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Running head: INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM 1

Intellectual Freedom:

The School Librarian’s Role in Advocating for Intellectual Freedom

Lindsay Gardner

University of North Texas

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM 2

Abstract:

Intellectual freedom is at the center of libraries in the 21st century. It has been a movement that

has challenged librarians for years. Those who believe in intellectual freedom believe that

individuals should have access to all types of information, including print and digital, such as

books and articles. Patrons should have the option to access these materials without restrictions

just based on the content.

Intellectual freedom is protected through the first amendment. This paper discusses how

the First Amendment connects with intellectual freedom and discusses the Library Bill of Rights,

the guidelines for librarians to follow.

Intellectual Freedom is challenging school libraries in many ways. Resources of all kinds

are being challenged, websites are being filtered, confidentiality of students’ library records, and

equal access for students to resources and technology are being questioned. The paper discusses

ways to campaign for intellectual freedom and the right places to start to ensure everyone is

educated.

Within the library profession, intellectual freedom is based on a set of ethical principles

and best practices that can seem difficult to apply in a school library setting. This paper discusses

best practices that librarians can implement to support their libraries and ensure a safe

environment for their patrons.

Keywords: intellectual freedom, first amendment, school librarians/libraries, advocate


The School Librarian’s Role in Advocating for Intellectual Freedom

Introduction

Intellectual freedom is the fight against censorship and a fundamental library value. This

fight against censorship has long been a battle in libraries, but as ways of accessing information

grow, intellectual freedom is a bigger concern in school libraries. In school libraries young kids

are being censored by their parents, but there is a difference between selecting material to best fit

the community and censoring materials. Students should have the right to seek and receive age

appropriate information, and feel free to read information of their choice without restriction.

Intellectual freedom is a core value of a librarian’s profession. The following paper

helps establish the role school librarians must take in order to fully advocate for this idea. The

paper discusses the First Amendment, freedom of speech, and ways state and national

associations such as The American Association of School Libraries, have been a supportive

partner in this movement.

As our ways of retrieving and accessing information have changed, it is important for

school libraries and librarians to educate themselves and know how to follow the change

effectively. The paper highlights challenges school librarians go through, and ways they can

uphold their principles. It is the right of users to have access to information in any form, so it is

school librarians responsibility to advocate for intellectual freedom and to stop the efforts of

censorship while serving the interests of their patrons through best practices.


Literature Review

History of Intellectual Freedom

Intellectual freedom is the freedom to explore ideas without restriction. This idea is a

critical component of a democratic society, and one that as been in the back of librarians minds

for years. Intellectual freedom is a movement that school librarians are struggling the most to

deal with. This is an idea that takes a lot of support, learning and knowledge of the laws. School

librarians are at the center of this movement since they spend the majority of their time with

students. As digital trends move more into schools, and our world, intellectual freedom now

covers not only printed resources but digital resources. The American Library Association

(ALA) defines intellectual freedom as "the right of every individual to both seek and receive

information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all

expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement can be

explored (ALA, n.d.)." Intellectual freedom protects an individual's right to access, explore,

consider, and express ideas and information. School librarians should respect their students rights

and advocate against censorship.

In 1965, the Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) was established. This office’s purpose

had high expectations and was mainly established to promote positive messages for intellectual

freedom. The OIF wanted to defend intellectual freedom, collaborate with others, and build

relationships with not only other First Amendment groups, but with educational leaders as well

(Diaz & LaRue, 2017). The OIF elected Judith Krug, a reference librarian, to help bring this

office to life. The OIF, and Krug, are responsible for changing intellectual freedom for the better.

The article, “50 Years of Intellectual Freedom”, celebrates the OIF and all it has done to help


support librarians across the nation. Librarians face challenges on a daily basis, and the OIF is

there to help support librarians by having knowledge and skilled advocates on their side.

The IFC, Committee on Professional Ethics, and Intellectual Freedom Round Table are a part of

the ALA teams that help to advocate intellectual freedom and all it encompasses (Diaz & Larue,

2017).

The Library Bill of Rights is one document that was founded to help guide librarians.

These guidelines follow the thoughts of intellectual freedom in that it states, “A person’s right to

use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views”

(Library Bill of Rights, n.d.). These rights were established in 1939 by the ALA Council and

have been revised to fit current times of librarianship.

Intellectual Freedom in the Library

The article, “Intellectual Freedom and Censorship in the Library” gives a description of

what intellectual freedom means, and how censorship is beginning threaten to this idea. Cooper

(2010) discusses the library community's role and position in advocating for intellectual freedom

and fighting against censorship. Libraries are one of our sole places for gathering information, so

the fact is no one should be censored or restricted on finding information to best fit their needs.

