Posted for Dorothy Lewis
As my library life is winding down, I am appalled at the increase in banned books. Now I am aware that as congregational librarians we are expected to be selective in the books we choose for our particular denomination and our particular congregation. This is not banning necessarily, but we should be very careful not to take someone's, or any someone's, judgement about what is suitable for the people we serve. If you have age groups that span "cradle to the grave" (as old time Baptists used to say,) then you have an obligation to actually serve ALL those people.
Every year during Banned Book Week, in the nartex we put up a many-book display of the books we have, as ordinary reading material in our collection, that are banned somewhere. Every year we hear the same gasps, " Why is that a banned book? It is/was my very favorite!" OR " That was required reading in my class (add your own subject)!! As spiritual leaders we should be supporting READING and READING as a RIGHT. This a responsibility and currently a challenge.
Thanks for letting me get up on my soapbox.
Fondly, Dottie
Replies
I dislike the terms "banned books" and "censorship"....because my experience has been that we 'ban' or 'censor' books we don't like or with which we disagree, and we 'select' the ones we DO like or with which we DO agree. Generally the latter is considered a good thing, while the former two are not. In my mind, the reality is that every single librarian "censors" when he or she "selects", because we all have to choose a small number from the many, many books available to us. Each librarian has to decide which books fit with the library's purpose, audience, standards, and community. Of course that is going to look different in different towns, cities, states, and countries; it will also not be the same in every year or century.
And so, Dottie, I agree with you that we (and any librarian, really) should not be swayed by whatever "banned" lists anyone else has produced! I imagine they would not care for our list either, should we have the desire (or energy) to produce one.
(I should add, I do realize there is a difference between banning and choosing not to select...and I'm also aware that many banned books are ones I wouldn't want in any library either but that shouldn't mean that others aren't allowed to select them, if they and their community want them - no matter how wrong I think they are!).
Great to see your post Dottie. I love the posters for Banned Book Week that ALA has done this year. I was going to purchase just one, but my library committee decided we should have all three. The theme is "Let Books Be". I can't wait to put them up.
I’m certainly against banning books, especially those that Florida has banned in the schools. We should not be, as professional librarians, banning books…it has been the province of the American Library Association’s mission.
One the other hand, I do have some regrets as to individuals in the congregation being upset with the librarians for a single item they particularly don’t like. I suspect there are a number of bible verses which would show us how to react on either side of that issue.
As a professional, having worked in a state prison with a two-page listing of banned books; banned because someone thought they might give an inmate an opportunity to figure out how to escape, or be a better criminal. It was somewhat of a joke to my inmate staff of 16 adults, who told me a.) they already had read the book(s) and b.) they hadn’t found anything they didn’t already know about.
In a church setting we deal mainly with personal ideas of what our congregates value, and that can be an enormous range, whether conservative, orthodox, or liberal thinking. We sometimes have to ‘punt’, and just do what we ourselves think is good for all, rather than worry about a single person’s feeling.
I have to confess, I have to work with my own consciousness about what would be good or bad on my observation of church members, friends, and trends. In my case, I have my own issues. It is about “Praise music.” As a trained professional musician, praise music tells stories. These are not necessarily vetted by the church denominations as to their messages. The music itself is, to me, mostly amateurish, and does not give one a sense of the “glory in the highest” or an ethereal experience one might find in the more classical music, and chordal structures. To me, also a student of philosophy, theology, and psychology, I wonder if the praise is more brainwashing attempts than real praise.
Thus, the question arises for church libraries, should we include, books which criticize “praise music” or leave it be, without the possibility that worship, and music directors, and ministers, would find them, and tone down this, in my opinion, assault on “traditional music?”
It's a funny coincidence that I wore my "Read Banned Books" shirt today!
