Competency A

Articulate the ethics, values and foundational principles of library and information professionals and their role in the promotion of intellectual freedom

Intellectual freedom deals with protecting the free flow of ideas and information. It is closely tied to the first amendment right of free speech, and is based on the belief that the health of a society is dependent on the freedom to create and disseminate ideas without governmental, political, or social impediment. Libraries are central places for information, and have an obligation to be the best source of information possible. However, in practice, determining what would constitute the "best" information is not always easy.

Ethics

Ethics deal with the fundamental concepts of "right" and "wrong." Professional ethics are how a person's ethical principals are applied to their decisions and actions as professionals. In the case of a public institution such as a library, ethical decisions and actions would be those that help the organization accomplish its social purpose. Libraries have an obligation to ensure the free flow of information and ideas. The American Library Association's Code of Ethics provides a framework that librarians and other information professionals can use to help them meet that ideal.

Ethics are often about respect, including respect for others, respect for the organization, and respect for society. Specifically, the ALA Code of Ethics talks about respecting intellectual property rights, and respecting the patron's right to privacy and confidentiality. Respect for patrons is also implied in the passage that talks about providing quality and equitable service and access. Respect for the organization is covered in the passage about the treatment of co-workers and colleagues, as well as the one that making a distinction between personal convictions and professional duties. Keeping these forms of respect in mind can help the information professional decide what the "right" course of action would be for a given situation.

Values

Where ethics are moral principals, a value is a principle or standard of behavior. Values are based on ethics. There are many different lists of values for libraries, but common to all of them is the value of service. This goes beyond meeting each specific information need, to serving the community in general. Along with preservation, modern libraries were built on the notion of service, and it applies to all types of libraries. The values of connecting patrons to the appropriate information, of making services available to everyone, and preserving the patron's confidentiality and privacy are all part of the value of service.

Preservation is another key value for libraries, and is the main value for archives. These institutions save materials and information so that future patrons will have access to them. This serves the community by keeping the past accessible.

Foundational Principles

The Library Bill of Rights, from the American Library Association, states that the materials in libraries should present "all points of view on current and historical issues." They should be available to all people of the community, and "should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval" (American Library Association, 1996). This was not always the case. In the nineteenth century, and even into the twentieth century, the prevailing belief was that libraries had a duty to provide their patrons with only the most wholesome materials. Anything deemed to have a harmful effect on patrons, either adults or children, was restricted or simply never made available. Instead of the neutrality that is encouraged today, librarians were expected to encourage their patrons toward materials that were considered proper and acceptable. Nowadays, libraries are expected to be unbiased resources.

Libraries were created to be repositories for information. Instead of the unique items that historical libraries housed and protected, modern libraries gather copies of works in order to make them available for use. They are centralized places where information is organized and arranged. The library is intended to be a place where patrons can find reliable, accurate information, free of charge.

Intellectual Freedom

Outside censorship is a very real threat. Schools, parent groups, officials, and patrons in general might object to materials for any number of reasons. Most often, the objections have to do with the material's appropriateness for children, but can also center around issues such as social or political views. In an ideal world, libraries would be able to stand firm against such pressure, and would uphold both the constitutional first amendment and the Library Bill of Rights. Realistically, libraries are a part of their communities, and are not unaffected by the community's views and feelings. Strong objections can lead to problems such as harassment, a decrease in patron activity, and even cuts in funding. Information professionals have to weigh the ethics of intellectual freedom against the pragmatism of keeping the peace.

Arguably more of a threat is the practice of self-censorship. This happens when libraries pass on materials for reasons other than a lack of demand or the availability of similar items. The reason might be because the librarian fears a reaction from the public. Once a librarian has had to deal with a literary challenge, they are often more reluctant to include items that might be controversial.

More often, however, materials will be excluded because of the librarian's own views and beliefs. Most often the objection is toward children's materials. A survey done by the School Library Journal found that sexual content was the primary reason for self-censorship. Objectionable language and violence come in second and third, followed by violence, homosexual themes, racism, and religion. The librarian might compromise by shelving the objectionable item in the adult section instead of removing it entirely, but this is still a form of censorship because it takes the item away from its intended audience.

The problem isn't isolated to children's materials, however. The selection of materials should be based on professional judgement and not personal interest, but this is not always the case. A librarian's own social, political, or religious views can have a strong influence on item selection. This can lead to a collection that is overbalanced toward one end of the political spectrum, or one which had an overabundance of books on one set of religious beliefs but is sparse on many others. Ideally, a public library should have a balanced collection, to provide patrons with the greatest variety of information.

The evidence I'm presenting is the final paper for my class on information and society. The topic I chose was graphic novels in the library. Many of the issues libraries face concerning graphic novels have to do with censorship. Youths tend to be drawn to graphic novels and they can be a good way to get children and teens into the library and reading. However, not all graphic novels are intended for a young audience, and one that is may still have questionable content. For example, an item that comes from a different country might have been created with different standards of acceptable material, and it is not unusual for material intended for young adults or even children to contain material that is questionable or objectionable by the standards of the community of the library. In such cases, the library has to make a hard decision about where to shelve the item, or whether to include it in the collection at all.

References:

American Library Association. (1996, January 24). Library Bill of Rights. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/statementspols/statementsif/librarybillrights.cfm

American Library Association. (1997, June 28). Code of Ethics of the American Library Association. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/statementspols/codeofethics/codeethics.cfm

Rubin, R. (2004). Foundations of Library and Information Science. Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

Whelan, D. (2009). A dirty little secret: self-censorship. School Library Journal. Retrieved March 17, 2009, from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6632974.html