Unban A Book? Harder Than It Looks

We need to take a realistic look at whether unbanned books can or will actually be brought back to shelves.

We like to bring win stories when we can.  It’s a good reminder that our—your—efforts have an impact.  That you are making changes to your communities, regardless of how challenging the landscape can seem. 

Today’s story is a ‘win’… of sorts.  It is a mixed bag that highlights just how hard it is to unban a book once it has been taken away from shelves.  So, yes, we will celebrate a trove of books that are allowed to return to classrooms and libraries in one Florida county!

And it's not the only story of its kind!  The Tallahassee Democrat ran this report recently about Nassau County rolling back some of its restrictions!  Things are moving in the right direction in many places around the state.

But we also need to take a realistic look at whether or not they will actually be brought back. 

In this case study, a Florida county public school system recently released more than forty-five books from its prohibited list.  And some of the titles being brought back are among the most challenged statewide, and are overwhelmingly written by authors from minority backgrounds.   

Books like 1000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Crank by Ellen Hopkins, Forever by Judy Blume, and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez.  Or The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Freedom Rider’s Diary by Willie Morris, and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo.  13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan.  Wicked by Gregory Maguire. 

Every ONE of these is a victory.  We should celebrate their potential return. 

It is a potential return, however. 

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Here’s the thing about bans.  The damage they do goes beyond the initial removal.  They can have a long-lasting impact just by virtue of a book being pulled off shelves in the first place.  Removing them has become all too easy.  Putting them back is a different kind of challenge. 

Let’s walk through why and talk about why this process can be so difficult to reverse. 

What happens when a book gets removed from a library?  If it is weeded (removed from circulation due to declining student interest or relevance) it might be donated to an interested student, another library that has need, or recycled.   

When a book is banned, it falls to a similar fate, except in the case of donation.  Especially if a book has been flagged in several surrounding schools or counties, a library might have a difficult time finding somewhere to donate that book.  In those cases, the books are more than likely discarded.  Thrown out.  Remember the case where a book store in North Carolina received thousands of books discarded from a Florida school system that were going to be otherwise trashed? 

This.   

The larger point is that when a book is removed from shelves as part of a routine weeding process or a ban (whether temporary or permanent) it does not go into storage somewhere.  It leaves the library entirely by one means or another: donation or disposal. 

So now that book is just gone from that library. 

Getting it back is much more difficult.  First, since it no longer exists for that library or school, a new copy needs to be acquired.  That means budgeting for it.  School budgets are already notoriously tight.  How likely do think it is for a school to budget to bring back a book that it already banned once?  Just because the book is no longer on a restricted list does not obligate the school to replace it.

Often times, books are ordered on student interest.  Let’s say a student proactively requests the book be reordered.  Well, that would first require the school librarian to be comfortable placing that order.  Here is where we have to remind you that books are often banned proactively by schools out of fear of potential prosecution, not because there are actually any complaints or challenges already in place.   

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If that librarian who receives the student request does not reasonably fear their job or safety would be on the line by ordering the book in question, they would then likely need to secure additional approval - be it from the school’s SAC committee, leadership, or at the district level - before ordering the book.  That approval process might take some time to turn around the request and look into it.  Maybe even a few months.

At that point, if the librarian’s request is approved and the budget is set aside to buy the book, it must then be ordered. Depending on how often a library can place orders, this might take a few more months before it finally arrives and is shelved. 

And what of the student who originally requested it? 

Is that student still at the school, or have they graduated and moved on?  Is the book still relevant to their interests?   

All this still assumes the student even knows to ask for the book in the first place!

Part of the joy of discovery in a library is stumbling across something you did not know you were looking for!  Or asking a librarian for a recommendation based on your age, education level, interests and study needs.  Books cannot be ‘stumbled across’ or recommended by a trained, professional librarian if they are not on the shelf in the first place.  Or somewhere in the long process of being reordered! 

So just because the decision was made to unrestrict a book, that does not mean the book is coming back to students.  In fact if it does at all, it could realistically take months. 

Whereas, out of an abundance of caution, as the result of a single, radical complaint, or as part of an unpopular, undemocratic movement, a school might remove a book from shelves overnight. 

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The books in question in our case study were, in fact, removed to align the library’s collection with the statewide published 2022/2023 restrictions list.  Remember, this list was just a compilation of titles that had been challenged across Florida.  No school, county or municipality was under any obligation to take action on it.  And in our case study, no challenges had been lodged against the books they pulled from shelves!

Were these books even read by officials before they were taken from students? 

It was more than likely due to the actions of a special interest group that had close ties to a school board member lobbying the board to have the books removed.  But that’s really all it took for them to ban broad swaths of books from the students of this county. 

And it’ll take months to get any of them back.

This whole process is completely lopsided, and it just goes to show how dangerous and slippery the slope of banning books, even temporarily, is. 

It is absolutely a victory that these dozen books, and dozens more along with them, are being taken off restricted lists in this county.  But it does not change how difficult it will be to get them back into schools.

If you want to help, next week is Banned Books/The Freedom to Read week.  Many of your local school libraries or teachers likely have wish lists of books they want to have back in their classrooms and on their shelves.  You can help by donating copies of those books to the teachers and librarians in need. 

Sign the petition to fight against book bans in Florida