Tag Archives: censorship

Banned Books Week: Amnesty International calls attention to the plight of people who are persecuted because of what they write or publish – in print and online

This guest blog comes from Ed McKennon, Library Faculty, Glendale Community College, as well as the Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) Working Group for Banned Books. Read more about work between AIUSA and the American Library Association at bottom.

Image of hands on prison bars on a laptop screen, with social media images. Text: no space for dissentEach year in late summer I take time to review the cases that Amnesty International has chosen to call attention to during the widely observed Banned Books Week celebrations that take place during the last week of September. I do this, in part, because I am a librarian at a community college where the library works with the Amnesty International student organization to host an annual “Banned Book Reading” in order to draw attention to censorship issues in the United States and around the world.

The slate of cases put forward by Amnesty International in 2021 hail from various corners of the world — Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Russia, Iran, Hong Kong, Central America, and Bangladesh.  This year they feature an unpublished fiction writer, a poet, several journalists, and a cartoonist who face an array of sanctions for their work. Some face years in prison, most have already been detained, all encounter some sort of state sponsored intimidation or harassment. Like other years of late, the slate of cases includes those persecuted for their printed publications as well as those facing penalty for what they post online, particularly on social media.

The online environment continues to be an increasingly dangerous place for those who might dissent from the government. To be sure, in countries around the world and here in the United States, authorities are grappling with how to deal with ‘fake news’ and various forms of disinformation as it proliferates on social media. I suspect that is what was on the minds of many lawmakers in Bangladesh as they crafted the “draconian” Digital Securities Act (DSA) and embedded within it overly broad language and extensive pre-trial detention powers.

Unfortunately these provisions — which may seem innocuous at first — are out of step with international human rights standards. They have been used to target or harass those expressing dissenting opinions and have resulted in cases filed against approximately 2000 people and nearly 1000 arrests, often for people posting information on social media that is critical of the government.  According to Amnesty International, under the DSA, at least 433 individuals had been imprisoned as of 11 July 2021; at least 185 were held for allegedly publishing offensive and false information online.  

Imagine being a 15 year old high school student forced to spend 16 days in a juvenile correction facility because you share a controversial post “to get likes” on Facebook. Mohammad Emon shared such a post in Bangladesh and was arrested and detained in June 2020; formal criminal charges were filed against him in July 2021.

Imagine being a prominent Bangladeshi cartoonist forced to spend 10 months in pre-trial detention for “satirising on Facebook powerful people and the Bangladeshi government’s response to [the] COVID-19 pandemic.”   After spending 10 months in detention Ahmed Kabir Kishore faces a 10 year prison sentence as a result of charges including publishing “false information” and “propaganda” which could “deteriorate law and order” by “supporting or organizing crime.” Kishore is still facing charges despite being released on bail in March 2021 one week after fellow accused writer, Mushtaq Ahmed, died in custody.  Kishore was presented the Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award by Cartoonist Rights International Network in October 2020. Many of his controversial images remain available online

Pre-trial detention, coupled with laws addressing online speech or terrorism prevention, is one method used by authoritarian governments use to quell expression. 

Imagine being a 25 year old poet and teacher who is arrested and detained for more than a year – without being charged with a crime and without access to your family for five months — in connection with a published collection of your poems (Navarasam / நவரசம்) and “other unsubstantiated claims of exposing your students to ‘extremist’ content and ideology.“  

Under the Sri Lankan Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) it is permissible to hold invividuals without any charges or trial for up to 18 months. According to Amnesty International and several other international and Sri Lankan human rights organizations (see Joint Statement), “the PTA has been used against Sri Lanka’s ethnic and religious minority communities, with a disproportionate number of Tamils and Muslims in detention under the Act.” The same statement notes that one year into his detention, the authorities have yet to bring forth any evidence that substantiates their allegations against Ahnaf Jazeem.

Emom and Kishore are two of 10 cases described in the July 2021 Amnesty International report, No Space for Dissent: Bangladeshi’s Crackdown on Freedom of Expression Online

You can visit the Amnesty International Banned Books Week website to take action in support of Jazeem and Kishore while registering your support for the repeal or amendment of the Digital Security Act, and calling for the release of those accused or detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression. 

HOW CAN LIBRARIES PARTICIPATE?

