<
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/14/librarians-in-uk-increasingly-asked-to-remove-books-as-influence-of-us-pressure-groups-spreads>
"Requests to remove books from library shelves are on the rise in the UK, as
the influence of pressure groups behind book bans in the US crosses the
Atlantic, according to those working in the sector.
Although “the situation here is nowhere [near] as bad, censorship does happen
and there are some deeply worrying examples of library professionals losing
their jobs and being trolled online for standing up for intellectual freedom on
behalf of their users”, said Louis Coiffait-Gunn, CEO of the Chartered
Institute of Library and Information Professionals (Cilip).
Ed Jewell, president of Libraries Connected, an independent charity that
represents public libraries, said: “Anecdotal evidence from our members
suggests that requests to remove books are increasing.” The School Library
Association (SLA) said this year has seen an “increase in member queries about
censorship”.
Most of the UK challenges appear to come from individuals or small groups,
unlike in the US, where 72% of demands to censor books last year were brought
forward by organised groups, according to the American Library Association
earlier this week.
However, evidence suggests that the work of US action groups is reaching UK
libraries too. Alison Hicks, an associate professor in library and information
studies at UCL, interviewed 10 UK-based school librarians who had experienced
book challenges. One “spoke of finding propaganda from one of these groups left
on her desk”, while another “was directly targeted by one of these groups”.
Respondents “also spoke of being trolled by US pressure groups on social media,
for example when responding to free book giveaways”.
It is “certainly possible that the scale of censorship we’re seeing in the US
will influence the debate over here”, said Jewell. However, the level of
influence to date is far from clear, particularly because the nature of
censorship requests in the UK seems to differ from those brought forward in the
US.
Censorship by pupils in UK schools, including “vandalising library material,
annotating library books with racist and homophobic slurs”, and damaging
posters and displays was identified in Hicks’ study, which she wrote about in
the spring issue of the SLA’s journal,
The School Librarian. Such censorship
“is not something I have seen in the US”, she said.
The types of books targeted may also differ. “Almost all the UK attacks
reported in my study centred on LGBTQ+ materials, while US attacks appear to
target material related to race, ethnicity and social justice as well as LGBTQ+
issues,” said Hicks."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
