Circulating Ideas - 3 November 2021
Circulating Ideas facilitates conversations with the innovative people and ideas inspiring libraries to grow and thrive in the 21st century. This newsletter dives deeper into those conversations.
Please let me know if you have suggestions for upcoming guests or for additions or changes to this newsletter. I’d love your feedback!
Keep circulating your ideas!
Circulation Status
Being a pragmatic optimist means understanding that while we don't live in a perfect world, good work can still be accomplished and hope can triumph over despair. It’s recognizing that “two steps forward, one step back” is still forward movement. Sometimes compromise is necessary to make progress.
One place we cannot compromise, however, is when it comes to doing harm to people, whether actively or through neglect. That opinion can sometimes put me on the opposite side of the intellectual freedom argument from others in the profession, particularly those in ALA OIF. I respect that point of view, and it is ably advocated for in this new episode of the show by Shannon Oltmann. As a counterbalance, don’t just listen to me; check out many of the links below to other interviews I have done with librarians holding different views, like Alison Macrina (and some who agree, like Jamie LaRue).
We don’t have to look at the future in binary terms; we’re not inexorably moving toward a utopia or a dystopia. The world has always been a broken place, and it will forever be a broken place. That’s not pessimism; it’s accepting the world as it is. Real change cannot come until we stop looking through awe-colored glasses about our profession and do the work to make the world a better place.
Live by our values. Fight for our values.
Libraries are not neutral.
Episode 211
CI211: Shannon M. Oltmann — circulatingideas.com
In this episode, I chatted with Shannon M. Oltmann, author of Practicing Intellectual Freedom in Libraries, about the definition of intellectual freedom, why intellectual freedom is important to the library profession, how to handle materials challenges, and how intellectual freedom overlaps with the right to privacy.
CI211 Transcript — circulatingideas.com
As often as possible, I try to provide a transcript for each episode. I've been using Descript recently to edit the show and produce the transcripts. It works like magic, and I hope the end product comes out sound good to you listeners!
Practicing Intellectual Freedom in Libraries by Shannon M. Oltmann - Libraries Unlimited - ABC-CLIO — products.abc-clio.com
All librarians and library and information science scholars can benefit from learning more about intellectual freedom. Shannon's book relies on research and practical real-world scenarios to conceptualize and contextualize it.
Office for Intellectual Freedom | ALA — www.ala.org
Established December 1, 1967, the Office for Intellectual Freedom is charged with implementing ALA policies concerning the concept of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association’s basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials.
Banned Books Week — bannedbooksweek.org
Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries.
Are Libraries Neutral? — americanlibrariesmagazine.org Are libraries neutral? Have they ever been? Should they be? Highlights from the ALA President's Program at the 2018 Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Denver.
When Speech Isn’t Free — americanlibrariesmagazine.org Columnist Meredith Farkas writes that ensuring free speech at libraries means more than protecting neutrality. By being neutral, libraries are tacitly giving the privileged power to speak and allowing marginalized voices to be silenced.
Shannon Oltmann (@Oltmannphd) | Twitter — twitter.com
Meeting Room Controversies
Meeting Rooms: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights — www.ala.org Many libraries provide meeting rooms and other spaces designated for use by the public for meetings and other events as a service to their communities. Article VI of the Library Bill of Rights states, “Libraries which make ... meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.”
ALA OIF Responds to Library Bill of Rights Meeting Room Interpretation update — www.ala.org
The American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) is charged with implementing ALA policies concerning the concept of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association’s basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials.
Library Meeting Rooms for All — www.oif.ala.org The Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) crafted a revision of the 1991 “Meeting Rooms: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights.” The revision of the interpretation was broadly inclusive and transparent and was adopted by ALA Council. The revision did not establish any new right to conduct hate speech in libraries. ALA does not endorse hate groups and does not seek to normalize hate speech.
ALA Bill of Rights Amendment: What Happened? What Can We Do? — hacklibraryschool.com
On July 3, 2018, the Office of Intellectual Freedom announced three major revisions to the ALA Bill of Rights. The revisions were about sections on meeting room usage, library-initiated programs, and services to people with disabilities. The major controversy is regarding language added to the section about the use of meeting rooms.
Yes, 'Hate Groups' Can Hold Meetings in Libraries, Too — reason.com The American Library Association is facing criticism for reaffirming First Amendment rights.
Ethics of Library Meeting Rooms — publiclibrariesonline.org
Recently, I took part in a debate over social media concerning patron use of public library meeting rooms. The debate did not focus on patrons’ abusing rooms, nor on whether libraries should charge a small fee for their use, but rather if patrons (e.g. religious groups) should be allowed to use them at all.
City Librarian Statement on Upcoming Third-Party Room Rental Event - News Releases - Toronto Public Library — torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com
Statement from Toronto City Librarian with information about an upcoming third party room rental event featuring controversial speaker Meghan Murphy.
Meeting Rooms and Sacred Spaces Cause Schisms in Seattle — www.oif.ala.org The library as a shared space naturally brings people together, yet it can simultaneously foster deep divides within a community. The latter has taken shape recently in Seattle in a conflict between the transgender community and the Women’s Liberation Front.
Recirculated
Intellectual freedom has been a common subject on the show. Here are just a few past guests who have talked about the subject:
203: Judi Moreillon — circulatingideas.com
Editor of Core Values in School Librarianship: Responding with Commitment and Courage.
186: Stephen Krueger — circulatingideas.com
Author of Supporting Trans People in Libraries and Scholarly Publishing Librarian at Dartmouth College.
117: Alison Macrina — circulatingideas.com
Founder and director of the Library Freedom Project.
91: Jamie LaRue – ALA OIF — circulatingideas.com
Former Director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom and the Freedom to Read Foundation.
85: Barbara Fister — circulatingideas.com
Emeritus Librarian at the Gustavus Adolphus College library in St. Peter, Minnesota and retired writer of the Library Babel Fish blog at Inside Higher Ed.
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