Libraries can make a difference by organizing community programs and providing information.

By supporting the Banned Books Week initiatives of both the American Library Association and Amnesty International, libraries can reach out to their communities while further advancing the principles of free expression as articulated in the IFLA Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom and elsewhere.

Libraries and bookstores can get in on the action in an organized fashion by reviewing the “Library and Bookstore” section of the online toolkit and exploring ways they can support the effort, connect with the community, and promote freedom of expression.  

Augment Book Displays

Ideas in the toolkit include creating a simple “banned books” display that features information about the Amnesty International cases and links to the ‘take action’ webpages amid a display of books that have a history of censorship. 

This year the toolkits on the Banned Books Week website feature QR code enabled printable case sheets that provide basic information about each case and facilitate taking action.  

Flyers, bookmarks, and the Buying Books, Amplifying Voices book list are also available.

Reach out to Local Amnesty International Groups

Libraries and bookstores can also reach out to local Amnesty International community and college groups to explore ways to partner. Information about how to find a nearby U.S. based Amnesty International group is in the toolkit. International partners may view Amnesty International country contact information via the Amnesty.org website in order to get in touch with their national section. 

Add Case Stories, Words, and Images to Virtual or In-Person Readouts 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many events may still need to be online. However, organizing a virtual read-out with links to online actions would be an exciting local event if a live in-person read-out is not possible. Local authors, librarians, and booksellers could speak about censorship while Amnesty International members or others from the community share stories of the people featured this year, including the words and images of those censored in the event where possible. 

Add and Feature Books Written by Authors Imprisoned or Killed for their Writing

Amnesty image - freedom of expression is a human right

While there are many book lists related to censorship available on the web, libraries and bookstores may be particularly interested in the AIUSA Banned Books Week book list, Buying Books, Amplifying Voices which features more than two dozen books written by or about authors who have been harassed, imprisoned, killed, or exiled because of their writing. 

Making these books available to the community takes a stand against censorship. By raising awareness of these creators and their ideas, the intent of censorship is thwarted while our communities gain a greater understanding of the world around us. In the words of  Russian LGBTI activist/artist and 2020 Banned Books Week case Yulia Tsvetkova, “the government, ironically, did not silence us, but made it possible to loudly declare injustice.” 

Register for the live-online kick-off event 

Under the theme Page Not Found: Censorship and Human Rights in the 21st Century, this event features  the voices of journalists facing criminal charges for what they publish and representatives from the library profession (September 21 at 8pm Eastern Time). Registration & more details are available.

Take action throughout October on these important cases.

The American Library Association (ALA) has been leading Banned Books Week in the United States since the early 1980s to celebrate the freedom to read and call attention to book censorship efforts. During the 1990s Amnesty International USA began to call attention, during Banned Books Week, to “the plight of individuals who are persecuted because of the writings that they produce, circulate or read.” In 2013, ALA honored Amnesty International USA with an Office of Intellectual Freedom award recognizing AIUSA’s approach to Banned Books Week that focuses on the “logical consequences … that follow when governments are allowed to censor” noting that “beyond the removal or burning of books comes the removal and physical harm to authors, journalists and others.” 

You may also want to join an event for Banned Books Week with IFLA participation: Page not Found: Censorship and Human Rights in the 21st Century, on 21 September 2021 at 8pm New York time.  Censorship in the 21st century involves suppression of books, news, and social media. Around the world, governments are trying to control the internet through cyber-censorship and surveillance, and use sophisticated technology to silence, spy on, harass, and track the critical voices of individuals and journalists. Join us and hear from representatives from Amnesty International USA, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, the International Federation of Library Associations, and journalists and cartoonists from Central America facing criminal charges for their work.

Register here.

Banned Books Week Image by Camden Forgia

Banned Books Week: Amnesty International Guest Blog

Banned Books Week:

Amnesty International calls attention to the plight of people who are persecuted because of what they write or publish.

 

 

It’s September, which means that Banned Books Week is almost here!  For libraries across the United States – and increasingly around the world – the last week of September is a time to celebrate freedom of expression and freedom to read while calling attention to very real threats to these freedoms. During this time the American Library Association highlights the work it does to document book challenges in (mostly) American libraries, meanwhile Amnesty International USA brings to light abuses of the human rights of people in the publishing world — particularly those who have been harassed, threatened, imprisoned, exiled, or killed because of what they write, publish, or read.  As such, the work of the two organizations complement each other.

