Diverse library collections are personal for me

As someone who identifies as both neurodiverse and queer, having access to a diversity of ideas is intensely personal for me, as well as a professional value. During my research for week 10 in LIS 5250, I encountered an op-ed by Erin Iverson, a 16-year-old student at Walla Walla High School in Walla Walla, Washington:

“Representation is vital to everyone. Being able to see yourself in someone and relate to their feelings and experiences helps quell the feelings of isolation and loneliness that accompany many students through their middle and high school years. This is especially true for minority students for whom representation is already in short supply” (Iverson, 2022).

Iverson shared their first reaction to reading the graphic memoir Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, in June 2020:

“In the midst of a personal identity crisis of magnificent proportions and the extreme isolation of a global pandemic, I recognized myself and my feelings in the author. I saw that I was not the only person, as much as it felt that way, to ever feel the way I did. My experiences as a transmasculine individual were there, on paper, and that changed everything. I was not alone.

“When someone very important to me told me that people were targeting ‘Gender Queer’ for removal from the high school library, I cried. Then, I quickly became angry. That book gave me representation when I most needed it, and someone was trying to censor it. In doing so, they were removing that invaluable lifeline from other students like myself” (ibid).

Book Riot (2022) referred to the challengers in this case as “A pair of white women calling themselves ‘For Our Kids Walla Walla.’”

The challenge attempt was also covered by the local media. This is significant because, according to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (n.d.), “82-97% of book challenges — documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries — remain unreported and receive no media.”

If you are unacquainted with Gender Queer, Kobabe started eir graphic novel as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual. (That’s from a description by Simon & Schuster, the publisher.)

Gender Queer has been a frequent target of book-removal attempts, and in 2021, it was the No. 1 most frequently challenged book as tracked by the ALA OIF (n.d.).

Among challenges documented by the ALA OIF (2022), the majority (39 percent) are initiated by parents, followed at 24 percent by the patrons of a library. Forty-four percent of challenges are directed against school libraries, while 37 percent target public libraries (ibid). Words and phrases that frequently appear in reasons presented for challenges include “Sexually explicit,” “LGBTQIA,” “Critical Race Theory,” “Obscene,” “Woke,” and “Profanity” (ibid).

School librarian Martha Hickson (2022) knows from first-hand experience how contentious book challenges can become. During an attempt to remove Gender Queer and four other books from her New Jersey high school school library, Hickson “received hate-filled email. Book banners attempted to file a criminal complaint with the local prosecutor’s office. Students who supported the book bans hid library books on LGBTQ+ topics so that others could not find them. And administrators peppered me with accusatory questions, such as ‘How can books with language like this be in our school?’”

Having read Gender Queer myself and thought it addressed important issues (Parkhill, 2022), I was gratified to learn that the Walla Walla school board opted to stand by a book review committee’s decision to leave Gender Queer and three other targeted books in the Walla Walla High School library (Burnham, 2022).

References:
American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom. (n.d.) Top 10 most challenged books lists. Banned and challenged books. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10

American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom. (2022). Censorship by the numbers [Infographic]. State of America’s libraries: Special report, pandemic year 2. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/banned/bannedbooksweek/BBW22-bythenumbers-fullpage.pdf

Book Riot. (2022, Feb. 8). Books under fire in Walla Walla, Washington: How to support the school board’s decision. Community. https://bookriot.com/walla-walla-book-challenge/

Burnham, J. (2022, Feb. 16). Parents speak out after Walla Walla School Board refuses to ban hotly contested books. Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/education/parents-speak-out-after-walla-walla-school-board-refuses-to-ban-hotly-contested-books/article_2a1786e4-8f71-11ec-9f27-b7305284768f.html

Hickson, M. (2022, Feb. 3). What’s it like to be the target of a book banning effort? School librarian Martha Hickson tells her story. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/from-the-breaking-point-to-fighting-anew-school-librarian-martha-hickson-shares-her-story-of-battling-book-banning-censorship

Iverson, E. (2022, Jan. 14). Representation is vital for everyone. Editor’s pick. Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. https://www.union-bulletin.com/opinion/opinion_columns/representation-is-vital-for-everyone/article_5d459694-7984-11ec-b6d8-8712de33f3a6.html

Parkhill, C.M. (2022, Sept. 18). “Gender queer” by Maia Kobabe. Cynthia Parkhill. https://cynthiaparkhill.blogspot.com/2022/09/gender-queer-by-maia-kobabe.html

Simon & Schuster. (n.d.) Gender queer: A memoir [Product description page]. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Gender-Queer-A-Memoir-Deluxe-Edition/Maia-Kobabe/9781637150726