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

And from the other side of the issue...

Jim Minnery in the Anchorage (AK) Daily News has published an editorial calling for libraries to not selected protecting "our so-called liberties" at the expense of protecting children. Many of the public libraries in Alaska forgo the Federal and state government discounts on internet access fees because they do no want to install filters. 

Mr. Minnery feels that librarians cannot effectively monitor dozens of computers in a public library, looking for child pornography. He is correct. But if every child in a library had a parent monitoring what they were doing on the internet, Mr. Minnery would have nothing to worry about. 

Mr. Minnery makes the point that "Most parents don't know, and are generally shocked by, what kids are doing on sites like MySpace and FaceBook." Perhaps his organization, the Alaskan Family Council, should work with families on connecting with their children instead of lobbying for a bill that would require Alaskan public libraries to install internet filters. Intellectual freedom and access to information should not be sacrificed because parents do not understand what their children are doing online. 

Minnery, J. (2008, March 30). Libraries obliged to keep kids a click away from porn [Electronic version]. Anchorage Daily News, Retrieved March 31, 2008 from http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/360917.html

The viewing of Internet pornography is forbidden.

Just when you think that the world can't get any crazier. . . In 2006, two members of the Montgomery County, MD Homeland Security Department walked into a public library, announced that viewing internet pornography was illegal and challenged what one patron was viewing online. 

A librarian intervened and escorted the men to a work area. 

They believed they were enforcing a "sexual harassment" policy. Really. They left after police were called. How did the county respond? 

"Later that afternoon, Montgomery County's chief administrative officer, Bruce Romer, issued a statement calling the incident "unfortunate" and "regrettable" -- two words that bureaucrats often deploy when things have gone awry."

I'm not even sure where to go with this. It's so ridiculous on so many levels. I can't imagine that the greatest security threat to Maryland is someone viewing pornography at the library. Is that what the post -9/11 era has become? If the terrorists can view porn then the terrorists win? I'm certain that the $3.6 million dollars a year that is spent on the county's Homeland Security department could be spent somewhere else. 

 The library system in Montgomery County does not use filtering software (good for them)  and instead, asks patrons to be considerate of others. "Privacy screens" are available if someone is offended. I think that this is a most reasonable policy. The article explains that while a library is a workplace, it is also a public place so the US Constitution prevails. What the public chooses to view on library computers does not equal sexual harassment. 

Barr, C. (2006, February 17). Policing porn is not part of job description [Electronic version]. The Washington Post, pp. B08. Retrieved March 30, 2008 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/16/AR2006021602066.html

St Petersburg Library - A revisit

Well, not entirely. . . I was logged into their website to request a book and I noticed that there is an option to "record your reading list." When I clicked on it, a box appeared which warned that the record could be used by law enforcement and did I really want that.

I thought it was an interesting way of allowing people to keep an accessible record of what they have read while still alerting patrons to the fact that any record could be potentially accessed by law enforcement.

http://www.splibraries.org/

Language and School Libraries

Amy commented on my blog that she wondered how media specialists should handle material that has questionable language. She wondered if it should be left to the parents or if the school media center should act to protect children from foul language in books and other material. Robert G. Wengert suggests that librarians should focus more on their role as teachers as a way of solving ethical dilemmas. When a librarian acts to remove material from a young patron, he believes that the librarian is not moralizing but is instead removing material that will not be understood by the student. He states that "exposing someone to data might not provide that person with information" (p.486). He makes a good comparison between light and information, suggesting that unlike light, information does not illuminate everything that it touches.
When a student expresses concern about language used by an author, I believe that a librarian should use that as an educable moment and discuss what the author may be intending to express through the language that was selected. Now, not every book is going to be The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or Ulysses. There may be times when it is appropriate to just direct the student to a book with similar themes or in the same genre that does not have language that makes the student feel uncomfortable.
I can remember my high school librarian telling me that he kept certain books out of general circulation because there were some students who were not ready for that type of material. If a mature student asked for them, he would allow them to use the books.

