Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by torben-friis 53 days ago
Depends on your definition of people:

>The report also found that challenges are becoming more coordinated and politically driven: 92% came from pressure groups, decision-makers or government officials, compared with 72% in 2024. By contrast, 2.7% were attributed to parents and 1.4% to individual library users.

So this isn't librarians, parents or even neighbours deciding something isn't appropriate.

The article also seems to refer to libraries in general, as opposed to school libraries alone, except on a specific paragraph.
2 comments
rahimnathwani 53 days ago
Why do you assume librarians aren't part of the 'government official's group?
link
torben-friis 53 days ago
The linked website has further information. It splits the 92% into boards, elected officials and pressure groups.

That and, have you met librarians? They aren't conspiring to censor Sarah Maas, I can tell you that.

link
rahimnathwani 53 days ago
The web site says: "The ALA defines a “challenge” as an attempt to remove or restrict access to a library resource, while a “ban” refers to the removal of materials from a library"

Page 10 of the report has a chart that breaks down what type of people are responsible for an 'attempt to remove' books from a library. Librarians themselves are not listed as one of the groups:

It seems they only count it as 'censorship' or a 'challenge' if it's someone other than a librarian taking the action.

If I've understood correctly, if librarians (alone or in groups) decide that certain books should not be procured, the ALA would count this as a censorship or ban.

link
TheCoelacanth 52 days ago
> ALA defines a “ban” as the removal of materials from a library based on the objections of a person or group. A “challenge” is an attempt to have a library resource removed, or access to it restricted, based on the objections of a person or group.

Under that definition, it doesn't seem to me like it would be possible for a "ban" to happen without also being a "challenge".

link
like_any_other 53 days ago
The article is indeed very careful to never tell us how much of this is school libraries.
link