Attempts to censor public library materials are on the rise in Canada, and books containing 2SLGBTQI+ and sexual health education content top the list of most challenged materials.
Reported challenges to materials more than doubled in 2023. Canadian libraries reported 118 intellectual freedom challenges between Sept. 1, 2022, and Aug. 31, 2023, up from 55 in the previous year, according to the Canadian Library Challenges Database maintained by the Centre for Free Expression and the Canadian Federation of Library Associations. These statistics only include challenges submitted to the database, and the total number is likely higher.
Books or programming that included pro-2SLGBTQI+ content made up 38 per cent of challenged materials, a stark increase from past years. Other top reasons, which have been comparably consistent over time, include racism, sexual content, violence, or political views.
In 2022–23 in Alberta, there were 39 challenges reported, of which 74 per cent were attempts to have 2SLGBTQI+ related books restricted or cancel Drag Storytime events.
Library material challenges exist so patrons can raise concerns about content they find objectionable or inappropriate, and when coupled with a library's intellectual freedom policy, can help update archives or forward important conversations, such as questioning the appropriateness of racist language or images.
"It's really important to remember that challenges can be to focus on changes in our world that we're realizing are not inclusionary and not making people feel safe. And so not all challenges are pulling materials for unsafe reasons," said Maia Foster, manager of the Didsbury Municipal Library.
The recent spike in complaints across the country and in Alberta, however, have been driven more by culture war rhetoric around the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and attempts to remove them from the public sphere.
"I am so tired of the liberal woke agenda being pushed in schools and onto children," reads one complaint received by the Red Deer Public Library for The Sublime Ms. Stacks by Robb Pearlman. The complainant goes on to request "books like this" be moved to a separate section of the library and be given "controversial content" or "LGBTQ+" cover labels.
Two copies of the book Being You: A first Conversation About Gender were destroyed at RDPL last year, and the library received an online complaint: "I see you did not bring in the children's book on the freedom convoy, why because it is a political adult topic, so it trans and pronoun usage."
Challenging books
My Body is Growing: A Guide for Children Ages 4 to 8 by Dagmar Geisler was among the five most challenged books in Canada last year. The book covers topics like puberty, body changes, sex and pregnancy, how to set personal boundaries, and how to say no to unwanted touch and attention.
Normally, when a book is challenged, library staff read through it to see if the concerns are justified and then make a decision about retaining, discarding, or reclassifying the work. When Olds Municipal Library received a complaint saying My Body is Growing contained "nudity, sexual photos, pornography, pedophilia, inappropriate wording" and was a "pedophile symbol," the choice about what to do with the book was easy to make, as it was not a part of the library's local collection.
"I think in this case, they ordered it specifically to see if they could get it in because they had heard about the book in an online post or article somewhere. And when they were able to access it, they put in the complaint," said Lesley Moody, library manager at the Olds Municipal Library.
"It wasn't something that they ordered and then were shocked at what it was. They knew what it was when they were ordering it," Moody said.
"This particular patron did order all the copies of that particular book from all of our libraries in the system specifically to complain about that book." The complaint itself originated in the nearby town of Cremona, where the library did hold a copy of My Body is Growing.
The book was originally published in German, and for fifteen years caused little controversy. After being translated into English in 2020, it was singled out by groups like the U.S. based Moms for Liberty and was swept up into the international right-wing media ecosystem.
Moms for Liberty, a group classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an "anti-government extremist" organization, is among the most prominent groups in the U.S. organizing to "attack public education, ban books, and remove any curriculum that contains discussions of race, discrimination, and LGBTQ+ identities,” according to the SPLC.
The American Library Association recorded a record number of attempts to "censor library materials and services" in the first half of 2023, and a 20 per cent increase in documented challenges to materials compared to the same period in 2022. "Most of the challenges were to books written by or about a person of color or a member of the LGBTQIA+ community," the ALA said in a statement.
Policies in place to "withstand pressure" of challenges
The Parkland Regional Library System, of which Olds, Didsbury, and Cremona are members, still retains copies of the challenged book. In fact, few books that are subject to challenges are ever outright removed from circulation.
"For the most part, our system works really well," Moody said. "I've been here about 20 years I've seen about five complaints in our library." In all cases, patrons submitted the proper forms, which is an extensive questionnaire "asking them to really put some thought into why it is they feel that this material is either inappropriate or inappropriately shelved."
Foster said that the Didsbury library has previously had challenging experiences when hosting a Drag Storytime event, as have several libraries in the region. Library intellectual freedom policies are regularly updated to reflect the current climate, Foster said, and in recent years have been expanded to protect in-person programming as well as books.
"Now that we are becoming more aware of how to be a safe and inclusionary space, we are definitely adjusting policies so that we, as public libraries, uphold those tenants of freedom of expression and safe spaces for everybody. So that our collections and our programs have the ability to kind of withstand pressure."