In late August 2020 AIUSA launched a reinvigorated approach to Banned Books Week, calling attention to ten people in seven different countries who face harassment, long prison terms, and even death for what they have published, as well as their work as journalists, photojournalists, writers, and online activists. This year four cases are drawn from across Asia (China, India, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam) as well as Yemen, Russia, and the United States.

Several of the featured writers, artists, and journalists have been detained, charged with crimes, or sentenced and imprisoned. Three of the cases — an artist/activist from Russia, an award winning photojournalist from India, and a short story writer from Sri Lanka — are facing between six and ten years in prison if found guilty of the charges against them. One journalist has already been sentenced to seven years in prison for reporting on an environmental disaster in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, a Chinese / Australian novelist, academic, and blogger has been detained since January 2019 and charged with crimes that carry a penalty from three years’ imprisonment to death, and in April 2020 four journalists, detained since 2015 in Yemen, were sentenced to death.

Finally, AIUSA is calling attention to a journalist in the United States who was pepper sprayed, arrested, detained, and charged in the context of her work as a journalist covering the Black Lives Matter protests.

In honor of Banned Books Week, Amnesty International USA asks people around the world to take action to support these individuals and the right to freedom of expression. The easiest way for individuals to take action is to visit the 2020 Banned Books Week website, learn about the cases, and sign the online petitions.

HOW CAN LIBRARIES PARTICIPATE?

By supporting the Banned Books Week initiatives of both the American Library Association and Amnesty International, libraries can reach out to their communities while further advancing the principles of free expression as articulated in the IFLA Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom and elsewhere.

Libraries and bookstores can get in on the action in an organized fashion by reviewing the “Libraries & Bookstores” toolkit and exploring the ways that they can support the effort, connect with the community, and promote freedom of expression.

Augment Book Displays

Ideas in the toolkit include creating a simple “banned books” display that features information about the Amnesty International cases and links to the ‘take action’ webpages amid a display of books that have a history of censorship and books written by authors whose rights have been violated because of what they write. See the Banned Books Week website for printable case sheets, flyers, bookmarks, and a related booklist.

Reach out to Local Amnesty International Groups

Libraries and bookstores can also reach out to local Amnesty International community and college groups to explore ways to partner. Information about how to find a nearby U.S. based Amnesty International group is in the toolkit. International partners may view Amnesty International country contact information via the Amnesty.org website in order to get in touch with their national section.

Add Case Stories, Words, and Images to Virtual Readout Outs

With the COVID-19 pandemic many events may have to move online. However, organizing a virtual read-out with links to online actions would be an exciting local event if a live in-person read-out is not possible. Perhaps local authors, librarians, and booksellers could speak about censorship while Amnesty International members or others from the community tell the story of the people featured this year, including their words and images in the event where possible.

Add and Feature Books Written by Authors Imprisoned or Killed for their Writing

While there are many booklists related to censorship available on the web, libraries and bookstores may be particularly interested in the 2020 AIUSA Banned Books Week Book List that features more than two dozen books written by or about authors who have been harassed, imprisoned, killed, or exiled because of their writing.

Making these books available to the community takes a stand against censorship. By raising awareness of these creators and their ideas, the intent of censorship is thwarted while your community gains a greater understanding of the world around us. In the words of  Russian LGBTI activist/artist Yulia Tsvetkova, published in The Art Newspaper, “the government, ironically, did not silence us, but made it possible to loudly declare injustice.”

——

Join Amnesty International USA for Silenced Voices: A Banned Books Week Event, featuring the voices of journalists facing criminal charges for what they publish, on September 24 at 8pm Eastern Time and take action throughout October on these important cases.

The American Library Association (ALA) has been leading Banned Books Week in the United States since the early 1980s to celebrate the freedom to read and call attention to book censorship efforts. During the 1990s Amnesty International USA began to call attention, during Banned Books Week, to “the plight of individuals who are persecuted because of the writings that they produce, circulate or read.” In 2013, ALA honored Amnesty International USA with an Office of Intellectual Freedom award recognizing AIUSA’s approach to Banned Books Week that focuses on the “logical consequences … that follow when governments are allowed to censor” noting that “beyond the removal or burning of books comes the removal and physical harm to authors, journalists and others.” Following the 2011 death of Thesil Morlan, AIUSA volunteer and Banned Books Week coordinator, AIUSA Banned Book Week efforts diminished but the tradition was carried on by several local and college groups across the United States. 2020 marks a structured return to a national commemoration led by AIUSA staff and volunteers.

