Censorship challenges to books in Scottish public libraries

Taylor, Kelly and McMenemy, David (2013) Censorship challenges to books in Scottish public libraries. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 45 (2). pp. 153-167. ISSN 0961-0006 (https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000611435254)

[thumbnail of Censorship_challenges_article.pdf]
Preview
 PDF. Filename: Censorship_challenges_article.pdf
Preprint
Download (227kB)| Preview

Abstract

Censorship challenges to books in UK public libraries have received renewed attention recently. This study sought to establish the incidence of censorship challenges to books in Scottish public libraries in the years 2005-2009 and the actions taken in response to these challenges. It was found that eight local authorities in Scotland had received formal censorship challenges to books, with a total of 15 challenges throughout the country. The most common action taken in response to these challenges was for the book to be kept in stock in its original position with the rationale for this explained to the complainer, with the second most common action being taken to move the title to another section of the library. Two books were removed from the library in response to a censorship challenge. The largest numbers of challenges were made against books on the basis of sexual material.

ORCID iDs

Taylor, Kelly and McMenemy, David ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3203-9001;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)