A poster hanging across from my desk reads, "Libraries are the second defense of freedom. Reading is the first!" The founding fathers, well aware of the danger of censorship and tyranny, promoted rights such as freedom of expression and religion. Democracies are dependent upon the free exchange of ideas so that the greater good may arise. Institutions which provide unbiased access to unbiased materials are essential to the free exchange of ideas. Libraries, positioned away from profit motives, came to serve this purpose and over time established principles guided by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Freedom of speech grants authors and publishers the right to produce literary works of expression (Rubin 2004, 187). In addition to expressing oneself freely the First Amendment also entails the ability to receive a diverse set of view points. The goal of libraries is to create policies which support this intellectual freedom. Various personal, social, professional obligations tend to restrict or increase access to information. As a result the American Library Association established policies to provide guidance and reduce these pressures. In 1939 the ALA adopted the Library Bill of Rights to ensure the development of diverse and unrestricted library collections (Rubin 2004).
Libraries are charged with providing access to the flow of information while librarians must guard against censorship. It is not the responsibility of a librarian to decide what is true and useful; rather it is the responsibility of a librarian to ensure non-useful falsities are also included in the flow. It is up to individuals to debate the validity of the information and decide what is right. Swan (1986, 52) states, "The knowledge of truth and the knowledge of untruth, like the knowledge of good and evil, are indissolubly joined. Our cause, professionally and politically, is with both of them."
Rubin, Richard. 2004. Foundations of Library and Information Science. New York: Neil-Schuman Publishers, Inc.
Swan, John. 1986. Untruth or Consequences. Library Journal 111(12): 44-52, via Ebsco (accessed April 23, 2009).
No comments:
Post a Comment