Philosophy & Ethics
Censorship and Collection Development
It is an issue few like to talk about, but when it comes to ethics within the library there is perhaps no greater issue than censorship. Idealistic as we may be, it is completely unavoidable. You have a limited budget that leaves you with a choice between two books: a trashy romance novel that several patrons have requested, or the latest work by a Nobel-winning author. Whichever choice you make, even though it is born of budgetary concerns rather than any personal vendetta, is effectively a choice about what your patrons should and should not read. Understanding this issue not only as librarians but as patrons helps us better work with the community. Why do people seek to censor this and that book, and how can we work with them to try and promote our values of access? This does not at all mean that censorship is right or that we should give in to these voices, but simply that by understanding where they are coming from and what they are feeling we can better work with them to come to an understanding and defuse tension. Standing for access and the freedom of information is not just about blindly crusading for your side, it is about trying to build bridges and reach points of understanding so that where there is a lack of this, people can grow and learn.
Beyond this though, there are the complexities of collection development as a whole. After all, at the root of collection development is the mission to develop a collection that is both interesting and appropriate to the intended audience, be that children, teenagers, young adults, adults, or the elderly. It is perhaps a bit easier these days as many default to buying the award winners and best sellers crafted for their particular demographic. But there remains a degree of nuance and fine-tuning which in turn requires an adept awareness of the surrounding community and, in particular, the library's users. If, for example, the library has a particularly large number of teenage female African-American patrons, then one might want to consider that these women would enjoy reading stories involving female protagonists and, furthermore, heroines that are POC. A library that overlooks this and simply defaults to best-sellers and award winners may come to find its user base steadily shrinking as patrons look for a place that does not seem to marginalize them in terms of what content is selected.
Related: Essay on Censorship
Diversity and the Value of Perspective
This leads to another important issue in libraries: diversity. It is perhaps one area where libraries still noticeably struggle, with some demographics, such as African-American males, being almost unseen within the library field. The issue here is not simply demographic diversity for the sake of demographic diversity. Rather it is in gathering diverse perspectives, as well as in bringing in new perspectives and voices that can then help the library to better serve the community. Each of us has grown up in a particular environment and within a particular culture and we have developed a particular knowledge, perspective, and even bias around this, and this inevitably impacts how we interact with others. To give a more drastic example, if a Protestant Christian individual were to set up a special event for the local Muslim community, he or she might think it a wonderful idea to include some food, and since it is breakfast, why not have sausages and bacon and all the traditional elements of the continental breakfast? After all, everyone loves bacon! Except of course the eating of pork is strictly forbidden within Islam. The Christian individual meant no harm or disrespect whatsoever, but nonetheless his or her limited perspective hindered the library's ability to reach out to its community.
Of course to some degree this can be circumvented with education and cultural awareness, but even so this cannot entirely break us free from the biases that we have—indeed, many of us, liberal and conservative alike, take the western tradition of rationalism and humanism for granted, as though these principles are simply the foundations of human culture. In so doing we not only marginalize the non-western world but also lock ourselves out of a wealth of perspectives and innovation that can come from the whole of the world community working together. It should be well remembered that one of the great founders of library science was the Indian scholar Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan whose philosophy, including the five laws of library science, still guides libraries today.
Going through all of this truly helped me to understand the importance of diversity and the meaning behind it as something more than just a matter of demographics. Our goal in libraries should be to help libraries better reflect the composition of America as a whole and our local communities in particular, not simply for the sake of demographics or to look good, but because diverse perspectives and individuals enhance our ability to serve the community and promote our ideals of access, not to mention rejuvenating the field as a whole and libraries in particular.
Related: Blog Entry on Diversity
It is an issue few like to talk about, but when it comes to ethics within the library there is perhaps no greater issue than censorship. Idealistic as we may be, it is completely unavoidable. You have a limited budget that leaves you with a choice between two books: a trashy romance novel that several patrons have requested, or the latest work by a Nobel-winning author. Whichever choice you make, even though it is born of budgetary concerns rather than any personal vendetta, is effectively a choice about what your patrons should and should not read. Understanding this issue not only as librarians but as patrons helps us better work with the community. Why do people seek to censor this and that book, and how can we work with them to try and promote our values of access? This does not at all mean that censorship is right or that we should give in to these voices, but simply that by understanding where they are coming from and what they are feeling we can better work with them to come to an understanding and defuse tension. Standing for access and the freedom of information is not just about blindly crusading for your side, it is about trying to build bridges and reach points of understanding so that where there is a lack of this, people can grow and learn.
Beyond this though, there are the complexities of collection development as a whole. After all, at the root of collection development is the mission to develop a collection that is both interesting and appropriate to the intended audience, be that children, teenagers, young adults, adults, or the elderly. It is perhaps a bit easier these days as many default to buying the award winners and best sellers crafted for their particular demographic. But there remains a degree of nuance and fine-tuning which in turn requires an adept awareness of the surrounding community and, in particular, the library's users. If, for example, the library has a particularly large number of teenage female African-American patrons, then one might want to consider that these women would enjoy reading stories involving female protagonists and, furthermore, heroines that are POC. A library that overlooks this and simply defaults to best-sellers and award winners may come to find its user base steadily shrinking as patrons look for a place that does not seem to marginalize them in terms of what content is selected.
Related: Essay on Censorship
Diversity and the Value of Perspective
This leads to another important issue in libraries: diversity. It is perhaps one area where libraries still noticeably struggle, with some demographics, such as African-American males, being almost unseen within the library field. The issue here is not simply demographic diversity for the sake of demographic diversity. Rather it is in gathering diverse perspectives, as well as in bringing in new perspectives and voices that can then help the library to better serve the community. Each of us has grown up in a particular environment and within a particular culture and we have developed a particular knowledge, perspective, and even bias around this, and this inevitably impacts how we interact with others. To give a more drastic example, if a Protestant Christian individual were to set up a special event for the local Muslim community, he or she might think it a wonderful idea to include some food, and since it is breakfast, why not have sausages and bacon and all the traditional elements of the continental breakfast? After all, everyone loves bacon! Except of course the eating of pork is strictly forbidden within Islam. The Christian individual meant no harm or disrespect whatsoever, but nonetheless his or her limited perspective hindered the library's ability to reach out to its community.
Of course to some degree this can be circumvented with education and cultural awareness, but even so this cannot entirely break us free from the biases that we have—indeed, many of us, liberal and conservative alike, take the western tradition of rationalism and humanism for granted, as though these principles are simply the foundations of human culture. In so doing we not only marginalize the non-western world but also lock ourselves out of a wealth of perspectives and innovation that can come from the whole of the world community working together. It should be well remembered that one of the great founders of library science was the Indian scholar Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan whose philosophy, including the five laws of library science, still guides libraries today.
Going through all of this truly helped me to understand the importance of diversity and the meaning behind it as something more than just a matter of demographics. Our goal in libraries should be to help libraries better reflect the composition of America as a whole and our local communities in particular, not simply for the sake of demographics or to look good, but because diverse perspectives and individuals enhance our ability to serve the community and promote our ideals of access, not to mention rejuvenating the field as a whole and libraries in particular.
Related: Blog Entry on Diversity