Chapel Hill libraries rarely ban books

In the two years librarian Blake Norby has worked at Chapel Hill High School, she hasn’t seen a book banned.

And she doesn’t expect to anytime soon.

“As a librarian, it’s one of the key principles I live by — that they have the right to free and equal access to all kinds of information,” said Norby.

Chapel Hill’s schools and public libraries rarely come under fire for the materials they offer, she said, which she attributes to town residents’ open-minded ideals.

Norby said a parent at Chapel Hill High School challenged “Beloved” by Toni Morrison in 1995 because of violence and sex in the book.

The challenge went before the school board, which decided not to ban it.

“Whether I agree with what you say or not, I totally defend your right to say it,” she said. “Because you’re at least putting the ideas out there for us to make our own decisions.”

Despite serving a larger population, The Orange County Main Library has never had a formal complaint lodged against a book, said Lucinda Munger, library director.

Munger said the ability to have an open dialogue about material that could be controversial is as important as making the material available.

“I don’t think censorship is ever a good thing,” she said. “I do think sensitivity is a good thing.”

But Munger said there is a fine line between an open dialogue and trampling over others’ freedom to read.

“It is very hard to get a book banned from a library,” she said.“In a sense what you’re saying is, ‘I don’t like the material’ and you don’t want other people to read it either.”

Carrboro High School librarian Kara Watson and Julie Paladino, a media specialist at East Chapel Hill High School, also said they could not recall any books being challenged recently.

Paladino said public schools are under heavier restrictions than public libraries because they must buy books related to class curriculum and because of the juvenile population they serve.

“It’s complicated for school libraries,” Watson said. “We are located in the school … so I don’t think we have as much leeway as a public library.”

Though the process is rarely used, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools has a system in place where parents can lodge complaints about books students are reading. The book in question would then be brought to a committee of teachers and administrators to be reviewed, Watson said.

Kate McNamara, a graduate student in the UNC School of Information and Library Science,said she doesn’t believe books should ever be banned.

“From a library’s perspective, I think that you have to try to be really unbiased about books,” she said. “The library is a public institution that serves everyone in the community.”

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