My Own Book Censorship Story

Or the time I had a Very Toxic Boss

One of the questions I get often is what made me so interested in book bans and censorship. The answer is pretty simple: I worked as a librarian for several years, primarily with children and teens, and I dealt with the periodic book challenge myself. One of the libraries where I worked at was an incredibly toxic environment. There were only two of us with a degree. That is not to say folks who do not get a library degree can’t do the job–I often think they can do it just as well or better, especially if they have customer service experience–but rather to give you a sense of the library’s size. It was small. One toxic person rots the entire establishment.

So when I came into work one morning and had a note about a book in the juvenile collection that was inappropriate, imagine how supported I felt in doing my job when my boss suggested we go through the entire juvenile collection to determine whether or not books were appropriate for it?

Again, this is a small library. Downstairs was everything from board books to middle grade. Upstairs was young adult and adult.

This letter and my boss upset me so much that I did what I needed to do at the time: wrote about it on Facebook.

The book in question? This one

Sidekicks by Dan Santat. Know anything about the author and you know that he is highly decorated and respected in the world of children’s literature. This comic earned a Publishers Weekly Star, rave reviews in Kirkus, Shelf Awareness, and BookPage, and it was recommended for readers age 6-10.

As much as the letter from the patron was upsetting, they were exercising their right to challenge a book informally. What was more infuriating, though, was what my boss included when she dropped the note and book on my hallway desk (yes, my “office” and “desk” were just in a hallway every single staff member walked through to get from anywhere in the library to the break room).

This was not what did it for me, but it was close. The letter came July 1, and I quit my job in September of that year after supervising an intern who I not only loved working with but who is now a stellar children’s librarian herself.

Whenever I think about book banning, I think of my boss. I think of the fact someone who worked as a children’s librarian and moved up to directing a library wanted me to remove the book and spend my time going through every book in the collection to determine if it was or was not appropriate. This, of course, on top of utilizing all of my knowledge and review sources to purchase the material in the first place.

I did not pull the book. In fact, I did not respond to the patron in this instance at all. I told my boss that I would be keeping the book right where it is, and I would not be reviewing the collection. I told her if the patron wanted to talk with me, she was welcome to do so, and more, she was welcome to file a formal complaint. I put the work on my boss to do the contacting of the patron in this instance. Did she? Who knows. I do know I never heard from the patron.

This was not my first experience with a complaint. That came a couple years prior, and I did respond to that patron’s informal complaint. The patron was upset that her sixth grade daughter borrowed an Elizabeth Scott audiobook from the teen collection (Something Maybe) and that the father of the main character was a riff on Hugh Heffner. I sat down and read her letter, then wrote back that the YA collection had material for everyone from 6th grade through 12th grade and it was her responsibility to help her child determine what was appropriate to read. My boss, who was supportive of me in this role, gave the thumbs up and said it was a great letter.

I did not hear back.

These stories happened 12-15 years ago. This was an era of increased censorship too, especially around graphic novels and comics. It was nowhere near what is happening now, but it galvanized the importance of speaking up and advocating for access to materials for all. I think of the librarians who, like me, had bosses encouraging further censorship to save their own asses, rather than having bosses who help bolster their rights to provide access to all.