According to Cooper (2010), “one constant advocate for intellectual freedom has been the

professional community of the library” (p. 219). Cooper (2010) stresses that by allowing

individuals to seek information freely, libraries are promoting information access skills; locating,

evaluating, using information. This essentially encourages individuals of the nation to become

responsible democratic citizens. With all of this being said, some of the individuals libraries

serve are children, and they are restricted already because of their age. The article highlights that

school librarians should instill students with free access to information, but having respect to the


community and of course concerns of parents. It is important for school librarians to uphold their

students rights, but also take into consideration their community, the students age level, and

suitability of the material. As long as materials are age appropriate and represent all types of

people and views, their collection will be not limiting to their patrons. Students, like any other

person, still have the right to access information and make their own decisions about what they

would like to access.

School libraries should enforce policies that support intellectual freedom. Policies,

procedures, and guidelines should support students access to information. This might include

having a Collection Development Policy that includes a challenge policy if it arises. School

librarians should also provide opportunities for parents and educate them about the practices of

the library. It is the hopes of librarians that by parents understanding intellectual freedom they

will be less likely to challenge materias for others to access. Cooper (2010) suggests school

librarians teach and enforce information access skills. By encouraging students to complete a

safe search, they are ensuring students are finding and selecting materials that are appropriate

and reliable sources.

Librarians Views on Intellectual Freedom

Although intellectual freedom has been a long standing movement in libraries, most

librarians fear this the most, and certainly school librarians who work with young people that are

under the rule of their parents and guardians. School librarians are constantly reacting to pressure

from parents and community groups about controversial books and resources. This becomes a

stressful piece of being a school librarian, and most do not know where to turn.

In McNicol’s article, “School Librarians’ Intellectual Freedom Attitudes and Practices”,

she investigated the most significant censorship issues faced by UK school librarians and


determined what factors influenced attitudes towards these issues. McNicol (2016) is a Research

Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University and has worked in research as well as a school

librarian. Her strongest interest is in school libraries and censorship issues. The study included a

questionnaire designed for librarians that geared towards intellectual freedom and the application

of these principles.

In her study, she found that librarians were more likely to express support for intellectual

freedom in theory than in practice (McNicol, 2016). This finding suggests that though librarians

are pro intellectual freedom, when in the field they struggle to implement the ideas, with fears of

challenges arising. McNicol (2016) points out that librarians are usually working alone, needing

to find ways to uphold professional intellectual freedom principles within a school setting.

School librarians must find a way to balance the responsibility for ensuring student safety,

supporting their intellectual development and and preparing them for life after school.

In Adam’s article, “Intellectual Freedom and School Librarians: Looking Back and

Looking Ahead”, she interviews retired Executive Director for the OIF, Barbara Jones. Adams

(2016), who is a former school librarian, asks her about intellectual freedom issues she sees

coming for schools. Jones recounts her time at ALA and the accomplishments they had in

fighting for intellectual freedom. Adams (2016) discusses with Jones what she thinks are the

biggest concerns facing school libraries in the future. Jones points out three concerns, not having

a school librarian, the growth of filtering, and school librarians not choosing to support

intellectual freedom out of fear. Jones urges librarians to be a part of an intellectual freedom

community. Communities support each other during challenges and other threats that school

libraries face (Jones).

Freedom of Speech


As challenges arise in libraries, librarians can fall back on the fact that intellectual

freedom is covered under the First Amendment, freedom of speech. This right also encompasses

the right to access information. As our world becomes more and more digital, this is a fight that

libraries face frequently. These spaces should be a place individuals feel they can access

information freely.

The article, “Intellectual Freedom and Freedom of Speech: Three Theoretical

Perspectives”, Oltmann (2016) focuses on three ways Libraries can support freedom of speech;

“the marketplace of ideas, democratic ideals, and individual autonomy” (p. 153). The

marketplace is used as a metaphor for a place where information emerges and ideas are

exchanged freely.

In the court case, Lamont v. Postmaster General, it ruled that the right to receive ideas

and information follows naturally from the speaker’s right to distribute them. Without someone

to receive the ideas, the right of free speech is diminished, which in turn diminishes the

marketplace. Freedom of speech has little power if others cannot receive, or access and a

marketplace without sellers eliminates the need for a market. When users access information,

they are essentially the buyers needed to constitute a market. Oltmann (2016) argues that the

marketplace is needed to help promote a healthy democracy, where ideas are being exchanged,

and information is being found. Individual autonomy helps one feel content after finding

information on one's own. Information is out there to enlighten individuals, and libraries should

be a place where a patron feels successful in informing themselves.

