Index on Censorship said 53% of librarians polled had been asked to remove books – and that in more than half of those cases books were taken off shelves

More than two dozen school librarians in the UK have been asked to remove books – many of which are LGBTQ+ titles – from school library shelves, according to new survey data.

The Index on Censorship survey found that 28 of 53 librarians polled – 53% – said that they had been asked to remove books. In more than half of those cases books were taken off shelves.

Among the titles complained about were This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love, and ABC Pride by Louie Stowell, Elly Barnes and Amy Phelps. More than 50% of the requests to remove books came from parents.

Censorship is “definitely something that there’s quite a lot of concern about from some of our members”, said Alison Tarrant, chief executive of the School Library Association (SLA), which helped administer the survey along with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. The survey was also distributed via a school librarians’ Facebook page.

There appears to be something of a “trend” of censorship targeted at books written by queer authors or featuring queer characters, Tarrant said. Censorship can take many different forms – one clear example is a teacher seeing a book in the library and asking the librarian to remove it. At other times, it is less clear: librarians might be told that the library can have a book, but it should not be on display.

There could also be a level of self-censorship, Tarrant said. Though nobody has told her this directly, it might be the case that certain books are not being bought in the first place to avoid complaints being made.

These UK bans may be influenced by book censorship in the US, which reached record highs last year. “We’ve seen a couple of cases where things have been stirred up or initiated by groups or people in America – it’s no one actually in the school community itself,” said Tarrant.

The SLA suggests that school libraries have collection development policies laying out the kinds of complaints that will be acted on, the types of books that will be stocked, and the aim of the school library. Sometimes, school senior leaders don’t understand the need for that paperwork, said Tarrant. “Therefore, when these situations come about, there’s no one in school who knows how to deal with it.” School library staff may not be trained or properly supported, and senior leaders might not “understand the role or the pressures” of a school librarian, she added.

There is an “intense” pressure for librarians to “get it right” when it comes to dealing with books that have been flagged, because there are often conflicting opinions from different parties about what should be done, and censorship issues “can turn into a very big discussion quite quickly”, said Tarrant. This has an “emotional impact” on librarians and can be “very isolating”.

The school library is the “only place that deals with every single year group, every single subject and every single cohort, so by the very definition, you’re going to have some books in a school library which aren’t appropriate for some children – whether that’s GCSE curriculum textbooks [not being] suitable for a year seven, or whether it’s about personal development – so I think there needs to be an understanding of that,” Tarrant added.

“If a pupil is wanting to know more about sex or sexuality, I would much rather they went to their school library and explored the resources there than they went to the internet and explored what’s there, because that isn’t written with children in mind, and it’s not written with an educational purpose,” said Tarrant.

If LGBTQ+ books are not “visible”, it is “exclusion and otherness by a more subtle means”, she added, and may affect the extent to which pupils looking for LGBTQ+ books see themselves as readers.

“It is troubling to see reports that LGBTQ+ books are being removed from school libraries as we know that many students find great importance and reassurance in seeing themselves reflected in books and media”, said a representative from LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall. “Preventing LGBTQ+ young people from seeing themselves represented in inclusive resources and books at school can often make them feel ashamed and feel the need to hide who they are.”