Intellectual Freedom Stories from a Shifting Landscape

by Valerie Nye (Editor)

Overview

Intellectual freedom is a complex concept that democracies and free societies around the world define in different ways but always strive to uphold. And ALA has long recognized the crucial role that libraries play in protecting this right. But what does it mean in practice? How do library workers handle the ethical conundrums that often accompany the commitment to defending it? Rather than merely laying out abstract policies and best practices, this important new collection gathers real-world stories of intellectual freedom in action to illuminate the difficulties, triumphs, and occasional setbacks of advocating for free and equal access to information for all people in a shifting landscape. Offering insight to LIS students and current practitioners on how we can advance the profession of librarianship while fighting censorship and other challenges, these personal narratives explore such formidable situations as

• presenting drag queen story times in rural America;
• a Black Lives Matter “die-in” at the undergraduate library of the University of Wisconsin-Madison;
• combating censorship at a prison library;
• hosting a moderated talk about threats to modern democracy that included a neo-Nazi spokesman;
• a provocative exhibition that triggered intimidating phone calls, emails, and a threat to burn down an art library;  
• calls to eliminate non-Indigenous children’s literature from the collection of a tribal college library; and
• preserving patrons’ right to privacy in the face of an FBI subpoena.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780838947357
Publisher:	American Library Association
Publication date:	04/21/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	385 KB

About the Author

Valerie Nye is the Library Director at the Santa Fe Community College. She previously worked as a library director at the Institute of American Indian Arts and as a library consultant at the New Mexico State Library, where she started researching and training others on intellectual freedom and banned books. She has coedited a book with Kathy Barco, True Stories of Censorship Battles in America’s Libraries, and a literary research guide with R. Neil Scott, Postmarked Milledgeville: A Guide to Flannery O'Connor's Correspondence in Libraries and Archives. She currently serves on the board of Amigos Library Services and holds an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) is charged with implementing the intellectual freedom policies of the American Library Association through educating librarians and the public about 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. In order to meet its educational goals, the Office undertakes information, support, and coordination activities.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Storytelling for Advocacy, by Janice Del Negro
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Advocating for Intellectual Freedom through Storytelling

Part I        Protected by Policy
Chapter 1    Give Them Library Cards!
Carrie Valdes

Chapter 2    The Vitruvian Man and a Threat to Burn Down the Art Library
Megan Lotts

Chapter 3    Adventures in Book Court
Sandra Parks

Reflection Questions for Part I

Part II         Public Events
Chapter 4    Black Lives Matter Die-In: Library Space as an Intellectual Freedom Issue
Raina Bloom and Carrie Kruse

Chapter 5    Exposing a Community: Drag Queen Storytime in Rural America
Jennifer Stickles

Chapter 6    Did We Just Normalize Extreme Views and Make the Library an Unsafe Place?
Daniel Forsman

Reflection Questions for Part II

Part III    Difficult Conversations
Chapter 7    A Library’s Response(ability) in #MeToo
Leah Shlachter

Chapter 8    Promoting Intellectual Freedom through a Social Book Group
James Allen Davis and Hadiya Evans

Reflection Questions for Part III

Part IV    Institutional Decisions
Chapter 9    The Storage Closet
Shana Chartier

Chapter 10    The Fox and the Hedgehog: When Libraries are behind Bars
Erin Boyington

Chapter 11    Widely Read Teens Become Well-Rounded Adults
Lisa Hoover

Chapter 12    Y Colorín Colorado, Este Cuento Se Ha Acabado [Snip, Snap, Snout, This Tale’s Told Out]
Carme Fenoll Clarabuch

Reflection Questions for Part IV

Part V        Patrons Challenging Material
Chapter 13    Transgender Children’s Books in the Public Library
Tom Taylor

Chapter 14    Restoring EBSCO: The Power of Coalition and Rapid Response
Rebekah Cummings and Peter Bromberg

Chapter 15    “Bullshit Hatred from Cover to Cover”: Islamophobia in The Age of Trump
Lorena Neal

Chapter 16    Anywhere USA
Joan Airoldi

Reflection Questions for Part V

Part VI    Cultural Sensitivity
Chapter 17    “Just Get Rid of Them”: American Indian Children’s Literature in the Tribal College Library
Rhiannon Sorrell

Chapter 18    Censorship and Sensibility
Lara Aase

Reflection Questions for Part VI

Conclusion: The Work Continues
About the Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

"These stories provide lived examples from banned book challenges to drag queen story time to a Black Lives Matter die-in and much more. They will spur librarians to reflect on the programs they have organized and give them ideas for future programming and responding to community backlash ... The conclusion asks readers to share their stories around intellectual freedom and librarianship as an ongoing project. Now more than ever, librarians should use their libraries to mobilize change, and they must continue to listen to and learn from one another."
— CHOICE

"The depth and breadth of case studies described in this book illustrate the many ways in which librarians must grapple with complex intellectual freedom challenges in all areas of their work. Even in the cases which may be more familiar to readers like book challenges, the case studies provide useful examples of policies and procedures to follow when encountering these intellectual freedom challenges ... [This is] an important book for current times as threats to intellectual freedom continue to be a concern for all in librarianship and in the wider world. "
— Against the Grain

From the Publisher

09/01/2020

Editor Nye (library director, Santa Fe Community Coll.) argues that storytelling has a long tradition among librarians and that it is a vital tool in promoting intellectual freedom. Stories, she says, combat misinformation and strengthen trust between libraries and their community. Nye spent 15 years listening to the stories of librarians who have faced challenges to intellectual freedom; she categorizes them by topic, including difficult conversations and cultural sensitivity. The resulting compilation provides enlightening, real-world examples that will serve as a road map for other librarians. Megan Lott describes how at Rutgers University Library, two pieces of art by Joseph Arsulo were removed when a young Christian woman objected to a piece entitled Vitruvian Man; though the incident resulted in censorship, Lott learned hard lessons about the importance of preparing for challenges. Daniel Forsman, of the Stockholm Public Library, writes about fielding complaints after hosting a panel on which a figurehead of Sweden's neo-Nazi movement spoke. Rain Bloom and Carrie Kruse discuss what happened when a Black Lives Matter die-in was held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's library. VERDICT Essential reading for all libraries, especially public libraries, and as a textbook for library students.—Dave Pugl, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL

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