Image from: www.teachers.ash.org.au/ mspouwbray/lit/huck.htm
Wengwert, R. (2001, Winter). Some ethical aspects of being an information professional. Library Trends 49: 486-509.

Conflicts

Librarians face conflicting moral, social and legal obligations. They have to negotiate between their own moral beliefs, the ethical standards held by their profession as well as their duty to their local community (however that is defined). The school librarian, because of who patronizes the school media center, must negotiate between a duty to educate and expose children to as wide a variety of literature as possible while also being mindful of the values of the parents, school district and school administration. 

When school libraries and censorship is introduced as a topic, the first thought is often books with a sexual content, those that introduce children to gay people or books that challenge religious beliefs.  However, the other side of the political spectrum can also push for the removal of books because of perceived sexist and racist content. Moore (1981) has argued that neither objecting to sexist and racist material nor pushing for the inclusion of non-sexist, non-racist material at the expense of older, objectionable material constitutes censorship. It cannot be denied that there are books and other materials in circulation that contain outdated references to women, racial and ethnic minorities. As older materials are replaced, a library should consider including books that reference minority cultures, history and important figures. Sexist material that pushes girls to pursue certain careers or behave in a certain way should be balanced with material that demonstrates equality between men and women. The question is whether or not not selecting certain material for inclusion in a collection (or removing it from circulation) equals censorship.  

Burress (1981) agrees with Moore that sexist and racist material should be criticized but it should not be excluded from inclusion within a collection. He argues that no literature should be reduced to one dimension. Censorship based on egalitarian desires to be inclusive are as dangerous to intellectual freedom as are fears of including dangerous materials. Books with racist or sexist language could be valuable for children for other reasons. No books should be reduced to one reading. This censorship from the left can bring about the same negative consequences that censorship from the right can bring. 

Moore, R. & Burress, L. (1981, September). Bait/Rebait: The criticizing of racism and sexism by the Council on Interracial Books for Children is not censorship. The English Journal, 14-19.

Liberty and privacy or security?

A librarian presented with a request for circulation records can refer to the ALA's positions on the subject as a basis for formulating a response. David E. Woolwine has written a very interesting article which explores what sort of ethical arguementation should be employed by the ALA in arguing that privacy and the right to read is as important a part of freedom as is a vigorous defense against terrorism. While much of the paper debates Utilitarian ethics versus Rorty's liberal democratic defense of rights, the most interesting part to me was Woolwine's assertion that it is the role of privacy, free access to information and public dialogue in the creation of a particular type of individual that is most valuable to society. Institutions like libraries help provide the type of information and access to culture that is necessary to establish autonomous individuals who are self-expressive and able to give informed assent to their government. 

In fighting against laws such as the Patriot Act, librarians are providing as much defense to the "American Way of Life" as are the military and intelligence services.

Woolwine, D. (2007, September). Libraries and the Balance of Liberty and Security. Library Philosophy and Practice. Retrieved February 29, 2008 from http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/woolwine.htm/span>

Writing Collection Policies

One aspect of library ethics is related to how items in the collection are chosen and, conversely, not chosen. The ALA provides a list of resources to aid librarians in developing their collection policies.


The list provides some interesting examples of the policies in force in a variety of library types. The Germantown Academy school library (Germantown, PA) specifically directs those who would complain about a particular item in the library to the "Students' Right to Read," published by the National Council of Teachers of English. It was good to read that the Academy's library policy is directed towards providing information on multiple sides of controversial issues.

The Students' Right to Read is fascinating and worth of a post in its own right.

While this video includes a lot of editorializing by the poster, it does allow me to introduce an ethical dilemma that computers have introduced to libraries. How can a public library balance its commitment to freedom of speech with the fact that the internet allows material to be "included" in its collection that would not be selected by the library on its own?

