INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM Understanding professional practice in an ethical

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM Understanding professional practice in an ethical environment Krystal Baker Nicole Palazzo Jerrid Young Sanghyo Kim Vanessa Fernandez

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM “Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored” (Intellectual Freedom and Censorship).

A MULTIFACETED DILEMMA § Government, Society, Institutions, and Self § Conflicts of interest -Personal considerations -Professional considerations -Legal rights (1 st Amendment) -Necessary censorship

AN EVOLVING PROBLEM § Slow legal processes create grey areas within information policy. § Power struggles then form among interest groups and organizations. § This creates a trickle down effect that impacts the daily work of information professionals

THE INFORMATION WORLD “Approaches to the Internet have been classified…as either Utopian – seeing the information superhighway as a potentially liberating medium, in which ‘information wants to be free’…or Dystopian – focusing on the potential for control and surveillance represented by a global network” (Lawson and Comber 274).

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM POLICY OF ALA & IFLA

POLICY OF THE ALA § Library Bill of Rights announced in 1939 § It has been revised 6 times § Declaration against censorship § Suggested 6 basic intellectual freedom policies.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ALA POLICY § Hitler’s book burning in 1933 § Resist Nazism § Resist compulsory censorship

POLICY OF IFLA § Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom in 1999. § Based on UN’s Human Rights Law. § Supports librarians’ unlimited access to information § Advocates for freedom of expression

SIGNIFICANCE OF INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM POLICY § Resists violation of the right to informaiton (ex: censorship, removal books) § Provides official standards for intellectual freedom § Inspires other countries’ library policies

BANNED AND CHALLENGED MATERIALS IN LIBRARIES

WHY ARE BOOKS BANNED? § Challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from inappropriate sexual content or offensive language Top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom: § the material was considered to be "sexually explicit" § the material contained "offensive language" § the materials was "unsuited to any age group"

HOW LIBRARIES DEAL WITH CHALLENGED MATERIALS § “Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment. ” (Library Bill of Rights 1996) § Know your policy! § Communication is key. § Dealing with the media § Online challenge report form

BANNED BOOKS?

BANNED BOOKS WEEK § Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. § Last week of September (September 27 -October 3, 2015) § Brings together the book community in shared support of freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those considered unpopular. § Draws national attention to the harms of censorship

SELF CENSORSHIP & COVERT CENSORSHIP In a way, self-censorship is more frightening than outright banning and removal of challenged materials -Author and Former librarian Susan Patton

SPECIFIC AREAS IN WHICH LIBRARIANS NEED TO BE VIGILANT FOR COVERT CENSORSHIP: § Vendor promotional, classification and selection bias § Use of citation rates in periodical selection and weeding § The exclusion of independently-published materials § Pressure from funding bodies § Self-censorship of librarians

SPECIFIC AREAS IN WHICH LIBRARIANS NEED TO BE VIGILANT FOR COVERT CENSORSHIP: § Adherence to ‘community standards’ § Labelling of controversial items § Inaccurate or slow cataloguing and classification § Exclusion of socially unpleasant materials, such as ‘hate items’ Source: Kim Moody (2005) Covert censorship in libraries: a discussion paper, The Australian Library Journal, 54: 2, 138 -147

IT SEEMS UNTHINKABLE…BUT IT HAPPENS RIGHT IN OUR MIDST, AND WE NEED TO BE AWARE! In one case, library employees who didn't approve of adding certain books to their library's collection lost or hid the books before they were processed, rather than engaging in a discussion about whether these titles were appropriate. In another case, library staff members checked out (and kept) books so that others couldn't use them; they even went to the media with complaints about the materials (and library policies). From: True Stories of Censorship Battles in America's Libraries. Edited by Valerie Nye and Kathy Barco. Chicago: ALA, 2012