My last Substack post might be of interest:
It’s so strange, the way librarians and library books have become the scapegoat for American society’s ills. I found myself needing to talk about the blame game.
Blaming books for dangerous teen behaviors. Blaming librarians for not ‘hopping to’ fast enough when someone complains about a book. Blaming dogs for being dogs. (Kristi Noem)
All-righty, then. Content warning: The following includes two disturbing topics (sexual strangulation and killing pet dogs). Please click the link to put yourself in the librarian’s shoes (my shoes) and ask yourself if you would keep the book Breath by Tim Winton in your library.
This post also has the book challenge/book banning news of the week.
https://victoriawaddle.substack.com/p/scapegoats-book-blaming-library-blaming
Sean M. Sullivan
Hi Vicki:
I have two reactions, not dissimilar—
1.Public school teachers, and by extension school librarians, have long been scapegoated for many societal ills. But no question the blame game has intensified. Many of those who throw stones don’t have a clue what goes on in the classroom—or the school library for that matter—and fool themselves into thinking they are “involved parents” by showing up at school board meetings to gripe about books they haven’t read, if they’ve read any books at all.
I feel lucky that I retired in 2018. For many of my 34 years in public ed., I taught Lord of the Flies and The Catcher in the Rye to sophomores. In all that time, I can only recall one or two instances where a parent requested an alternate book. (Catcher both times, I believe, a book that I regard as a masterpiece that still rings true today with its depiction of teenage angst.)
A few years before I retired, I was involved in our site curriculum development for the Common Core standards. I and my colleagues were so impressed at how much local control we were given. Yet, I saw Sean Hannity (a college drop out, btw) railing about how Barrack Obama and the feds were imposing their views on Common Core. What a crock! (I only watch snippets of Fox “News”, btw, just to see what the enemy is thinking.)
2. In June of last year, I applied for and interviewed for a volunteer position with the city of R.C.’s library advisory board. As a retiree, it looked like a good way to give back to my community. In my mind, I was the perfect candidate—thirty plus years as a public school English teacher and an author of two self-published novels, and a resident in the community. When asked what I saw as a major challenge for public libraries for the next five years and beyond, I guess they perceived me as being too political. I said that community libraries will become more and more vital as public pressures like book banning become more prevalent. Btw, the interview committee did not include any actual library personnel. The interview was brief (perhaps ten minutes) and that was the only question that required any extrapolation.
So, needless, to say, your blog is spot on. I guess I could have left it at that, but hell, I’m a writer afterall.
Take care,
Sean M. Sullivan
p.s. Best of luck with the novel. I’m just getting started with the third in the series of historical fiction novels set in Ireland. I’m looking at at least a year before publishing, maybe two.
Victoria Waddle
Oh, man, I have been away from this blog and didn’t see your comment until today. Spot on! They could have used you on that library board. It’s very strange that no librarians were doing those interviews. (BTW—I had some parents opt out of Catcher, too.)
I’ve moved this group over to Substack because I’m there every week.
Isn’t writing and publishing the slowest thing you’ve been involved in? 😆