A Fresh Look at the Library Bill of Rights - Part VII
Article Five - Bill of Rights
Taken from the Fall 1997
NCompass
"A person's right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because
of origin, age, background, or views.
"
(Article V of the Library Bill of Rights as adopted June 18, 1948 and
amended February 2, 1961, June 27, 1967, and January 23, 1980 by the American
Library Association Council and affirmed as Nebraska Library Bill of Rights
April 3, 1981 by unanimous adoption of Nebraska Library Commission.)
In this latest installment of the NCompass series examining applications
of intellectual freedom and the Library Bill of Rights, we explore
how librarians can stand up for the right to library service for all citizens.
Probably no librarian in Nebraska would deny materials access to someone
of Spanish or Asian origin, nor would they take away the library card of
a person of questionable background, say a father serving a jail sentence
or parents who aren't married. It is unlikely that anyone has ever been
ejected from a library because they were a Democrat, a Republican, a conservative,
a devout Baptist, a communist or even an American Nazi. Only one of the
groups mentioned in Article V is systematically denied access to library
materials and services, a group that is recognizable because of age. It
isn't always easy to recognize a Democrat or a Nazi, but children stand
out. Some public librarians have traditionally assumed a protective parental
role, denying children access to library materials. The availability of
the Internet has added a difficult dimension to the librarian's role in
regard to children. It isn't feasible or practical to monitor any patron's
use of the Internet (or books). Librarians who try, either through the
use of filters or restrictive policies in regard to children, may be more
likely to be sued than librarians who support open access for all. Librarians
must deal not only with their own discomfort about exposing children to
'bad' materials, but also with political action groups whose concern about
their own children extends to repression for all and library boards who
feel the safest course is to avoid trouble and controversy.
If we look again at the Library Bill of Rights, one way out of
this tangle of conflicting values and feelings is clear. No one is to be
'denied access to library service because of age . . . ' An appendix to
the Bill of Rights goes on to specify that children are included under
the Library Bill of Rights. Librarians who wish to observe the ethics of
their profession can therefore stand up for children's access to all library
services and materials. Librarians can be a moral and resolute voice for
intellectual freedom. Perhaps 'stand up' is the operant phrase. They are
not expected to fall down for it. When boards discuss passing repressive
policies, the librarian's obligation is to exercise the right to free speech,
to quietly and logically speak on behalf of children's need for information,
to be a voice for the Bill of Rights. It is not their obligation to get
fired or sued, only to speak up.
Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Information
For Nebraska's Librarians. For
the full text of the Nebraska Intellectual Freedom Manual,visit:
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/zeabook/45/