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Singapore library board to set up advisory panel on book review process
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SINGAPORE'S National Library Board will introduce an advisory panel to review recommendations for the withdrawal of books, as part of its efforts to finetune the book selection and review processes, Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim has said.
The advisory panel will "advise on decisions made arising from the National Library Board's review of books," a process that is sometimes initiated based on public feedback, Yaacob said in the parliament recently.
The panel, which would be a diverse one representing different groups, will also provide the board with "a good sense of what the community is comfortable with," he said on Monday.
The panel will also help the board with communicating with the public on the rationale for its decisions.
The move came after a decision by the board to withdraw two books involving alternative family models from the children's section from its libraries caused a stir. Yaacob had instructed the board not to pulp the books but return them to the adult section of the libraries.
Yaacob said the National Library Board will improve the processes of book review and selection. It will make sure that the team selecting books for acquisition and the team reviewing books are different.
"It is a good practice to segregate these responsibilities and I believe it will also lead to greater public confidence in the review process," he said.
It will establish a clear process for books that have to be withdrawn.
The withdrawal of two books, And Tango Makes Three and The White Swan Express, led to protests after it came to light in July. The two books, both bearing on non-traditional families, were eventually returned to the adult section.
A third, Who's In My Family, was also removed earlier and had been disposed of.
The Ministry of Communications and Information said 64 titles have been withdrawn from the libraries since 2011, of which 40 were withdrawn based on public feedback. In the past 10 years, 153 titles were withdrawn, of which 105 were due to public feedback.
There are many reasons why books are withdrawn, including graphic sexual content, excessive violence, crude language, and age-inappropriateness. Books could also be withdrawn due factual inaccuracies or poor editing and translation, as well as publishers' recalls.
Yaacob said that the National Library Board would consider options other than pulping for books that are in good condition but were withdrawn due to controversial content.
"I do not want to prejudge their review, but one possibility is to place them in a more appropriate section of the library for lending as was finally done in this case. Other possibilities are to place them in the reference library, or to put them up for sale or donation," he said.
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