatively impacted my life in a really profound and lasting way, and I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Across the country, books — primarily dealing with issues surrounding race, racism and the LGBTQ+ community — are being challenged, John Helling, chief public services officer for IndyPL, told the Recorder. Any material that so much as references sex or sexuality is dubbed “obscene,” including works by local authors such as Leah Johnson, Saundra Mitchell and Green.
Intellectual freedom, as Helling described it, is the idea that everyone should have the right to pursue knowledge or information, and the IndyPL strongly believes “people should do that with as few barriers in place as possible.”
“It’s a huge issue because once someone decides some point of view is unacceptable, where does that stop, and who gets to decide that?” Helling said. “Our position is that … everybody gets to decide for themselves what’s appropriate and what’s not appropriate, and if you’re not interested in engaging in a topic, then that’s fine. But we strongly disagree that you have the right to prevent someone else from engaging with that topic.”
When it comes to legislation and addressing policymakers about these issues, Hunley, a former English teacher and IPS principal, said an important step is finding “incremental places for change” and standing up “fiercely and boldly for what we believe in.”
“I feel like it’s part of my job to hold the heart of this work; to make sure that we’re thinking about the next generations,” Hunley said. “That’s what teachers do, and so I feel like that I just need to continue to be the moral compass.”
Having access to information “carefully curated by talented librarians, whom we train and place and hire to do this work,” is one of the best things about America, and Green said watching it being chipped away through banning and censoring books in schools and public libraries is akin to taking a step backwards and is incredibly discouraging.
“What we read shapes what we think, and when people want to control what we read, it is very much because they want to control what we think,” Green said, noting that the vast majority of books being challenged are written by and about people of color, LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized communities, which he believes is “deeply fear-based” and rooted in further marginalizing those people.
Green also spoke to the idea that it is not a library’s responsibility to ensure patrons are comfortable with everything on the shelves — in fact, he said there are things in the library he is uncomfortable with — but those materials are there for the public because libraries are public institutions.
The goal of libraries such as the Indianapolis Public Library is to provide spaces where people can have conversations about topics like banning books that might challenge them, Helling said. For more information on banned and challenged books, visit indypl.org.
Contact staff writer Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848 or chloegm@indyrecorder.com. Follow her on Twitter @chloe_mcgowanxx.
