School library censorship: Looking at the perspective of a school librarian association in Indonesia

Abstract

The information needs of students must be met by school libraries as resources for student learning with collections that support academic curricula and are suitable for learning activities. A collection that contains no sensitive or contentious material is one that is appropriate for students. In this study, censorship issues in school library collections are examined from the point of view of the Association of Indonesian School Librarians. The study found four topics connected to the Association’s perspective on censorship issues in school libraries based on staff interviews and thematic analysis: the root reasons for censorship; how censorship is implemented; how to become a competent librarian; and how urgent censorship is. Censorship is seldom reported, thus the Association does not view it as a pressing concern. It places greater emphasis on problems such as information literacy training and developing librarians’ competencies than censoring library collections. Hence, there is no national attention given to this subject.