Censorship and self-censorship in the public high school libraries of Gloucester County, New Jersey

<p>It is essential that young adults have access to books that are of interest to them, regardless of controversy that may surround such titles. The purpose of this study was to determine the existence of commonly banned young adult (YA) books in the library collections of traditional public high schools in Gloucester County. A significant lack of such books may be a sign that censorship or self-censorship has hindered the development of the collection, thereby robbing students of their freedom to read.</p> <p>The researcher searched the OPACs of thirteen traditional public high schools for thirty-seven predetermined titles. The titles that were searched for were selected by compiling the titles listed in the ALA publications <em>Hit List: Frequently Challenged Books for Young Adults</em> (1996) and <em>Hit List for Young Adults 2. Frequently Challenged Books</em> (2002). The researcher obtained data in three ways: through remote access to the online catalog, through the <em>JerseyCat</em> database, and through on-site visitations. A total of 481 title searches were completed. The results of the study indicated that some form of censorship may have occurred in four of the thirteen libraries.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in School and Public Librarianship

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Special Educational Services/Instruction

Year dc:date.available

2007

Author dc:creator

• Owen, Melissa L.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Shontz, Marilyn

• Censorship--New Jersey; Libraries--Censorship--New Jersey
• Library and Information Science

Repository record dc:identifier

https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/819

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rdw.rowan.edu:etd-1826