Iowa’s Grinnell College and Seltzer & Co., a polling company in Des Moines, which partner to conduct a national poll each year on the attitudes of Americans towards politics and political figures, as well as hot-button cultural issues, released their latest data Wednesday. The findings regarding controversial books and their accessibility in public schools should hearten librarians and booksellers everywhere.
“We run different ‘experimental’ questions each time on top of the political battery and this time we have books,” noted Ellen de Graffenreid, v-p of communications at Grinnell College, regarding the completed surveys of 1,004 adult U.S. residents that was conducted this past week. Three of the 16 questions addressed books in middle school libraries considered contentious or divisive because they explore sexuality, race and racism, or religion.
In response to a question on whether such books should be included in public middle school library collections, a majority of respondents agreed that students should have access to books addressing the following subjects: sexual orientation (56%), racism in the U.S. (76%), gender identity (57%), the Bible (84%), creationism (67%), and the Quran (67%). Interestingly, 10% of respondents were “not sure” about books on creationism and 8% were “not sure” about books on the Quran.
A follow-up question asked to what degree various groups should have a role in deciding what books should be included in public middle school collections. A majority of respondents, 57%, said that school librarians should play a major role in making such decisions, while 55% of respondents said students also should, and 53% said families of students should as well. Although 44% of the respondents said that local elected school boards should weigh in on such a matter, only 17% said that state elected officials should get involved.
The third question on the topic of controversial books provided two options concerning views on controversial books: 62% were concerned that materials of value to students could be removed from school libraries due to the current culture wars, while 30% were concerned that materials that were harmful to students would remain on school library shelves.
“Americans want decisions about materials in school libraries to be made locally by school librarians, families, school boards, and students themselves,” Peter Hanson, a political science professor who is director of the Grinnell College National Poll, said in a statement.