The Sacramento Public Library struggled with this issue in March 2007.
The problem in Sacramento was caused by patrons being offended by material others were viewing online. According to the Sacramento Bee , the library filters internet access by default but adults can request an unfiltered internet session. A decision was reached to alter the language in the internet-use policy which would allow librarians to ask users to refrain from viewing internet sites that "would interfere with the maintenance of a safe, welcoming and comfortable environment for the public." The policy in full can be viewed here: http://www.saclibrary.org/about_lib/internet_use.html

What I found very interesting was that an incident involving an alleged attempt to sexually assault a child at a library appeared to have influenced the decision of some of the board. This ties directly into the issue of in loco parentis that Rubin (2004) discusses. Public libraries may allow children over a certain age to remain in the library without parents but they do not have the same in loco parentis role that a school library has. In light of this, should the member of the library board have allowed an assault that was unrelated to internet access to influence her decision?

Fletcher, E. (2007, November 4). Library internet limits urged. Sacramento Bee. pp. B1. Retrieved from http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/142825.html

Internet porn at library argued: Governing board rejects viewing ban adopts 'safe' policy. (2007, March 23). Sacramento Bee. pp. B1. Retrieved from http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/142825.html

Liberalviewer. (2007, March 29). Can a public library screw your constitutional rights? Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSkWN5eIxWM

Rubin, R.E. (2004) Foundations of library and information science. New York: Neal-Schuman.

Archie Dick/South African Libraries

Members of my Foundations of Library Science course at USF will remember reading an article by Owens from Library Management 23 (1/2), 53-58 that described the role of libraries in South Africa in the struggle against Apartheid. I thought it would be interesting for everyone to hear Dr. Archie Dick, Professor of Information Science at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, speak about the struggle.

9thletter. (2007, November 1). Archie Dick. Video posted tohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNY_B4raML4

Codes of Ethics

Part of creating a blog on libraries and ethics was assembling a list of codes of ethics adhered to by the professional organizations to which serve the various types of librarians. In comparing the various codes of ethics, there were two items of interest that repeated. The first is the idea that the librarian, regardless of which type, has a duty to the profession and its values that should not be violated. While there is a duty to the organization or community which supports the library, the values of the profession should not be compromised. The second item that repeated was the duty of the librarian to uphold intellectual property rights while providing information to users.

One of the professional values that the SCIP and ALA both emphasized is the need to avoid conflicts of interest although the ALA was specific in mandating that the librarian separate personal beliefs from professional duties. The ASIS&T requires its members to "treat all persons fairly." 

As an interesting point of contrast, I have included a link to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions collection of professional codes of ethics. Some are brief lists while others include expository comments on the items in the code. 

 

Close to Home - an introduction

I thought for an initial post it would be interesting to see what policies the St. Petersburg Library system has regarding patrons' rights to read and view material as well as patrons' rights to privacy. 

The library system's policies are listed together on one page, with more information available by clicking on links to specific areas. Many of the policies listed deal primarily with what behavior is expected in the library as well as the specifics of how to obtain a library card and what the overdue item charges are. Of particular interest is the circulation page's paragraph about privacy. The policy appears to conform to the ALA's "privacy tool kit" although it is very brief. 

There is information on the system's computer use policies, including the wireless access policy. 

Ethical decisions made by the library system's management are informed, not only by the professional standards outlined by the American Library Association, but by community standards, the local government's policies, library management's ethical beliefs and finally, the beliefs of the individual librarians who work at the various branches. Balancing obligations to the profession, the patrons and the community is sometimes difficult as conflicts often arise.

Questions of if and how to control access to materials, what policies to enact and which materials to include in the collection all must be answered by librarians. Computers and the internet pose a particular problem for librarians as information available through the internet can fall far outside what the library would choose to include in its collection. 

What is of particular interest in regards to ethics and the library is that even decisions about what hours to remain open have ethical dimensions as changes in when the library is open could limit access by particular populations, therefore limiting their access to the information services the library provides. Professional codes such as the ones outlined by the ALA provide a foundation for individual libraries to shape their own policies. It is my hope that this blog will provide a starting place for your consideration of the greater implications of policy decisions made in your own local library.