AASL and Intellectual Freedom

Though all of these thoughts sound good in theory, librarians are still struggling to find

ways to implement them into practice. What is important is to have an association that helps


support librarians in this struggle. The article, “65 years & Counting: AASL and School

Librarians-Still Champions of Intellectual Freedom”, author and intellectual freedom advocate,

Helen Adams (2016) highlights the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). This

association has been around 65 plus years, and has worked each day to make sure their members

are champions of intellectual freedom. According to Adams (2016), “Intellectual freedom is

deeply embedded in AASL’s standards, position statements, member-focused publications,

conferences, award criteria, and leaders” (p. 36). This is an association that strives to be a partner

to librarians. School librarians are facing issues of intellectual freedom each day, whether it be

over filtering, or challenged books. Adams discusses important factors that must not be

overlooked, including educating administrators on rights of students. Principals are the leaders,

and the community members look up to them. By educating them they can be one of the

influencers of intellectual freedom. The article features several other ways AASL supports

intellectual freedom. Leaders, members and journals are several ways that the AASL has

supported intellectual freedom. By writing and educating others, this is one step towards

everyone accepting this movement. Knowledge Quest and School Library Research journals are

of a few that help to spotlight intellectual freedom issues.

The AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century is a document followed by school librarians.

This document provides guidelines for librarians to follow. The standards believe, “All learners

must be able to access high-quality information from diverse perspectives, make sense of it to

draw their own conclusions or create new knowledge, and share their knowledge with others”

(Standards for the 21st Century Learner, 2009). The purpose of this is to provide a connection

between the education of youth and their First Amendment right to access information (Adams,


2016). The AASL will continue to be a supporter of intellectual freedom protecting students’

rights and privacy, and supporting librarians.

A Changing World

The world is changing each and every day. New discoveries are being made, technology

is advancing, and the internet is expanding with ideas and information. Librarians already have a

demanding job, but each day they are faced with concerns over challenged materials, filtering of

websites, and confidentiality of their students. Through all of this, “minors’ First Amendment

rights and the library profession’s intellectual freedom principles remain unchanged” (Adams &

Magi, 2015, p. 6). It is important for librarians to realize they can create a culture of intellectual

freedom based on the legal framework of each minors’ rights in a school library. There is a

possibility to not fear what is coming next, and apply the resources librarians have to support

their students.

Information technology is another rapidly changing organism. The internet is growing at

lightning speed, and applications are being created and used daily. Within all of these, social

media is quickly becoming an information tool being used by students on a daily basis. Social

media is not something that will be going away anytime soon. In fact, new social media tools are

being created, and the current ones updated to fit user’s needs. Libraries can use these tools to

their advantage. The article, “Social Media Privacy: A Rallying Cry to Librarians”, author, Sarah

Lamdan, discusses how social media is the prevalent internet activity in this digital age. Social

media is quickly becoming a major source of information and a center for information seeking.

Lamdan is a law library professor and reference librarian, who focuses on privacy ethics and

information access issues. Lamdan (2015) writes in her article that social media provides users

with information while also collecting personal information. She argues that social media should


provides users with the same policies that librarians fight for on a daily basis. Most users might

not read the terms of services for social media outlets, but privacy and confidentiality may be

being compromised. Libraries should provide users with privacy policies, ensuring patron’s

information is being kept private. Lamdan discusses that with ALA, librarians can urge social

media companies to adopt similar privacy policies ensuring people’s safety.

Supporting Intellectual Freedom

Librarians are at the center of intellectual freedom, but they cannot stand alone. There

must be supporters, associations, campaigns, and ways that intellectual freedom is spotlighted.

Every year the Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) leads the Choose Privacy Week. This week

encourages libraries to be champions of privacy rights in the digital age by highlighting tools

they can use to protect the privacy of their patrons.

Intellectual freedom, as has been discussed, is not an easy task to take on. It is a lot of

information, rules, guidelines, and research. The article, “Passing the Torch: Mentoring to

Support Intellectual Freedom in School Libraries”, Adams again writes about intellectual

freedom and the need for mentors to help support incoming librarians. The greatest tool are

mentors, providing knowledge about a subject, experience, and counsel. Mentoring can take

place in different ways. As Adams (2013) discusses, “formal and informal mentoring within the

school library profession can be one-to-one between colleagues or in a wider context through the

efforts of state and/or national associations for library professionals” (p. 29). As it has been seen,

librarians are not always confident in applying rules of intellectual freedom out of fear of losing

their position, but having mentors can help guide librarians to take the appropriate action. The

article points out mentors help to support new librarians about intellectual freedom, and any

other issues that may be confronted. Just as an Olympic runner passes the torch from runner to


runner, librarians must pass their knowledge and wisdom of best practice skills to new librarians.

Mentoring can ensure that librarians are aware, creating communication between librarians, and

helping to guide librarians through situations regarding intellectual freedom. Mentoring for

intellectual freedom has become increasingly important as issues arise and the number of solo

librarians increases. Mentoring by supervisors, colleagues, and professional associations passes

the knowledge of intellectual freedom to librarians who are committed to continuing protecting

students' access to information and privacy.

