A failure to communicate: assessing the low rate of materials challenge and censorship reporting among Canadian public libraries

Authors

Mike Nyby, Western UniversityFollow
Heather Hill, Western UniversityFollow
Richard EllisFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

Journal

Public Library Quarterly

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2023.2254883

Abstract

Record levels of materials challenges have affected libraries in both Canada and the United States in recent years, (American Library Association, 2023c; Canadian Federation of Library Associations, 2015-2022), but despite the apparent swell in censorship efforts, the ALA estimates that 82-92% of challenges go unreported (Doyle 2017). This study aims to identify factors contributing to the low rate of challenge reporting through a participation survey distributed to over 500 Canadian public libraries. Results indicate low awareness reporting mechanisms is likely the largest obstacle to greater participation, but obstacles related to library policy, including delegation and challenge policy structure, also exist.

Notes

Hey folks, this article was just accepted so I don't have a volume/issue number yet.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License