Core Competency A: Demonstrate an awareness of the ethics, values, and foundational principles of one of the information professions, and discuss the importance of intellectual freedom within that profession.

Section 1. Interpretation of competency

There are two important facets of this competency to consider. The first is to cultivate a professional ethos that is in keeping with the ideals put forth in foundational documents produced by the American Library Association (ALA), International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), and the United Nations (UN). The second piece is concerned with promoting and preserving the right to intellectual freedom. This is realized in a professional dedication to serve all individuals and groups equally and to provide access to materials that present a variety of views, including those that may be considered morally repugnant or objectionable to some.

Our intellectual freedom includes “having access to the full range of human ideas.” (Conable, n.d.para. 2). IFLA also has a statement on intellectual freedom where they talk about “uninhibited access” (1999, para. 5), and state that our “right to know is a requirement for freedom of thought” (1999, para. 3). This concept of our “right to know” is taking on new significance in our modern machine age as algorithms can push users towards certain types of content while downplaying others.

Equitable access is another key piece of intellectual freedom and this can be seen on three levels. These are structural, which open access seeks to address; inclusive access which involves matters of language, accessibility, and cultural sensitivity; and item level access which includes the fight against censorship. Conable provides a list, “fees, facilities, and formats build censoring devices into policies” (n.d., para. 36). Rubin (2010) wrote about censorship and cited Asheim who wrote in 1954 about “the Censor vs. the Selector” (p. 378). In the mid-twentieth century censorship was a problem for many American libraries (p. 381).  Not only was segregation practiced at the institutional level, thought was often policed and books were frequently banned. The Robbins’ book “The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown,” (2010) is a tale written about that time period. In the book, Brown provokes the ire of some of her fellow citizens as she attempts to desegregate the library in the small southern city where she lives and the public library is essentially taken over by a group with no library experience only a desire to pursue a narrow-minded political agenda.

The fight against censorship will never be over. Rubin (2010) states that a review of censorship activities from 1950-2007 shows that libraries have not always lived up to the ideals set forth in documents such as the ALA Bill of Rights (p. 380-1). Today, this is often experienced as algorithmic interference which are sometimes the result of profit motives, a topic that has been written about widely. Some of the assaults are propaganda, including government officials who say that journalists are the enemy of the people. Others are censorship-veiled-as-policy such as Tanzania’s $900 fee imposed on online publishers, a group that includes bloggers, podcasters and Youtubers and neighboring Uganda’s recently enacted daily social media tax (Dark, 2018).

The fight is not just limited to online spaces, but includes physical ones as well. In 2018 the ALA affirmed the rights of all groups to use publically available space regardless of their ideology or platform. In their statement, the ALA explicitly stated that hate groups are entitled to use library space if other groups are also allowed to (ALA, 2018). A review of the literature confirms this is a long-held professional view. As Rubin wrote in 2010 libraries have a duty to collect “materials with conflicting points of views and if heinous or patently false” because “what is considered false in one generation becomes the truth of another” ( p. 379).

Intellectual freedom is a concept that is widely endorsed inside and outside of librarianship throughout the world. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948) echoes these beliefs stating that everyone is entitled to “freedom of thought” (article 18) as well as “freedom of opinion” (article 19) while article 15 asserts that everyone may “seek, receive, impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” It is important as an information professional to be aware of events, attitudes, and technologies that can limit our intellectual freedom and to pursue collections and usage policies that ensure equal access for all.

Section 2. Reference to supporting evidence

Evidence One. Academic Assignment.

Open Access Publishing: An Examination of the Inevitable. Literature review on the history and current state of open access scholarly publishing.

My first piece of evidence for Competency A is a literature review that I wrote on open access for the class Information and Society (Info 200). It examined the historical underpinnings of OA as well as more recent events. I feel that open access is a key component of intellectual freedom because it addresses matters of access, equity, and inclusivity. It gives a platform to new ideas and democratizes the process. In medicine, open access publication gives people access to the research that their own tax dollars funded, and fosters informed consent by giving people access to a full range of research. In the humanities and social sciences, it can help promote new perspectives and bring issues around marginalized cultures to light.