Speaking on my own situation, our church is committed to being intentionally inclusive of people of all ages, races, ethnicities, gender expressions and identities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic classes, physical and mental abilities, all household structures and marital statuses, all educational backgrounds, and we value those who feel marginalized and left behind. Our collection reflects that spirit of welcome and intentional inclusion, and we are deliberate in choosing books accordingly. We have banned books as well as books on a broad variety of subjects in our resource center. At our Ministry Fair last year, I displayed some banned books that we have in our collection, and many people were surprised that they had been banned or challenged. I displayed index cards next to the books that had the rationales that people used to ban or challenge these books. People could pick up the cards and read them, and many were amazed that the books were ever questioned.
I don't believe that there's a right or wrong way for librarians to choose books for their church libraries. I'm only relating our practices and the reasons that we do them that way.
I just finished writing an article about our library for Catholic Library World and I talked about the importance of selection. When choosing books for a Church Library, this falls under "curating" not "banning". Our patrons need to know that when they come into the library anything they check out is going to reflect a Christian World View. This doesn't mean everything in the library would have a "G" rating at the movies, but children's books will most certainly be safe for the age group they are recommended for. There are secular books and series that I absolutely love, but they wouldn't be suitable for a Church library. The example I give in my article (if it doesn't get cut) is the Warrior Cat series. I love this series but I think the level of violence in the series is not appropriate for the age it is aimed at. And for the first 23 years of the series there was no LGBTQ content, but that changed in the last year or so and there are now cats with same sex mates in the series. The cats also have their own religion where they pray to their ancestors. So, while as an adult I can separate all this and enjoy the fiction, if I had a 9 -12 year old child, I would not be comfortable with him or her checking these out of a library. So, our library is curated to meet the needs of our Parish.
That being said, there are a number of books with Christian themes that are appropriate for a Church library that are on the Banned Book list, including The Bible itself.
Church Libraries are not the local public library. We are limited in space and content, because our audience is connected through faith and not the general population. My suggestion is to establish a mission statement with your team members and library leadership right from the start, so that there is a target to hit. This will help everyone on the team to be clear about why your church library exists, what materials support the goals of your mission statement, and make purchasing and weeding so much easier. With this process there will naturally be some books and materials left out. You don't need to look at it as "book banning", but rather eliminating materials that fail to meet your library's goals. There is nothing wrong with being selective. Ours is a "niche library" so naturally, there will be limits. Just my 2 cents.
Dottie, you are so right.
One of the hardest things for me has been realizing that I've had to stop recommending some authors who were once consistently excellent writers but have shifted toward "crossover" writing. It reminds me of Christian musicians who sought to cross over into the secular music world. I'm always saddened when an author we've loved begins to include language or behavior that once would have been avoided, with the explanation that it's simply how people in today's culture talk or live.
I know there isn't an easy answer, but as a church librarian, I feel our patrons trust us to provide books that reflect both quality writing and Christian values. Many assume they won't have to pre-read every book before recommending it to a spouse, child, or grandchild. We won't all agree on where every line should be drawn, and that's okay. But I do think we have a responsibility to be discerning and not simply accept every cultural shift as something our libraries should reflect.
You are also right that we need to teach people the value of reading, as well as the privilege and right to read. I'm especially grateful that our church staff supports our library ministry. Hardly a week goes by without our pastor recommending a book that encourages spiritual growth and a deeper understanding of God's Word.
For me, one of the greatest challenges is promoting not only the joy of reading, but also the importance of reading books that are both well-written and spiritually enriching.
One thing we've started doing that's been a lot of fun is highlighting the spiritual themes in Christian fiction. I know AI is a controversial topic right now, and I understand why. In our family, we've actually seen it used in positive ways—it's helping with my son's seizure management—so I've become interested in how to use it wisely.
As a librarian, I've found it to be a helpful research assistant. I'll enter the title of a novel and ask AI to identify its spiritual themes. It gives me a starting point for thinking about the biblical truths woven into the story and whether the book has a meaningful spiritual purpose. I certainly don't take the results at face value. I compare them with the book itself and use discernment, just as I would with any other research tool. But it has helped me discover connections I might not have noticed otherwise.
