Repurposed Blogabout

I've decided to repurpose this blog as a way for me to collect my research into children's literature about the Holocaust.

Joop Westerweel

The resources available on him are very limited, even in Dutch.

Websites you may have missed...

If you are looking for a webpage that will give you those parcels of information that allow you to feel more erudite and sophisticated than your friends, I suggest Bookforum.com It's the online presence of one of the better book review journals. They update the page daily and link to a variety of sources. Friday's links include a story on why raw milk is illegal in the USA, how digital photography is threatening photojournalism's integrity and a history of divorce. 

Bookforum - read it and sound smart. 

"The knock at the door. . . "

The ALA provides resources for librarians who are faced with challenges to the material in their collections. What would you do? Would you dial the 800 number after following their guidelines for speaking with those who object to materials included in the collection or would you remove items from the shelf? 

I didn't put his up as a survey because I think that most people would answer that, of course, they would never remove items from the shelf. But I can tell you from personal experience that different things go through your head when you are faced with either dealing with the consequences of standing up for intellectual freedom or folding to community pressure. When I was an undergraduate, I managed a comic book store near Cincinnati, OH. A local group, Citizens for Community Values, pressured the Fairfield Police Department to arrest me because they did not approve of some of the books in the store. An officer interrogated me and let me know that he would "have" to make an arrest if the group kept complaining. The city council toured the store and children were sent in as part of a "sting" operation. 

So, what would you do? 

I called the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. They put me in touch with fantastic First Amendment Lawyer who guided me through understanding what the local laws actually were and what the police could and could not do. In the end, the police declined to prosecute because the chances of a conviction were low and the costs of such a trial were high. 

Booksellers, like librarians, are expected to include support for intellectual freedom as part of their professional ethics. The real ethical test comes when the easy thing to do is remove an item from the shelf.  

American Library Association's Challenge Support. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2008, from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/challengesupport/challengesupport.cfm

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2008, from http://www.cbldf.org/

Other Reasons For Privacy

Most of the articles and news stories I have encountered about libraries and privacy have centered around "big issues" such as terrorism and crime prevention, especially related to the Patriot Act. But I think that it should be remembered that laws are not always used in the way their supporters intended. Is it possible that library records could be used against animal rights groups or other citizen activists who are not in favor with whichever administration is in power? 

I also wonder if there could be instances in which a couple divorcing could use library records against each other to gain an advantage is obtaining custody of minor children. Before you laugh, remember that in North Carolina and Virginia sodomy laws were used against people in divorce cases and in Texas, Florida and Georgia to deny jobs to gay applicants. 

Librarians have an obligation to protect privacy because the ethics of their profession demand it, regardless of circumstances. Lawful subpoenas should be handled by administrators and legal advisors with an eye towards protecting privacy to the greatest extent possible. Precedents can be very dangerous. 

Young adults and their parents

At what point is a young adult more "adult" than "young?" I mention it because the ALA Code of Ethics repeatedly mentions "all library users." If a young adult were checking out materials that aroused concern in a librarian, as a professional, that librarian would be obligated to serve the needs of the young adult. As a neighbor, friend, fellow parent, a librarian might feel tempted to alert a parent that their child was viewing pro-eating disorder web pages, for example. As difficult as it might be to suppress that desire, librarians have a duty to first serve the library user. 

My home library system, the St. Petersburg Library, allows parent of those 16 and younger to view their children's circulation records. This indicates to me that the library system is placing the burden of monitoring what young people are viewing, reading and watching on their parent's shoulders. In fact, children 14 and older are issued "adult" cards by the St. Petersburg library system and do not need their parents to sign for the card. How comfortable are you with this policy? Do you believe that those 14 and older should be treated as adults as far as their use of the library is concerned? 

The ALA's Code of Ethics directs librarians to clearly distinguish their personal beliefs from professional duties (ALA). That would seem to indicate to me that a librarian should always put the goals of the library as an institution first, before any personal misgivings or concerns. This means viewing young adults as library users if that is how the institution defines them. As library users, they are entitled to the same rights and privileges in the library as any user. 

American Library Association. (2008, January 28). Code of ethics of the American Library Association. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/codeofethics/codeethics.cfm

Libraries as a Public Forum

So, I was looking around for information on libraries and access and discovered a web page by the Anti-Defamation League directed towards libraries who are faced with hate groups who wish to use their public meeting rooms. The issue gained prominence when a racist named Matthew Hale hosted a recruitment meeting in a public library meeting room in 2002. Most of what I have dealt with in this blog has been centered around privacy and censorship but public libraries are also potential public forums. Hate groups are part of the public which the library must serve. While it can be assumed that most librarians disagree with Hale's organization, professional ethics dictate that if a library has public meeting rooms those rooms need to be available to anyone in the community who wishes to use them. I have found that many people who are comfortable defending sexual material or classic novels when they are attacked, find defending the right of neo-Nazi's to exercise their civil rights very difficult. Librarians can defend intellectual freedom, we just cannot force people to use that intellect...

In all seriousness, there are practical concerns when libraries host hate groups. In Peoria, IL Hale's group was confronted by protesters and police were forced to stop the violence that erupted. 

Anti-Defamation League. (2002). Public libraries: A new forum for extremists?. Retrieved April 5, 2008 from http://www.adl.org/Civil_Rights/library_extremists.asp 

TravellerJonesProd. (2008, January 9). Anti-racist action vs. Matt Hale. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQvsq-qHuQA