A ten-year old girl comes to you in the youth

department and asks for your help in finding books

about the Holocaust. You offer her several that you

find in the youth section, but she says she has read

everything in the youth department. As you walk her

to the adult section, you realize that many of the

books contain graphic pictures and descriptions of

sexual violence that occurred in the concentration

camps. Do you keep walking?

Feelings Religion

the LawCulturally accepted

norms

Science

• Recognize an Ethical Issue

• Gather the Facts

• Evaluate Alternative Options

• Take Action

Scenario specific questions might be:• Is she too young?

• Can she comprehend the adult language and content of the material in the adult section?

• Is she mature enough to deal with the details of the Holocaust from an adult perspective?

What is a Right?

A Right is a justified claim on others. The "justification" of a claim is dependent on

some standard acknowledged and accepted not just by the claimant, but also by society in

general. (Velasquez & Andre, 1990) These standards can be determined by decrees such

as the United States Constitution or the American Library Association's Bill of Rights.

We need to rely on discussion and dialogue with others about the dilemma, and only

through careful exploration of the problem, aided by the insights and different

perspectives of others, can we make good ethical choices.

Censorship: Is this the issue?

Issue:

• The issue is not only about censorship but what is the best resource for this little girl.

• Our job should be connecting the right resource to the right user. If we deny her

information she seeks, we are committing the act of censoring.

What is censorship?

According to the ALA: Censorship is the supression of ideas and information that certain

persons--individuals, groups, or government officials--find objectionable or dangerous.

("Intellectual freedom and censorship," n.d. )

Justifications for not censoring

• We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all

efforts to censor library resources (Haycock & Sheldon, 2008)

• We are not to serve in loco parentis; we are not the parents and

it is their job to censor. "Access for children and young adults,"

( n.d.)

• A person's right to use a library should not be denied or

abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

(Haycock & Sheldon, 2008)

• Our job as librarians is to provide equitable access to

information for all, and to not judge with our own biases.

Is censorship ever the acceptable solution?

* Perhaps it is time ALA... adapted the Library Bill of

Rights to suit the pragmatic needs of working parents...At issue here is not the question of whether librarians should actively censor, but whether they should enforce choices

made by absent parents.” (Mitchell)

US Supreme Court: Many states and some localities have “harmful to minors”

laws. These laws regulate free speech with respect to

minors, typically forbidding the display or dissemination

of certain sexually explicit materials to children, as

further specified in the laws. (ALA)

Librarians as Research Assistants

Provide the Requested Topic

in a Related Format

Provide the Requested Format in a Related Topic

Historical Fiction

Audio Books

Non-Fiction Biographies

MoviesWebsites

ILL

Resources that can be purchased

Jewish Art and Culture in

Concentration Camps

Jews in America

during WWII

World War II Non-Fiction

World War II Fiction

Historical Fiction

Diaspora in Russia

Nazi Culture and

History -Non-Fiction

Human Rights today

Alternatives: Our options as librarians

In the end, do you keep walking?

•Clarify what the user's needs for the resource are

•Identify the literacy and subject needs of our user

Investigate the RESEARCH QUESTION

•Provide alternate resources or topics

•Accompany user to adult section to offer assistance finding non-controversial resources

Investigate literacy- and subject-appropriate

ALTERNATIVE RESOURCES for the user.

•Inform user of possibly objectionable material

•Encourage user to seek additional advisory such as teacher or parent

Offer reader's ADVISORY ADVICE regarding

objectionable subject matter.

•If a user wants a resource, do not infringe on their access to information

•Library policy should inform guardians beforehand

•Librarians cannot know the user's literacy and information needs fully.

Do not CENSOR

References

Aiken, J. (2007) Rethinking the Library Bill of Rights--Does it work in the real world?. American Libraries, 38 (8), 54-57.

American Library Association. (2009). Guidelines and Considerations for Developing a Public Library Internet Use

Policy.www.ala.org.

Haycock, K., & Sheldon, B. (2008). The portable MLIS: insights from the experts. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.

Intellectual Freedom Basics. (n.d.). ALA. Retrieved June 1, 2014, fromhttp://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=basics&

Template=ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=60610

Interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights. (2004, June 30). ALA. Retrieved June 2, 2014, from

http:/www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=interpretations&Template=ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=3

1870 7 0.

Velasquez, M., & Andre, C. (1990). RightsStuff. Issues in Ethics. 3(1), 1. Retrieved from Santa Clara University: http://www.

scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v3n1/homepage.html.