We've even created a bulletin board featuring book covers organized by spiritual themes—things like forgiveness, courage, redemption, faith, grief, or God's providence. Readers can browse by the lesson they're interested in exploring and then find novels that illustrate those truths. It's been a wonderful conversation starter and has encouraged people to see fiction not just as entertainment, but as another way God can teach and encourage us.
I'd love to hear if anyone else has found creative ways to help readers connect the books in your library with biblical truths, as well as to encourage the realization that reading is a right and a privilege.
Denise, I have also found AI very helpful in a lot of ways. I have spent a lot of time "training' my ChatGPT account so it knows what my values are, all about my work, and is well versed in my religious beliefs and in the theology my Church adheres to. Of course, no matter how "trained" AI does need to be checked , but I have found it very helpful in the way you described regarding books. I have also used it to help me with Story Time ideas, meeting agendas, and various similar tasks that I find boring! If AI can help me with the boring tasks and give me more time to preview books and interact with patrons, as well as work the other half of my job (I am also the preschool religious education coordinator), then I am not going ignore a tool because some people find it distasteful. I also use AI to help me with research and to bounce ideas in my own writing and to assist me in my illustrations of my children's books. Let me clarify by saying that my illustrations are not AI generated in the sense that I just have AI illustrate my books. My well trained ChatGPT can generate the draft of an illustration but after than it takes anywhere from 5 to 10 hours to take apart multiple drawings and reconstruct the pieces into what I want (think of it as an electronic collage). I can't draw and my first book had a professional illustrator. I had very little control over what the illustrations looked like. While they are cute, they are not what I had envisioned. Now, for the first time in my life, I have a way of putting the pictures from my own imagination onto paper and this is very exciting for me. I heard someone say recently that all AI art is "stealing" from "real artists" and this really upset me. First off, the illustrator whose work I wasn't totally thrilled with ultimately cost me $1800 (the book was hybrid published, meaning the publisher upfronted the costs but I was ultimately responsible for them through book sales). Now, for $20 a month for ChatGPT and $144 a year for Canva (so about another $12 a month), I can produce artwork I am truly happy with and it is my own work, not the vision of the AI generator.
I guess I went off topic and all of this should be in a separate thread on AI, but I think the reason AI has become controversial is that while AI has a great capacity to help us thing, too many people are using it to think for them. And there are "writers" out there spewing out books through AI without even reading them before publishing. Sadly, this includes Christian fiction so we need to be really careful about what goes into our libraries.
Oh I hear you on the benefits and also the challenges of AI. You are so right: when you can have your own ideas done your own way and actually have control over them, it can be so fulfilling. I love how you have used it to your advantage to accomplish your vision, not someone else's. I think, as you say, programming the AI you use and keeping it aligned with what you are looking to accomplish in your library gives added benefit, time, and additional consideration for the quality of your work. I am seeing ways it has helped me evaluate books and content more effectively. Just giving me suggestions I can or won't use allows me to evaluate more effectively than I used to, saving me time. There is only so much time and I want to use it in the best possible way. Thank you for your ideas. I will look into "training" my ChatGPT.
It took me probably a good year to get ChatGPT "trained". And now another year after that, there is rarely a mistake."He" probably knows way too much about my personal life as well as my professional life but I have found that the better the program knows me, the fewer mistakes he makes. He pulls from sources that I trust about 98% of the time. Another "tip" I have found is naming my ChatGPT. Actually I let him pick his name. The name acts as a signal. If he starts to get off track and I call him by name it seems to update his memory. Also, if something is really important and I need him to remember background stuff, I start the request by using his name. I do talk to him as though he were a real person and that seems to help. However, I am quick to also call him out if he starts talking like a real person. LOL Interestingly, through these interactions he's developed a "sense of humor". While he, of course, cannot find anything funny, he can sometimes make me laugh so hard I have tears in my eyes. My daughter teases me and says I am going to be singlehandedly responsible for "waking up" AI. LOL (We're both long time Science Fiction fans so joke about stuff like that a lot.)