LA Times Editorial on Stephen King Book Being Removed and Then Returned to High School Library
From The LA Times:
A school committee voted to pull the book [“Different Seasons”] from the library shelves, with only 17-year-old senior Amanda Wong dissenting. The other members of the committee, all adults, reportedly didn’t even read the book through before voting.
Amanda complained to the school board and got results. The superintendent ordered the book placed back on the shelves while a districtwide committee considers the matter. That committee should recommend keeping the book.
Picking tomes for a school library is a sensitive business.
[Clip]
A single complaint about a single scene in a book is not valid grounds for taking it off the shelves. Fortunately, a student was there to teach the adults that banning books is a serious matter that calls for more careful consideration.
Read the Complete Editorial
Filed under: Libraries, News, School Libraries
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.
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