 

Ed McKennon

Library Faculty, Glendale Community College

Amnesty International USA Working Group for Banned Books

World Press Freedom Day: Libraries Supporting Intellectual Freedom during the Pandemic and Beyond

May 3rd marks the annual World Press Freedom Day, and this year’s dedicated campaign launched by UNESCO focuses on the theme “journalism without fear or favour”. This day puts the spotlight on challenges to press freedom and independence, safety of journalists, and gender equality in media. For libraries, these issues are of course deeply connected to their core mission and values of access to information and intellectual freedom.

Where does news media stand in 2020?

On World Press Freedom Day 2020, journalism and news media are facing new and remerging challenges, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. A recent statement by the Council of Europe, for example, highlights that some legislative initiatives against disinformation can have significant and disproportionate impacts on press freedom and people’s right to receive information. The International Press Institute points out the different challenges that have emerged or intensified: from increasing restrictions on ‘fake’ news, to limits on journalists’ access to information, financial or accreditation challenges, and more.

On a larger scale, the newly released 2020 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) highlights the key pressures that impact the future of free, independent and diverse journalism. These include: geopolitical and economic crises, the evolution of digital informational ecosystems where journalism and advertising, political, economic and editorial materials coexist and compete, and hostility and mistrust towards journalists.

The good news is that the overall global indicator does register a small overall improvement of press freedom in the world since last year. That being said, the RWB report emphasises that the coming decade will have a profound impact on the future of freedom of information and media.

What is the role of libraries?

Naturally, there is a significant degree of affinity between journalistic and library values – as a 2019 Nieman Foundation Report points out, both fundamentally work to inform and empower communities. This can work as a powerful starting point for collaboration – so can libraries help address some of the key challenges the RWB report outlined?

The economic crisis: hybrid models and partnerships

One of the big impacts of the economic crisis in news media is arguably the financial sustainability challenges that local news faces. One possible solution to this challenge that is being discussed over the last few years is providing support to local newsrooms, for example by providing space in such public facilities as libraries or post offices – or even libraries delivering local news directly.

While this is still an emerging idea, libraries and local news organisations continue to explore ways to cooperate. Some collaborations are a continuous arrangement – like a grassroots local online news organisation NOWCastSA housed inside the San Antonio’s Central Library in the United States. As a Nieman report points out, this partnership also allowed them to team up and carry out joint events, and to highlight some of the library’s programming in NOWCastSA’s reporting.

Some initiatives have even evolved to adapt to the difficult COVID situation. For example, in New York, an independent news outlet THE CITY launched a joint project with the Brooklyn Public Library called “The Open Newsroom”. Already in 2019, they had started hosted public meetings in library branches to identify key neighbourhood concerns and see how the local news can be more collaborative and better serve the needs of the community. Now, in the face of the pandemic, the plans for a second round of meetings have been adjusted, and the public meetings will be organised filly online, allowing the project to continue!

Tackling the crisis of trust and technology

If a lack of trust and confidence in news and media – especially in the hyper-dense online environment – is one of the pressing challenges to journalism, media literacy can definitely be an important part of the solution.

A draft Council of Europe study on “Supporting Quality Journalism through Media and Information Literacy” identified five main models of MIL activities; and libraries and community media play a key role in the “training model”. Reports drawing on Swedish and Finnish approaches to MIL, for example, also show how libraries can be actively engaged in delivering MIL training to their communities.

Partnerships in the area are also common: for example, NewsGuard – a company developing “nutritional labels” for popular news sites to mark how correct the information is – has a partnership program for libraries in Europe and the US.

Advocacy: together for Intellectual Freedom

Naturally, libraries and library institutions are often actively engaged in promoting and standing up for Intellectual Freedom. The Canadian Federation of Library Association, the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, and several library associations, for example, recently celebrated the Freedom to Read week, a campaign focusing on promoting freedom of expression, freedom to read and report the news. Such library initiatives clearly show the significant overlap between libraries’ Intellectual Freedom values and the freedom of press.

