Freedom of information is one of the most difficult and pressing concerns facing young adult services librarians. Nonbook materials, such as videos, music CDs, Internet resources, and magazines, can act as lightning rods for censorship challenges from parents or community groups.

Graphic Novels have usually escaped the attention of self-appointed censors, in part because few libraries collect them and those that do generally avoid purchasing controversial titles. However, due to their highly visual format and because (often incorrectly) the public views comics as a medium aimed at children, certain Graphic Novels can become a natural target for censorship challenges.

As the religious right's assault on the Harry Potter books has shown, even the most innocent and well-intentioned fantasy titles can draw fire from certain community groups.

Although Graphic Novels have not come under heavy fire in recent years, they have been targets of community censorship in the past, as the history of the Comics Code Authority indicates.

Certain comics genres may become magnets for community concern:

Horror and supernatural (e.g., Preacher; Evil Ernie)
Crime (e.g., Sin City; Stray Bullets)
Science fiction and fantasy (e.g., Transmetropolitan; Promethea)
Satire and dark humor (e.g., Arsenic Lullaby; Lenore)
Realistic or autobiographical (e.g., Strangers in Paradise; Palestine


Censorship from within the Library

• "Bluntly stated, libraries don't buy [Graphic Novels] because librarians don't like them."
  
  
• Patrick Jones, Connecting Young Adults and Libraries: A How To Do It Manual, second edition (Neal-Schuman, 1998).

Librarians themselves can be among the most formidable of society's censors. Self-censorship, cloaked as library selection policy, may reflect little more than librarians' biases against certain formats or subject matter.

What Libraries Can Do

Any library developing a significant collection of Graphic Novels and/or graphic novels should have written policies and procedures in place long before receiving any request from the community to ban specific titles from the library.

Librarians should also be familiar with the Graphic Novel titles in their collections and realize that some materials may not be appropriate for younger readers.

Organizations Which Fight Censorship

Among the many nonprofit groups combating censorship in America, librarians and supporters of Graphic Novels in libraries should be aware of the following two groups:

• American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/
  
  
• All young adult services librarians need to be familiar with ALA's policies and activities relating to intellectual freedom.
  
• Graphic Novel Legal Defense Fund
  http://www.cbldf.org/