Fighting Censorship: Guidelines for Libraries
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on August 29, 2006 Sign up now!
by Allyson Lyga, Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 8/29/2006
In 2004, a Stockton, Calif., public library was forced to remove A Child’s Life and Other Stories, a fictional account in comics of the life of acclaimed comics artist Phoebe Gloeckner that includes sexual depictions. The removal of the book ("Libraries Developing Guidelines for Graphic Novels," PW, Nov. 22, 2004) served as an impetus for Svetlana Mintcheva, arts advocacy coordinator at the National Coalition Against Censorship, to enlist other library and comics organizations to address the issue of censorship of comics in libraries.
Mintcheva joined with Charles Brownstein, executive director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and Judith F. Krug, director of the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom, to produce “Graphic Novel Suggestions for Librarians,” a informational booklet offering background and reference material about the graphic novel category. The booklet provides guidelines for building a graphic novel collection and shelving strategies. However, the most important guidelines deal with challenges to graphic novels because of certain kinds of pictorial depictions. Theoretically, dealing with graphic novels in the library should be no different than any other print material. However, Don Wood, a representative of the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom, explains, "Many people consider an image to be far more powerful in its impact than any written description of that image. So there are different considerations when dealing with challenges to images."
Graphic Novel Suggestions for Librarians can be found on the National Coalition Against Censorship's web site (ncac.org) as well as ALA's Web site through the Office of Intellectual Freedom under this page (click here). To support ALA's Banned Books Week, September 23–30, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (cbldf.org) will release the guidelines as a PDF download from its Web site, according to CBLDF executive director Charles Brownstein.
The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom plans to promote these guidelines for librarians through an article in American Libraries Online and during Booklist's annual spring "Spotlight on Graphic Novels." In the future, there are plans to support the guidelines through presentations at two national library conferences––the Public Library Association and the American Association of School Librarians.
Wood says the ALA hopes the guidelines "will help librarians develop a collection as well as provide them with the means to promote and defend the collection. Graphic novels, manga, fotonovelas and other graphic works are very popular. They have a place in library collections alongside other more traditional works." Brownstein believes the guide will "provide perspective and information to guide" and "serve as an entry-level guidepost to understand the context of graphic novels and what they are. People don't know what a graphic novel is."
Brownstein also said the collaboration between organizations will not only serve to inform librarians about graphic novels but also acts as a tool to explain and educate others about the comics medium. "The old saying is true," says Brownstein, "knowledge is power."