Drawing on library expertise – news media digitisation and preservation

Even though perhaps less relevant for current day-to-day journalism but rather for historic records, libraries can also help preserve the news that has been published. News archiving and preservation in the digital age can be a challenge: a recent Columbia Journalism Review report, for instance, points out that many news agencies they had interviewed don’t see the value in preserving their output, or do not have established preservation policies and practices.

This is also a prospective area for collaboration. The University of Missouri Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute and University Libraries, for example, have received a grant for a joint project to explore ways to preserve today’s digital news. They plan to set up visits with US and European news agencies to see how their policies, equipment and operations impact their preservation processes.

Another example is a web archive launched by several Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation librarians, aimed at preserving some specific areas of at-risk online news web content. These are a few examples of how libraries can help make sure the valuable work of journalists is preserved.

Similarly, libraries have been clear in underlining that applications of the principle of the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ should respect press freedom. In a recent joint statement with the International Council on Archives, IFLA stressed also that broader privacy legislation should not lead to the deletion of news articles in collections, and so their non-availability for future generations.

All these and other areas show the connection between libraries and journalism – and their shared values. World Press Freedom Day is the opportunity for us to celebrate intellectual freedom, freedom of expression and access to information – and see what can be done to uphold these.

Intellectual freedom in Syria

FAIFE is marking the 20th anniversary of the IFLA Statement on Intellectual Freedom. To understand where the debate on intellectual freedom stands today, we are talking with the members and expert advisors of the FAIFE Committee. Today, we’re getting the perspective from Inaam Charaf, originally from Syria, and who is now Assistant Regional Director at the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour of New Brunswick, Canada. 

 

 

For us, as librarians, intellectual freedom (حرية التفكير والتعبير) is the right to access and receive information it without any restriction. In short, it’s freedom of expression, thinking, providing, reading and receiving knowledge, ideas and information.

Intellectual freedom in Syria is seen and interpreted in many ways, depending on someone’s  political, social and individual status or orientation. However, the importance of this issue has led the general Syrian public who, for decades was deprived of this right, to revolt against the dictatorship and claiming a democratic system where people have the right to autonomy as well as the right to self-governance.

For this cause, since March 2011, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives, hundreds of thousands more have lost their freedom and have been reported as cases of enforced disappearance, and have been either detained or died under torture and behind bars, in addition to the millions of Syrians who faced and suffered from forced migration, including myself and hundreds of other librarians.

For libraries, in a healthy and democratic country, intellectual freedom is a vital issue. In Syria, the level of awareness about the importance of this issue, is very high. However, on the practice front, libraries and librarians are deprived of the right to provide people with information and knowledge of all kinds, nature and intellectual content.

The biggest questions and controversies that librarians facing in Syria today are: “what is the future of Arab spring revolutions? What is the cost of intellectual freedom and how can libraries and librarians deal with these questions and controversies? How to be just a librarian?”

The answer to these questions, from a personal point of view and as a librarian, is to keep fighting for our profession and to deal with intellectual freedom as a vital historical process as well as a supreme goal to which we need to attend. Intellectual freedom has been associated, historically, with the claim to political freedom, and pursued with the aim of breaking the walls of intellectual exclusivity and other restrictions. The status of intellectual freedom was controlled by the state and the Church. These two authorities interfered in every aspect of life, faith, daily practices, art, science, etc.

“The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco is a novel which takes place in the 14th century, but which is somehow linked with our era, with all of its social and political events. That medieval library run by young novice librarians, and where many monks were found murdered in mysterious ways, is the perfect example of the status of intellectual freedom, libraries and librarians in Syria today, but in different forms and tools.

In the novel it turns out, at the end, that all those terrible crimes were committed for a supreme ethical and intellectual reason: the second part of the ”Poetics”, a manuscript by Aristotle containing his theory of comedy and laughter, thought to be lost, had been found in the library. Somebody was willing to do anything – even kill – to prevent the circulation of this manuscript.

The many and different events in ”The Name of the Rose” reflect in a way or another the contemporary Arab spring revolutions and the severe repression of those revolutionary movements. Authorities have been ready to go to any lengths to prevent the emergence and spread of ideas.

