IF WORKSHOP

PRACTICAL & EVERYDAY

DECK 3

PART 1

SCENARIO 1

A USER REQUESTS THE ANARCHIST’S COOKBOOK; A BOOK THAT, AMONG OTHER THINGS, DETAILS HOW TO BAKE BOMBS. 

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HOW DO YOU RESPOND?

DISCUSSION POINTS 1

• THIS RESPONSE IS DRIVEN BY USING PROFESSIONAL NOT PERSONAL ETHICS.

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• USE THE RA TOOLS AND TRAINING AVAILABLE TO YOU TO PROVIDE ACCESS. ILL OR TELL THEM ABOUT THE FREE PDF ONLINE.

SCENARIO 2

A STAFF MEMBER ROLLS HIS EYES WHEN PROCESSING MATERIALS FOR A USER WHO IS ALWAYS ORDERING ROMANCE TITLES. 

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IS THIS AN INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM ISSUE? IF SO, PLEASE EXPLAIN.

DISCUSSION POINTS 2

• PERSONAL ETHICS NEED TO BE PUT ASIDE WHEN AT WORK AND WHEN AT THE DESK WE NEED TO REMEMBER THAT BODY LANGUAGE IS A LARGE PART OF COMMUNICATION

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• MAKING FACES IS AN OUTWARD EXPRESSION OF THE FACT THAT YOU ARE JUDGING MATERIAL, IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME A HABIT THAT YOU CARRY OUT IN FRONT OF USERS

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• ALSO, IT IS A VIOLATION OF OUR PRIVACY STATEMENT TO DISCLOSE A USER’S CIRCULATION OR HOLDS HISTORY TO YOUR COWORKERS

PART 2

SCENARIO 1

A LIBRARY PAGE NOTICES SOME QUESTIONABLE IMAGES ON A USER’S LAPTOP. 

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SHE REPORTS THIS TO YOU, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

DISCUSSION POINTS 1

• ACCORDING TO INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM POLICIES UNLESS WHAT IS VIEWED IS CHILD PORNOGRAPHY THE USER IS NOT IN VIOLATION OF ANYTHING. WE DO REQUIRE USERS WHO USE OUR PUBLIC WIFI TO ACCEPT OUR AUP, WHICH STATES THAT THE VIEWING AND/OR PRINTING OF INAPPROPRIATE IMAGES OR TEXT THAT MAY BE REASONABLY CONSTRUED AS OBSCENE IN AN OPEN AND PUBLIC SETTING IS NOT APPROPRIATE

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• IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER WE ARE NOT THE ARBITRATORS OF WHAT IS INAPPROPRIATE; WHAT WE ARE CONCERNED WITH AT THE LIBRARY IS THAT DUE TO BEING A PUBLIC SPACE IMAGES ON COMPUTERS, PUBLIC OR PERSONAL, CAN BE VIEWED BY OTHER USERS 

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• WE ARE NOT JUDGING THE CONTENT OF IMAGES BEING VIEWED OR THOSE VIEWING THEM, WE ARE INSURING A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL USERS

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• WHAT IS DEEMED INAPPROPRIATE IS SUBJECTIVE, AND VARIES GREATLY FROM PERSON TO PERSON, SO ONE: WE DO NOT USE THE WORD PORNOGRAPHY, AND TWO: WE ASSUME UPON FIRST DEALING WITH ANY SITUATION THAT THE USER MAY BE UNAWARE OF THE CURRENT POLICIES. 

SCENARIO 2

POLICE COME IN TO REQUEST THE NAME OF THE PERSON ON COMPUTER #3. HOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS REQUEST? 

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WHAT IF THEY ASK FOR VIDEO OF A CRIME THAT HAPPENED IN YOUR BRANCH?