Evidence Two. Academic Assignment.

The Open Access Publishing Movement and Information Economics  A critical note on the ethics of scientific peer review in the age of open access publishing.

My second piece of evidence is a critical note that I wrote for the class Information and Society (Info 200). A critical note on the ethics of scientific peer review in the age of open access publishing. One of the key ideas promoted was that the immature state and current fee-based structure of the OAP industry is prone to corruption, yet the openness itself can create a self-policing situation. Some of the issues that were covered in my note were predatory journals and reproducibility of scientific research. This note shows competency in this area because while access to research results are considered to be a basic human right, there is a responsibility to be informed as to the full range of ideas and opinions about the sources that are considered reliable.

Evidence Three and Four. Work Experience.

2017 Library Week blog post on Censorship.

2016 Library Week blog post on Banned Books in Schools.

This description includes both of these pieces of evidence as they are similar in nature. They are short articles that were circulated via email to the faculty, staff, and students of the University of New Hampshire School of Law as an outreach activity for International Library Week in April. Library staff members are given a prompt in the form of a quote and then write a short reflective essay. I later republished them on my own blog.

The 2017 article began with a quote from writer Joseph Brodsky, “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” I chose to write about Brodsky’s life  and his experiences with state censorship and his subsequent expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1972. This post upholds the idea espoused in the ALA “Freedom to Read Statement” and demonstrates Competency A . Librarians have a duty and responsibility to speak out against censorship in order “to give validity to . . . freedom to read by making it possible for the readers to choose freely from a variety of offerings” (ALA, 1953, para. 6).

The 2016 article began with a quote from cultural historian Siva Vaidhyanathan, “Libraries are never as placid as they appear.  They are often sources and centers of controversy and conflict. The better they are, the more dangerous libraries can seem.” I chose to write about when the Chicago Public School System banned the graphic novel “Persepolis” from all school classrooms and libraries due to a depiction of torture in revolutionary Iran. A student book group successfully fought the ban and the book is now allowed in the school. This story aligns with the values proposed in sections one, two and three of the ALA Library Bill of Rights. In particular this story resonates with the idea that “libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval” (ALA, 1939, para. 3). This post shows competency in the area of intellectual freedom and information ethics as it brings awareness to censorship.

Section 3. Application of competency

I have been working in the field of scholarly communication for some time and I plan to stay in this part of the profession. I work daily with researchers and faculty to help navigate the scholarly publishing landscape. It is a vast and often inconsistent mosaic of funder mandates, copyright laws, publisher agreements, and institutional policies. The circumstances that created this situation were borne out of many factors. It is as important for information professionals to stand up for the rights of researchers to publish their findings widely as it is to advocate for access rights and to engage in ongoing professional development to stay aware of censorship movements and to realize that they take many different forms.

Section 4. Bibliography

American Library Association. (1953). The Freedom to Read Statement. Retrieved September 2, 2018 from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/freedomreadstatement

American Library Association. (2018 July 3). Council adopts three revisions to Library Bill of Rights interpretations. Retrieved September 2, 2018 from http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2018/07/council-adopts-three-revisions-library-bill-rights-interpretations

Conable, G.M. (n.d.) Public Libraries and Intellectual Freedom. Retrieved September 2, 2018 from American Library Association website http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=fifthedition&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=76510

Dark, S. (2018). Strict new internet laws in Tanzania are driving bloggers and content creators offline. Retrieved September 2, 2018 from https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/6/17536686/tanzania-internet-laws-censorship-uganda-social-media-tax

IFLA (1999, March 25). IFLA Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom. Retrieved September 2, 2018 from https://www.ifla.org/publications/ifla-statement-on-libraries-and-intellectual-freedom

Robbins, L.S. (2000). The dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown : civil rights, censorship, and the American library. Norman : University of Oklahoma Press.

Rubin, R.E. (2010). Foundations of Library and Information Science, 3rd ed. NY : Neal-Schuman.

United Nations. (1948). United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved September 2, 2018 from http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/