One of my colleagues recently posted in her blog a discussion of certain issues regarding sex in teen novels in libraries -- http://lisfreedom.wordpress.com/ -- which has raised quite a lot of hullaballoo. This interests me, not because it's so surprising but because some things never change. At least in my opinion.
Historically, I don't know how long we, as a species, have seemed to feel that if certain portions of our communities and cultures are protected from even the idea of sex, that it will make the world a better place for all of us. I have a degree in History and have taught some courses and could make a few guesses, but don't want to get into that argument here. This seems to me to be a non-starter. Sex is one of the imperatives for keeping the species going, which means certain urges will exist regardless. I'm not, nor do I believe any librarians out there are, saying that how-to manuals are a must-have for every teen library section, but the simple experience as humans has taught us again and again that being ignorant of any subject has never been particularly efficacious in dealing with it. Not to mention, that time has also proved that the best way to make something really interesting is to make it forbidden. And that not even tachyons move faster than rumour. So, if a teen or tween finds out that there's an effort to keep any given book out of a library because it has sex in it, a minute later, everyone in that age group will be trying to get their hands on a copy.
Nor can I think about this subject without considering another. I remember being very young and in the car with my parents at a drive-in movie and two previews came on, one for an R-Rated movie and another for a PG. My parents, a clinical psychologist and a social worker, both of whom have dealt as a matter of course during their careers with abused (all forms) children, commented how hypocritical it was that the movie where people were having sex was R and the one where they were hacking off each other's limbs was PG. While it was a given that I was too young to see either one, they both agreed that they'd rather I see people having sex than killing each other.
I am not advocating pulling books out of libraries due to violence any more than I am for sex (or for virtually any other reason), but there does seem to me to be a double-standard. When I was ten or or so and checking out everything I could find in our local library on King Arthur and the Crusades and the Age of Charlemange, the only comment I ever got was on reading such advanced books. I suspect had I tried to check out something with an equivalent level of sex to the violence in those stories, someone might have tried to discourage me or called my parents or something. I find the double-standard fascinating, and am grateful that a small-town library didn't try to curtail my reading from the adult section when I felt I was old enough.
My personal belief is that understanding is always better than ignorance, and that parents should engage with what their children are reading and watching, but that engaging is not necessarily the same as forbidding, and it is certainly different from trying to prevent someone else's children, simply due to the belief that it is bad for yours.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
This week's class lecture is on policies and this, combined with the recent inauguration has led me to an issue which wanders through my mind from time to time. It is not strictly library related, but certainly relates to intellectual freedom in it's broadest sense, and my own fears and thoughts around the same.
Some months back, I came in in the middle of a program on the History Channel dealing with terrorism. I was very interested in the part about the man who wrote the book which has been credited with inspiring Osama Bin-Laden. This particularly struck me, as the author was "inspired" while attending the University of Northern Colorado, where my father did some graduate work, I attended several summer programs and another good friend went to school. The book would have appealed to my sense of curiosity regardless, but the personal note made it extra interesting -- Was there something specific about the small town of Greeley, CO that exemplified the "wrongness" of American culture to this man?
Unfortunately, I didn't hear the name of the book or the author. And this is where the issue ties into intellectual freedom in my mind. I have, thus far, been too cowardly to instigate the kind of search necessary to track down this book. I'm not worried about librarians looking at me askance, but rather, the FBI knocking at my door. An additional area that intrigues me is that my sister and her significant other saw the program, but have the same problem with recall of the title. He is a naturalized US citizen, but was not born in this country, which provides him with an additional degree of worry in trying to hunt this book down.
With potential changes to the Patriot Act in the air, I may decide to be brave enough to try and find this book. Or, since I'm taking this class on Intellectual Freedom, maybe I should put my money where my mouth is, and try to find it anyway.
Some months back, I came in in the middle of a program on the History Channel dealing with terrorism. I was very interested in the part about the man who wrote the book which has been credited with inspiring Osama Bin-Laden. This particularly struck me, as the author was "inspired" while attending the University of Northern Colorado, where my father did some graduate work, I attended several summer programs and another good friend went to school. The book would have appealed to my sense of curiosity regardless, but the personal note made it extra interesting -- Was there something specific about the small town of Greeley, CO that exemplified the "wrongness" of American culture to this man?
Unfortunately, I didn't hear the name of the book or the author. And this is where the issue ties into intellectual freedom in my mind. I have, thus far, been too cowardly to instigate the kind of search necessary to track down this book. I'm not worried about librarians looking at me askance, but rather, the FBI knocking at my door. An additional area that intrigues me is that my sister and her significant other saw the program, but have the same problem with recall of the title. He is a naturalized US citizen, but was not born in this country, which provides him with an additional degree of worry in trying to hunt this book down.
With potential changes to the Patriot Act in the air, I may decide to be brave enough to try and find this book. Or, since I'm taking this class on Intellectual Freedom, maybe I should put my money where my mouth is, and try to find it anyway.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Intellectual Freedom Post 1
This blog has been created, along with many others, as part of a course on intellectual freedom in libraries. To support intellectual freedom, we must needs offer up our own expressions, freely, but with the awareness of the impact our words may have on others and a willingness to respect their opinions.
I've never worked in a library, but was employed for over two years at MUNFLA (the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive) where similar considerations are relevant. Housed as it is, within the confines of a Canadian university, and established for a specific purpose, the exact tenants of intellectual freedom that we see as vital in American libraries were not applied, but the study and collection of Folklore has long grappled with freedom of speech and thought. For example, the primary consideration behind accepting a personal donation into the collection, was how much value it had to the person donating it.
Which I think is crucial to intellectual freedom: that of the value placed on any given document (either positive or negative) by any given group. As has been noted elsewhere, the definition of what should be allowed under intellectual freedom is not a static concept. It has changed in the past and will change in the future and probably will never make everyone happy, but allowing for evolution and accepting challenges as part of the growth of our culture helps to make us what we are.
I've never worked in a library, but was employed for over two years at MUNFLA (the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive) where similar considerations are relevant. Housed as it is, within the confines of a Canadian university, and established for a specific purpose, the exact tenants of intellectual freedom that we see as vital in American libraries were not applied, but the study and collection of Folklore has long grappled with freedom of speech and thought. For example, the primary consideration behind accepting a personal donation into the collection, was how much value it had to the person donating it.
Which I think is crucial to intellectual freedom: that of the value placed on any given document (either positive or negative) by any given group. As has been noted elsewhere, the definition of what should be allowed under intellectual freedom is not a static concept. It has changed in the past and will change in the future and probably will never make everyone happy, but allowing for evolution and accepting challenges as part of the growth of our culture helps to make us what we are.
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