Speaking Out for Intellectual Freedom

The professional associations like ALA and AASL provide ways librarians and others

can speak out for intellectual freedom. It is a librarian's job to ensure best practices for

intellectual freedom. Libraries are a place for information, whether it be digital or print. Students

should have the right to read and research information they need to enlighten their learning. ALA

provides resources for librarians and community members to speak out for intellectual freedom.

Consulting services provide a way for librarians to reach out to advocates to help them prepare

for censorship and implement best practices regarding intellectual freedom in a library or school.

Trainings are offered to educate librarians and the public about the nature and importance of

intellectual freedom. Last, public awareness campaigns are used to bring attention to the

different aspects that threaten intellectual freedom. Banned Books Week is one campaign that

brings attention to challenged books and the benefits of the freedom to read. This week brings

together all book related people, including “librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists,

teachers, and readers” (Banned & Challenged Books, n.d.) According to Adams (2016) “the

most frequently challenged books showed 52 percent included diverse content” (p. 34). By


celebrating Banned Books Weeks it is showing the support of intellectual freedom and

supporting keeping books, of all kinds, in libraries.

Discussion

Based on the literature above it is shown that intellectual freedom is at the core for

librarians across the country. Although the times have changed, intellectual freedom has not. It is

still a movement that works to protect individual rights to read and research freely. As seen, there

are many tools and associations that support the rights of intellectual freedom. The First

Amendment and Library Bill of Rights serves as documents to help reinforce what intellectual

freedom means. The biggest supporter can be mentors through experienced librarian or national

or state associations. It is important for librarians to use their resources, because as shown in the

articles, best practices can be intimidating to apply even as an experienced librarian. Education is

everything, for school librarians it begins at the top. Administration is key for getting the

community to stand behind their students and the right they have. Intellectual freedom is an

entity that is growing, and censorship will continue to affect this movement, but staying

informed, staying apart of a community, and helping to speak out for intellectual freedom can be

the beginning to a open information world.

Conclusion

This paper explored what intellectual freedom means to librarians and how they can help

to reinforce this important movement. This begins with school librarians, and protecting their

students’ rights to knowledge. It is their role to advocate for what intellectual freedom means, to

protect their students’ rights to information sources. Information can be in a vast variety,

including website, books, and social media.


Although students are at the center of this as well, their rights should be protected. School

librarians are facing parents and communities each day. School librarians should be educated on

intellectual freedom, but also know their community and take into account the age of their

students when deciding on a collection. Privacy policies should be developed and patrons should

know their rights to information. Privacy policies should be developed and patrons should know

their rights to information, as well as policies on challenged sources. Intellectual freedom is

intimidating, but having everything in order can be the beginning to a successful and safe library.


References

Adams, H. R. (2013). Passing the torch: Mentoring to support intellectual freedom in school

libraries. Knowledge Quest, 41(4), 28-33.

Adams, H. R. (2016). 65 years & counting: AASL and school librarians-still champions of

intellectual freedom. Knowledge Quest, 45(1), 34-41.

Adams, H. (2016). Intellectual Freedom and School Librarians: Looking Back and Looking

Ahead | Knowledge Quest. Knowledgequest.aasl.org. Retrieved from

https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/intellectual-freedom-school-librarians-looking-back-

looking-ahead/

Adams, H. R., & Magi, T. (2015). Intellectual freedom-enduring values in a changing world.

Knowledge Quest, 44(1), 6-7.

Banned & Challenged Books. (2017). Advocacy, Legislation & Issues. Retrieved from

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks

Cooper, J.L. (2010). Intellectual freedom and censorship in the library. Community & Junior

College Libraries, 16(4), 218-224.

Diaz, E., & LaRue, J. (2017, November 1). 50 years of intellectual freedom. American Libraries.

Retrieved from https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2017/11/01/50-years-office-

intellectual-freedom/

Lamdan S.S. (2015). Social media privacy: A rallying cry to librarians. The Library Quarterly

85(3), 261-277. doi:10.1086/681610

Library Bill of Rights. (June 30, 2006). American Library Association.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill


McNicol, S. (2016). School librarians’ intellectual freedom attitudes and practices. New Library

World, 117(5/6), 329-342. doi:10.1108/nlw-01-2016-0002

Oltmann, S. M. (2016). Intellectual freedom and freedom of speech: Three theoretical

perspectives. The Library Quarterly, 86(2), 153. doi:10.1086/685402

Social media privacy: A rallying cry to librarians. The Library Quarterly 85(3), 261-277.

doi:10.1086/681610

Standards for the 21st century learner in action [e-book]. (2009). Chicago, IL: American

Association of School Librarians. Retrieved from

https://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/ebooks/Standards%20In%20Action_9780838986424.pdf


Appendix A: Literature Map


Appendix B: Write & Cite


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