by: Mason Gentry
The Parkland College Library has a discussion board located near the front entrance that allows students and faculty the opportunity to anonymously discuss certain topics prompted by the library’s creative team.
The director of the library, Morgann Quilty, explained that the board is “For everyone to have a–slightly anonymous but still allowing for discourse–way of getting their opinion out there and having other people respond to it and respond to other people.”
While others may see a student or faculty member writing a comment on the board, the message is otherwise anonymous. This allows for students to shamelessly post their opinions or comments on the selected topic.
Once the comments have filled up the board, or the creative team decides to make a new discussion, the content is saved for the of future discussion to be used later.
In the same interview, library faculty member, Deb Probasco, said that “We archive the information, and the creative team, if there’s different ideas that come of it or hot topics that maybe are put on the boards then we might take it a step further, do a display about maybe some of the things or the comments that were made.”
Probasco went on to say that the anonymous discussion board posts have generated other activities, displays or other events that are organized by or pertain to the library. The board has enabled more topics to be discussed, perpetuating itself with each community member’s post.
Recently, the discussion board prompted students to comment on whether certain, controversial books should be banned from libraries, which is a topic that is often discussed across the country. According to Quilty, this topic was inspired by “Banned Books Week,” which is a nationally recognized celebration of the freedom to read. The week is primarily organized through the American Library Association which selected the week of Sept. 22 to celebrate that freedom.
Many books have been challenged for banishment from libraries. For example, Quilty said that “[…] Harry Potter was challenged in a number of school libraries because of witchcraft. And then American Classics like Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn were challenged.”
According to the American Library Association’s website, several other popular books such as Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and even The Holy Bible have been challenged throughout the years, with probably more challenges to come.
Quilty continued to explain that books are a part of the culture and time in which it was written and that we must recognize that; we can even learn from the past. The director told the Prospectus that we do not have to agree with the content of all books but that the books themselves should not ever be inaccessible.
At least a score of students had commented their opinion of the matter in the time that the question was on the board.
“The beauty of it all was in the unbiassed scope that the discussion board had offered for anyone’s viewing”
Thoughts about censorship and freedom of information were written on the board and discussed among the Parkland community. People had drawn arrows connecting or rebutting others’ opinions, creating a massive web of ideas, arguments and counterarguments. The beauty of it all was in the unbiassed scope that the discussion board had offered for anyone’s viewing.
Quilty said that, “If you have ideas, hit us up!” The Library is always accepting suggestions from students. You can use their suggestion box at the front desk to submit suggestions, ideas, topics or notes for the Library staff to consider. You can also email them with suggestions at library@parkland.edu.
