Posted on 01/21/2023 5:58:50 PM PST by DoodleBob
As books are banned and challenged across the country, they might have a much larger impact than the removal of a few titles: They may be changing the makeup of entire school libraries, due to the chilling effect they create.
That’s according to new research that in 2022 analyzed hundreds of titles from more than 6,600 public school libraries across the country.
The contents of school libraries are not often public even as a record number of books continue to be challenged across the country. But the availability of books about topics considered controversial, such as race and racism, LGBTQ issues, and abortion in a school library varies widely depending on the community. Conservative areas are already less likely to have these books available for students. But with the recent increase in book banning, districts where books are challenged are staying away from acquiring newly published books that deal with controversial topics, particularly books about LGBTQ characters and issues.
This should be concerning for librarians and advocates focused on students’ access to diverse books and ideas, said Kirsten Slungaard Mumma, a postdoctoral fellow at the Wheelock Educational Policy Center at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Slungaard Mumma assembled data on the availability of hundreds of titles to examine patterns in the types and amount of books schools have and are buying by scraping libraries’ databases.
The study establishes what school libraries already had in stock before the recent push to challenge hundreds of books gained momentum in districts across the country, how that varied with the demographics of the community, and what the changes indicate about the impact of book bans on school libraries in general.
The chilling effect of book bans
Schools in districts that were subject to a book challenge in the 2021-22 school year were 55 percent less likely to have acquired one of the 65 books about LGBTQ characters published between June and August 2022, according to the study.
“These challenges have had what we call a chilling effect, reducing the probability that school libraries are buying materials that deal with LGBTQ content or characters,” Slungaard Mumma said.
“If it’s true that book challenges are affecting the types of books that school libraries are considering for their collections,” she continued, “that could have much bigger effects than whether a specific title was pulled from the library shelf.”
The number of challenged titles also matters, she found. Each new book challenged in a district reduced the probability that the district would buy a new book about LGBTQ characters by 4 percent.
Book challenges often did not take place in the most conservative areas, but happened more often in those that just leaned Republican, Slungaard Mumma’s analysis found. Books were also challenged more frequently in states that had laws restricting lessons on race or LGBTQ lessons, and in areas with conservative groups.
Conservative areas are defined in the study as counties which voted for President Donald Trump in the 2020 elections, and liberal areas were defined as those that voted for President Joe Biden.
“In really conservative areas, there’s probably a lot of consensus between families and the school about what kind of material is or isn’t appropriate. And so maybe those books aren’t as readily available, and they’re not attracting attention,” she said. “But in places that are conservative, but not as conservative, maybe you’re encountering more of those blocks. And maybe there’s more impetus for local political groups or parents or administrators to take these kinds of actions.”
Libraries in conservative areas have fewer books and, less diverse ones.
School libraries in those areas generally have fewer books overall, and lower acquisition rates than libraries in liberal areas, which might also explain differences in access to books with controversial content. Libraries in conservative areas also have fewer books on LGBTQ issues, race and racism, or abortion, and more Christian fiction titles and books by Dr. Seuss that are no longer published because of racist imagery.
“Local school boards and schools have a lot of authority to decide what types of content or stories or ideas that students encounter,” Slungaard Mumma said.
“Demonstrating that these patterns exist is something that we haven’t really been able to do in systematic ways before,” she added. “I think it was interesting, if not totally surprising to find that these patterns existed.”
Compared to a swing county, a solidly conservative one in one comparison was linked to a 20 percent lower probability that a high school has a title related to race and racism, and a 12.9 percent lower probability of havinga popular LGBTQ title, Slungaard Mumma found. State legislation, particularly the “divisive concepts” laws that were passed in 17 states as a pushback to “critical race theory,” also have an impact on the kinds of books school libraries have. Libraries in the 17 states that have passed such laws are 46 percent less likely to have books related to the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which centers the experiences and contributions of Black Americans throughout U.S. history. Some states also explicitly ban the 1619 Project or any related instructional materials.
However, divisive concepts laws are not associated with the number of titles on race or racism in a school library overall, which Slungaard Mumma said was surprising. Even in the most conservative counties, 96 percent of high schools had at least one title on race/racism, 95 percent had at least one title about abortion, and 94 percent had at least title about LGBTQ characters.
So keep challenging things people.
It actually does work.
One can only hope!
Bunch of BS.
These bastards can’t make a distinction between publicly supported books In a single primary school and prohibiting the publication of these books.
Want a homo book? Get it on your own dollar.
When Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman came out in 1989 a FReeper (name?) wrote: No she doesn’t. She has one mother who has a girlfriend who wears paid flannel shirt.
Look what it started. Thought to be the first in a long line of garbage.
Good.
Q: How many school libraries contain every book ever written?
A: None. There isn’t enough room in any school library to contain every book ever written.
Q: So... if a book is missing from a school library, does this mean it is being “banned?”
A: No. It’s merely not being prioritized.
**When Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman came out in 1989 a FReeper (name?) wrote:**
Wow!? FR was available in 1989? I never knew that. But the trash book should have been burned on sight, nomatter tbe year.
The filth in the public school libraries is astounding. I am embarrassed to even read the language in them. Especially the “graphic novels” that deliver porn in comic book form. We are challenging many of the books here in our school district right now in Sheboygan, WI
Sorry.
It was 1996, the first year of FR, discussing the past as some new LGBTQ books were coming out. I remember because I was lurking after a coworker told me of the wonderful new place. I remember the bulky computers we used to have.
Here in Tennessee, every school is required to publish, on their website, a complete list of all materials in the school library. Not a searchable database, but an actual list. In this case, a bit of transparency goes a long ways.
Lol! I figured it was a typo.
If I’d known about FR in 2000 (first year we had the internet), I’d have joined then.
I guess that means we should redouble our efforts.
This ping list is for the other articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)
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I'm convinced that most graphic novels are written by gays.
Awwww! Groomers be whining.
Has anyone checked to ensure that nothing is accidentally left off the list...?
Trust but verify. :-)
In one school board meeting, a lady started reading from a book from the school library. They the school board people said she couldn’t read it aloud in the meeting because it was too graphic!
Maybe they should have a rule that if you can’t read the book aloud in a school board meeting, it shouldn’t be available in the school library.
(Sorry that I am not as good as Zuriel at finding links to past threads!)
>> This should be concerning for librarians and advocates focused on students’ access to diverse books and ideas,
_________
I will take their commitment to diversity a lot more seriously when they start buying as many conservative books as they do woke books. Until them, I call “baloney.”
Re”.....and books by Dr. Seuss that are no longer published because of racist imagery.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Of course censoring Dr. Seuss’s books isn’t banning. No. No. Of course not! (/s)
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