Mary -
The ALA's Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read
Statementwould be effective tools (weapons, perhaps)
in your efforts to deal with this issue. Also, the
ALA has a statement regarding labeling and censorship.
I am including the text of that statement below. The
Wake County School System (where I am interning
currently) includes statements about the media policy
that media centers will adhere to the the intent of
these two documents.
Here is the statement, in full:
Statement on Labeling:
An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights
Labeling is the practice of describing or designating
materials by affixing a prejudicial label and/or
segregating them by a prejudicial system. The American
Library Association opposes these means of
predisposing people’s attitudes toward library
materials for the following reasons:
1. Labeling is an attempt to prejudice attitudes and
as such, it is a censor’s tool.
2. Some find it easy and even proper, according to
their ethics, to establish criteria for judging
publications as objectionable. However, injustice and
ignorance rather than justice and enlightenment result
from such practices, and the American Library
Association opposes the establishment of such
criteria.
3. Libraries do not advocate the ideas found in their
collections. The presence of books and other resources
in a library does not indicate endorsement of their
contents by the library.
A variety of private organizations promulgate rating
systems and/or review materials as a means of advising
either their members or the general public concerning
their opinions of the contents and suitability or
appropriate age for use of certain books, films,
recordings, or other materials. For the library to
adopt or enforce any of these private systems, to
attach such ratings to library materials, to include
them in bibliographic records, library catalogs, or
other finding aids, or otherwise to endorse them would
violate the Library Bill of Rights.
While some attempts have been made to adopt these
systems into law, the constitutionality of such
measures is extremely questionable. If such
legislation is passed which applies within a library’s
jurisdiction, the library should seek competent legal
advice concerning its applicability to library
operations.
Publishers, industry groups, and distributors
sometimes add ratings to material or include them as
part of their packaging. Librarians should not endorse
such practices. However, removing or obliterating such
ratings—if placed there by or with permission of the
copyright holder—could constitute expurgation, which
is also unacceptable.
The American Library Association opposes efforts which
aim at closing any path to knowledge. This statement,
however, does not exclude the adoption of
organizational schemes designed as directional aids or
to facilitate access to materials.
Adopted July 13, 1951. Amended June 25, 1971; July 1,
1981; June 26, 1990, by the ALA Council.
Also, the Library Bill of Rights addresses the issue:
II. Libraries should provide materials and
information presenting all points of view on current
and historical issues. Materials should not be
proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal
disapproval.
Finally, there is the ALA Freedom to Read Statement.
It is lengthy, so in the interest of not having this
e-mail clog up the system, I'll just provide the link.
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/ftrstatement/freedomreadstatement.htm
Hope this info helps with your situation!
=====
Jodi Freeze
MLS Student
East Carolina University,
Greenville, NC
freezejodi@yahoo.com
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