DISCUSSION POINTS 2

• A SUBPOENA IS REQUIRED TO RELEASE ANY INFORMATION TO THE POLICE OR OTHER OFFICIALS

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• THERE ARE ALMOST NO INSTANCES WHERE OBTAINING INFORMATION ABOUT OUR USERS IS PERMISSIBLE AND THESE SHOULD BE HANDLED BY A MANAGER

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• BRING THIS TO THE ATTENTION OF YOUR MANAGER WHO WILL FORWARD THE REQUEST ON TO SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OR YOUR DIRECTOR

PART 3

SCENARIO 1

A COWORKER COMES IN UPSET AFTER READING A REVEALING ARTICLE ABOUT THE EARLY WORK OF DR. SEUSS BEFORE HE BEGAN WRITING CHILDREN’S BOOKS. SHE WANTS TO KNOW WHY THE LIBRARY WOULD RETAIN THE SEUSS 6 THAT HAVE AT LEAST BEEN CANCELLED FOR FUTURE PUBLICATION.

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HOW DO YOU HAVE THIS INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM CONVERSATION?

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DISCUSSION POINTS 1

• FIRST LISTEN YOUR COWORKERS ARE LIBRARY USERS TOO. YOUR COWORKER GOES ON TO SAY THAT SHE THINKS TO RESERVE SPACE ON THE LIBRARY’S SHELF IS IMPLICATION THAT IT PROMOTES SUCH NEGATIVISM IN LITERATURE. AND STRESSES WE WOULD BE SHOWING INSENSITIVITY TO OUR BIPOC READERS BY RETAINING THEM. PERHAPS, SHE SUGGESTS, WE SHOULD TAKE A STAND FOR THE RIGHTS OF THOSE MALIGNED BY RACIST AUTHORS.

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• WHAT IF IT’S JUST OUR WHITE PRIVILEGE ALLOWING US TO STAND AGAINST THE CENSORSHIP OF RACIST MATERIAL LIKE THIS?

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• BUT WHO MAKES THE DECISIONS ON WHAT TO REMOVE DUE TO RACIST CONTENT, IS THIS AS SUBJECTIVE AS PORN? WHERE DOES IT STOP? DO WE GET RID OF MEIN KAMPF? ROALD DAHL? TEXAS STATE LIBRARY HAS A CLAUSE IN IT’S WEEDING POLICY THAT WOULD ALLOW LIBRARIANS TO WEED BASED ON RACIST CONTENT, BUT THERE ARE NO OTHER GUIDELINES DETAILED

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• EMPATHIZE: I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY THIS IS A DIFFICULT ISSUE TO UNDERSTAND AND DECISION TO SUPPORT, MANY LIBRARIANS HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING THIS AND HAVE MIXED FEELINGS.

DISCUSSION POINTS 1

• ADVOCATE: FREEDOM TO READ STATEMENT: Publishers, librarians, and booksellers do not need to endorse every idea or presentation they make available. It would conflict with the public interest for them to establish their own political, moral, or aesthetic views as a standard for determining what should be published or circulated. he freedom to read is of little consequence when the reader cannot obtain matter fit for that reader's purpose. AND What is needed is not only the absence of restraint, but the positive provision of opportunity for the people to read the best that has been thought and said. Books are the major channel by which the intellectual inheritance is handed down, and the principal means of its testing and growth. The defense of the freedom to read requires of all publishers and librarians the utmost of their faculties and deserves of all Americans the fullest of their support.

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• REDIRECT: ASK HER TO HELP BUILD A NEW PICTURE BOOK DISPLAY OR A CENTERING BIPOC DISPLAY IN THE JUVENILE COLLECTION THAT SHOWCASES BOOKS THAT WOULD BE WELCOMING AND BENEFICIAL FOR FAMILIES TO READ TOGETHER.

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• TELL YOUR MANAGER - MAYBE SUGGEST THE WHOLE STAFF DO AN IF REFRESHER AND TALK ABOUT CENSORHIP, INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM VALUES AND BALANCING THEM WITH OUR COMMITTMENT TO BE ANTI-RACIST.

SCENARIO 2

A USER CALLS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE DVD, A FAMILY AFFAIR. SHE CHECKED IT OUT, TOOK IT HOME AND LET HER CHILDREN WATCH IT WHILE SHE WAS MAKING DINNER LAST NIGHT.

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WHAT INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM STEPS SHOULD YOU TAKE TO HAVE THIS CONVERSATION?

