Monday, September 03, 2012

Banned in Arizona, Available at Armacost

From September 1 to October 31, 2012, Armacost Library is holding an Intellectual Freedom Blogathon featuring posts on topics concerning censorship, the freedom to read, view, and express, and the connection these various freedoms have to individual life experiences and the state of society. The following essay is part of the Armacost Library Intellectual Freedom (ALIF) Blogathon.


Inspired by Les Canterbury's post "Books Removed From Classrooms," I wanted to visually see the many  books that have been removed statewide from Arizona classrooms and curriculum. According to a March 2012 New York Times article, seven titles were "ordered removed from all classrooms" yet additional titles "fell into a category of books that could no longer be taught but could be used by students for leisure reading." Does this mean they're banned? Yes, according to the American Library Association which states that any book that has been removed "based upon the objections of a person or group" is a banned book. The following is a list of books (provided by Elaine Romero*) banned in Arizona and available at the Armacost Library.

* Oddly, Ms. Romero did not include "Chicano!" by Francisco Arturo Rosales in her list which was named as one of the seven titles removed from classrooms by Michael Winerip and Stephanie Siek. I've since added it to this list.
Paige Mann
Physical Sciences Librarian
Armacost Library, University of Redlands
paige_mann (a) redlands (dot) edu
909.748.8088

1 comment :

Les said...

Thanks for posting the full list of Tucson's books of contention, Paige. We have ordered and received many of the titles that we did not already own. They are being cataloged and should appear soon on the Armacost Library New Books Table!