Self-Censorship

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The stated research question of this study was “whether [Texas] SLMSs engage in self-censorship as part of the collection development process with regard to YA literature having content that significantly increases the probability the materials will be challenged” (Coley, 2002, para. 11). The concept being studied is self-censorship by School Library Media Specialists. The researcher’s nominal definition of self-censorship by media specialists is “the process by which a librarian chooses not to purchase a given book because of the item's potential for being challenged” (Coley, 2002, para. 19). As defined, this is a measurable concept. The conceptualization of the research question is well developed and clear.

The literature review for this study appears to have been thorough. The researcher cites over a dozen studies that confirm the existence of self-censorship. The literature review also revealed that smaller libraries tended to “own fewer potentially controversial works” (Coley, 2002, para. 13), that libraries are more restrictive of fiction titles than non-fiction, and that the typical “pro-censorship librarian worked in a community of less than 35,000, managed their own library, was a female over forty-five years of age, and generally possessed less professional education” (Coley, 2002, para. 13). These findings from the literature review help identify variables that have been shown to potentially correlate with self-censorship. Other information gleaned from the literature review included the concepts previous studies used. For instance, Coley noted, “early studies into self-censorship…wished only to ascertain what effect …[censorship policies] had on circulation statistics and the number of patron complaints” (20...

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...only to Texas.

The researcher suggested follow-up studies to indicate if the apparent trend of increased self-censorship in small schools can be attributed to smaller budgets or lack of support structure in these schools. Preferably these future studies will employ larger sample sizes, make use of proportionate stratified sampling, include comparisons of holdings of non-controversial well-reviewed works, and use data analysis methods.

Works Cited

Coley, K. P. (2002). Moving toward a method to test for self-censorship by school library media specialists. School Library Media Research, 5. Retrieved September 11, 2005, from the Library Literature & Information Science Full Text database.

Monette, D. R., Sullivan, T. J., & DeJong, C. R. (2005). Applied social research: A tool for the human services (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole - Thomson Learning, Inc.

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