DISCUSSION POINTS 2

• WHILE LISTENING THE USER TELLS YOU SHE HAD NOT WATCHED THE MOVIE, BUT IT WAS LABELED AS “FAMILY,” SO SHE ASSUMED IT WOULD BE OKAY FOR CHILDREN. IT TURNED OUT THE MOVIE WAS A ROMANTIC COMEDY ABOUT A LESBIAN WOMAN LOOKING FOR LOVE. IN THE USER'S OPINION, THE MOVIE IS LEWD, OFFENSIVE AND NOT APPROPRIATE FOR “FAMILIES.”

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• EMPATHIZE: “I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT WOULD BE UPSETTING” – LEADS YOU TO ADVOCATE

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• ADVOCATE: WE DO NOT LABEL OUR MATERIALS IN WAYS THAT MIGHT BE A BARRIER TO ACCESS FOR OUR USERS, BUT WE DO RETAIN THE RATING LABELS THE DVDS CAME WITH SO USERS CAN BE AWARE WHAT THEY CHOOSING TO CHECKOUT. WE TRUST THAT PARENTS WILL BE THE JUDGE FOR WHAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO READ AND WATCH RATHER THAN MAKING THOSE ASSUMPTIONS AS A LIBRARY

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• REDIRECT: I THINK THIS MIGHT HAVE BEEN BASED ON A MISCOMMUNICATION ABOUT OUR LABELING. “FAMILY” IS NOT ACTUALLY A LABEL DESIGNATION. EXPLAIN THE COLLECTION ORGANIZATION. OFFER TO SHOW HER HOW SHE CAN CRAFT A SEARCH FOR DVDS IN THE PUBLIC CATALOG THAT MIGHT HELP HER IN THE FUTURE AND SHOW HERE WHERE THE JUVENILE DVDS ARE LOCATED

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• TELL YOUR MANAGER

WHAT IF IT’S NOT ENOUGH 2

• WHAT IF THE USER UNDERSTANDS ALL THAT AND HOW SHE CAN AVOID THE ISSUE IN THE FUTURE AND STILL THINKS THE LABELING ON THIS SPECIFIC DVD IS AN ISSUE SHE WANTS SOMEONE TO LOOK INTO FURTHER?

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• MANAGERS SHOULD FOLLOW THE SAME 5 STEPS AS YOUR STAFF, TRY TO HAVE AN ADVOCACY CONVERSATION THAT DEESCALATES THIS FORMAL COMPLAINT TO AN EXPRESSION OF CONCERN

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• TALK WITH USERS ABOUT HOW WE DO NOT USUALLY LABEL OUR MATERIALS IN WAYS THAT MIGHT BE A BARRIER TO ACCESS FOR OUR USERS, BUT WE DO RETAIN THE RATING LABELS THE DVDS CAME WITH SO USERS CAN BE AWARE WHAT THEY CHOOSING TO CHECKOUT. WE TRUST THAT PARENTS WILL BE THE JUDGE FOR WHAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO READ AND WATCH RATHER THAN MAKING THOSE ASSUMPTIONS AS A LIBRARY FOR OUR USERS

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• VIEWPOINT-NEUTRAL LABELING SUCH AS OUR GENRE LABELING IS TO INCREASE EASE OF ACCESS, IS PROSCRIBED BY THE PUBLISHER AND USERS MAY CHOOSE TO IGNORE THEM , WE STRIVE TO REMAIN CONSISTENT WITH LABELING & ORGANIZING OUR COLLECTIONS, BUT WE DO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS COULD CAUSE CONFUSION AND SOME ISSUES

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• IF THE USER STILL WISHES TO PURSUE RECOURSE THE MANAGER CAN THEN GIVE THEM A COPY OF THE RECONSIDERATION FORM, THEIR CARD AND EXPLAIN THE RECONSIDERATION PROCESS – THEN TELL YOUR MANAGER

5 STEPS . . .

1. LISTEN – SOMETIMES USERS JUST WANT TO BE HEARD & WE VALUE THEIR FEEDBACK
2. EMPATHIZE – DO NOT APOLOGIZE
3. ADVOCATE – AS A LIBRARY WE HAVE SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE & REPRESENTATIVE OF EVERYONE
4. REDIRECT – USE YOUR USER SERVICE SKILLS & RA TOOLS, SHOW THEM WE HAVE SOMETHING FOR THEM TOO
5. NOTIFY YOUR MANAGERS – THEY WANT TO SUPPORT YOU & BE PREPARED FOR FUTURE COMPLAINTS