The biggest challenges for intellectual freedom in the coming years in Syria could be briefly described in the following statements:

– A peace plan for Syria to put a stop to the spread of violence

– A drive to help a whole generation of Syrian children who were forced to displace with their families and living today either in displacement camps or European countries to make up for the lost years of education and literacy

I believe that libraries have a key role and very strong relation to intellectual freedom. By providing all information resources, in all formats and methods, and equally to all users in all their categories, without any discrimination based on cultural, ethnic, religious or sexual background, libraries could play a vital role in changing the status of intellectual freedom in Syria, in the next 10 years.

Libraries can also lead awareness and social mobilization campaigns to defend intellectual freedom and freedom of expression, as well as to advocate for individual freedoms and for others’ freedom and privacy, to limit interference in individual and daily life, and respect for personal choices.

IFLA Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom, 20 Years On – the UK Perspective

FAIFE is marking the 20th anniversary of the IFLA Statement on Intellectual Freedom. To understand where the debate on intellectual freedom stands today, we are talking with the members and expert advisors of the FAIFE Committee. Today, we’re getting the perspective from the United Kingdom from Louise Cooke, Professor of Information and Knowledge Management at Loughborough University.

 

This year we celebrate twenty years since the IFLA Statement on Intellectual Freedom was prepared by IFLA FAIFE and approved by the Executive Board of IFLA on 25 March 1999 in The Hague, Netherlands.

This seems a good point to stand back and reflect on where we are now as a society in terms of intellectual freedom, and some of the challenges facing this critical human right.

Of course, our perspectives will differ according to where in the world we are living, not to mention our own subjective views: therefore, this blog can only be written from my own perspective as a UK citizen. However, comments and reflections from your own personal and geographical perspective would be welcome in the comments section below. Please feel free to contribute!

The term ‘intellectual freedom’ can mean many things even to a single person. Article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that relates to intellectual freedom, states:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” (United Nations, 1948)

Although not explicitly using the term ‘intellectual freedom’, this is a useful starting point for a definition.

It is inclusive – everyone has an equal right to this basic civil liberty. It also acknowledges the right to hold opinions without interference, whether or not we choose to express them.

In addition, it does not constrain itself to freedom of expression (i.e. the right to speak, write or publish controversial opinion) but also highlights the importance of freedom of access to information, in whatever form it takes and wherever we may be in the world.

In the UK this right is all too often taken for granted: albeit that it is restricted by numerous legislative instruments (such as the Obscene Publications Act 1964, the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 and the Public Order Act 1986) and social norms that proscribe potentially offensive or harmful speech, there is a general belief that we are relatively free to voice our opinions and to access information without constraint.

The UK Human Rights Act 1998 Article 10 reflects the UN UDHR in asserting that everyone has the right to freedom of speech, including the right ‘to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers’. Since 2005, we have also held a legal right to request information held by public authorities via the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

However, it must be borne in mind that these rights are qualified, for example in the interests of national defence and security and, in the case of the Human Rights Act, also for ‘the protection of health and morals’, all of which exemptions seem sufficiently broad (and vague) as to raise questions about the validity of the protection of freedom of speech and freedom of access to information in practice.

The UK is currently undergoing a period of turmoil, change and uncertainty, in particular with regard to the proposed exit from the European Union.

A recent ‘Democracy Audit’ (Dunleavy, Park & Taylor 2018) carried out by scholars at the LSE highlighted the adverse impact of divisions over Brexit and chaotic political party relations, the polarisation of debate and the damaging impact on small parties inflicted by the ‘first past the post’ electoral system, and the damage caused to public services by the austerity agenda pursued between 2010 and 2018.

Public libraries have been hit particularly hard by this agenda, with nearly 130 public library closures in 2018 alone, and many local libraries being ‘deprofessionalised’ and left to community groups to run.

This is a concern for intellectual freedom: whilst well-meaning volunteers may prevent a local area from being left with no library service, volunteers are not usually professionally trained and may not hold the same awareness of, and commitment to, the professional body CILIP’s commitment to the principle of intellectual freedom and rejection of censorship and its newly revised Ethical Framework.

