This post is written by Concordia librarian Nathan Rinne. What follows is only meant to represent his own view. Part of our library's mission statement is "evaluate information and its sources critically" and this post is done with just that in mind.
In the United States, we have a Bill of Rights, which is the first 10
amendments to the American Constitution. Among other things, they
guarantee a number of personal freedoms, or rights.
Since 1939, libraries also have had a Bill of Rights! Actually, that
is not completely true. The American Library Association – the main
professional organization of librarians with whom many libraries affiliate –
has their own “Bill of Rights”. The Library Bill of Rights is their own
statement of ethical principles, and does not have the force of law in any
sense (and unlike the U.S. Bill of Rights, it has undergone a number of
revisions, some more significant than others, since its first appearance)
So what is the LBOR today? Well, it is quite nice and compact.
Here are 4 of the 7 principals (all can be seen
here):
I.
Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest,
information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library
serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or
views of those contributing to their creation.
II.
Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of
view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or
removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
III. Libraries
should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to
provide information and enlightenment….
IV. A person’s right
to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age,
background, or views…
Here is how librarian Char Booth sums up the LBOR into five core values:
I recently looked into the history of this document – particularly on the
topic of academic freedom – and discovered that views such as these only begin
to really appear in libraries in the 1930s…
Take the issue of censorship (discussed in III). This is American
Library Association President Arthur E. Bostwick in his inaugural address
at the 1908 ALA Annual Conference:
"Some are born great; some achieve greatness; some have greatness thrust
upon them." It is in this way that the librarian has become a censor of
literature… Books that distinctly commend what is wrong, that teach how to sin
and how pleasant sin is, sometimes with and sometimes without the added sauce
of impropriety, are increasingly popular, tempting the author to imitate them,
the public to produce, the bookseller to exploit. Thank Heaven they do
not tempt the librarian.*
My how the world has changed! But has it really changed that
much?
What do I mean? I say that because if we really want to know what
someone believes, we watch what they do.
I think it is clear that libraries are still very selective about what
they obtain, even if the "sins" may or may not change.
It seems to me that perhaps persons in the past may simply have been more
aware of what they really believed and practiced about such issues.
Librarians like to emphasize the importance of critical thinking. But how
willing are we to subject the LBOR itself to stringent critique? Are librarians
really eager and willing to not exclude
any materials because of the views of
those contributing to their creation (#1)? Do they really try to provide
materials and information presenting
all points of view (#2)? What could
“a person’s right to use a library should
not be …abridged because of… age?”
possibly mean (#4)? Are these statements even good as ideals (or an “aspirational
creed”) – much less practical guidelines?
More often than not, it might seem that libraries more or less
function like
“neutral”
tools that help persons do what they want to do. But what else is
happening here? More questions than those above could be asked as well,
and I think it is good for all of us –
not
just librarians – to think critically and deeply about such matters.
If you think the LBOR sounds great, I recommend the
book above as a good
place to start considering the deeper issues at play here.
FIN
*-American Library Association. (2010).
Intellectual freedom manual.
Chicago: American Library Association.
Images:
James Madison Bill of Rights $5 commemorative gold coin from
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Madison_Bill_of_Rights_$5_commemorative_obverse.jpg
Char Booth's summary of the Library Bill of Rights:
http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=2282
