PracticalTie t1_jdlhzw3 wrote on March 25, 2023 at 7:34 AM

This type of thing always generates some hot takes so I’m sharing the ALA definition of a book ban

> A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.

Emphasis mine because that’s the important part. Collection management is not censorship. Library weeding is not censorship.

Trying to limit what other people in the community have access to IS censorship.

E: this is sometimes called soft censorship.

spotted-cat t1_jdmgeui wrote on March 25, 2023 at 2:19 PM

Are you actually supporting this trash — and by trash I mean the book bans.

WintersChild79 t1_jdn9iqp wrote on March 25, 2023 at 5:48 PM

They are just defining terms. I see a lot of confusion about this, and there's already a comment below equating curating with banning.

The mention of soft censorship (trying to remove a book from a library or curriculum) is to differentiate it from hard censorship (the government banning the publication and sale of a book). Again, there are always a few people on these types of articles trying to say that only hard censorship counts. Soft censorship is still censorship, and it's pretty much always the type that we're talking about in a U.S. context.

spotted-cat t1_jdncl4k wrote on March 25, 2023 at 6:10 PM

Then its unconstitutional and therefore illegal in the US.