Meanwhile, work carried out at Loughborough University between 2012 and 2014 on UK public libraries’ management of internet access, found that, while the use of filtering software appears to be ubiquitous in UK public libraries, most professional and frontline library staff regarded the expediency of this to be of greater import than the potential adverse impact of filtering on intellectual freedom.

In addition to the impact of public library closures, increasingly restrictive anti-terrorism legislation, and the use of filtering software, public libraries in the UK are, as elsewhere, subject to challenges from members of their local community regarding appropriateness of material held by the library.

Censorship challenges to books held in Scottish public libraries are detailed in a 2012 paper by Taylor and McMenemy, which also discusses the actions taken by the libraries concerned in response to the challenges.

Although this study is also a good example of the use of Freedom of Information legislation to shine a light on the extent of censorship in libraries, and the protection that can be offered by a carefully developed and implemented collection development policy, it also reflects the fact that there is no room for complacency with regard to the state of intellectual freedom in UK public libraries.

Moreover, as new challenges and threats arise in line with new technological developments that offer ever greater opportunities for surveillance and more sophisticated and widespread data collection and analytics, the need for librarians to be constantly aware of their ethical responsibilities with regard to protection of user privacy and the protection of intellectual freedom will only become more acute.

From Gatekeeper to Gateway to Gate-Opener: The Changing Role of Libraries (and How We Talk About It)

The emergence of the internet has undoubtedly revolutionised the information landscape, taking us from a situation of information scarcity to one of abundance.

This has of course massively affected the role of libraries, which can no-longer claim any sort of monopoly on provision of access to information, at least beyond that which people’s personal libraries can provide.

Libraries have responded, focusing collections on materials which cannot necessarily be found freely online. They have also placed a greater emphasis on providing a space where people can interact with information and build communities.

As is already reflected in IFLA’s Intellectual Freedom Statement, which turns 20 this year, libraries should act as ‘gateways’ to information.

Crucially, this is the word chosen, rather than ‘gatekeepers’, which would imply that libraries choose what information people should see or not, or even, what information people should see.

This is an important distinction. Given the commitment of libraries to providing access to information, claiming a right to restrict this sends an odd signal. It risks making libraries look paternalistic and even arrogant – something that will not serve our institutions well as we seek public and political support into the future.

This is not to say that there are no situations where access needs to be controlled – because materials are vulnerable, sensitive, or (unfortunately) because of the conditions under which they were acquired. Moreover, the fact that libraries cannot acquire everything does create a limitation of sorts on possibilities for access, at least until a copy can be found from elsewhere.

However, these situations are clearly the exception not the rule. As the Intellectual Freedom Statement suggests, it seems fitting that library and information workers should think first of all about how they can give access, rather than how they should restrict it.

 

Fake News and the Risk of Back-Sliding

Especially with the rise of concern about ‘fake news’, there has also been a tendency to talk about libraries as places where you can find reliable information. Surveys have shown that this is indeed a key strength of libraries in the eyes of communities.

This is welcome – it is certainly true that libraries work hard to acquire high quality books and materials, and librarians aim to help users find the sources that help them best.

However, the idea of libraries as the place where you find reliable information – ‘true news’ – brings with it the suggestion that our institutions have a monopoly on truth and fact. This risks reversing the progress marked in the Intellectual Freedom statement – the recognition that libraries are gateways, not gatekeepers.

Where libraries arguably do have a monopoly is as places where it is possible to develop the skills, at any time of life, to use and interact with information. To recognise that there is often no one right answer, but degrees of accuracy and reliability, and to deal with this accordingly.

This comes both from the diversity of collections libraries can offer, from different sources and publishers, and from the skills of librarians themselves.

Indeed, it’s possible to argue that libraries are not just gateways – passive spaces where people can come in order to read an borrow books, or use the Internet – but gate-openers – to a more active and useful engagement with information.

 

The 20 years since the agreement of IFLA’s Intellectual Freedom Statement have seen huge changes in the way we access and use information. In doing so, they have confirmed the choice of the word ‘gateway’  rather than ‘gate-keeper’ in relation to libraries’ role in relation to access to information.

Today, with a growing emphasis on building skills – and the risk of back-sliding linked to the ‘fake news’  phenomenon – perhaps it is time to think about taking the next step, from gateways to gate-openers.