Who speaks for Intellectual Freedom in schools?

Intellectual freedom is 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 may be explored. ALA

Who in your school understands and values the concept of Intellectual Freedom (IF)? What percent of teachers and students could define it and argue either for or against its main principle?

With the loss of school librarians, I fear what I suspect are the already low numbers of educators who understand and value intellectual freedom will fall. I have no faith that programs that train network and computer support people will address this issue. Are college degree programs in educational technology addressing IF? (I really don't know.) A quick search of the ISTE website provided no hits on the topic.

AASL has long been trying to promote IF. Helen Adams, an active advocate and retired school librarian from Wisconsin, writes "... while I was chairperson, the AASL Intellectual Freedom Committee created an IF brochure in 2008 and revised it in 2010. ... parts are out of date, but it could be repurposed."

 

 

Description from the AASL website:

Brochure created by the AASL Intellectual Freedom Committee available for download, duplication, and distribution. It describes why intellectual freedom is important in a school library program, the difference between selection and censorship, what to do before a challenge occurs, where to obtain assistance during a challenge, why schools filter and how it affects students intellectual freedom, and how the ALA Code of Ethics affects school librarians.

As I see school librarian positions being replaced or rebranded as "digital learning specialists" or "technology integration coaches," I worry about three real very real losses. The first is that teachers and students will lose a source of information and leadership on powerful reading improvement strategies focused on individualization of reading materials and personal interests. The second is that staff and students will no longer have access to experts who can teach information literacy skills.

But most of all I worry that the sole proponents of intellectual freedom for both students and staff will be eliminated. 

There has never been a more critical time to understand and support intellectual freedom. The news media is highly politicized on both the left and the right. Technology allows us to select and read only the articles and columns that support our own opinions. Critical thinking takes a back seat to "basic skills" in many students' classrooms.

I hope ALA re-writes its brochure to address:

• Internet filtering issues as much as it does materials in print format
• freedom of expression of opinion, not just freedom of access
• enlarging the target audience to include all educators, not just librarians, and
• ALA working with other professional organizations in its efforts to promote IF. 

Thanks to Helen and all hard-working proponents of IF. I am worried you have your work cut out for you.

Comments

[Christopher Harris]

Doug, I heartily second your appreciation for the tireless service Helen Adams has given to school libraries through her long involvement with OIF and other parts of ALA. I had the great pleasure of serving alongside Helen on the OITP advisory committee for a time recently. She was also a great help in reviewing the recent OITP white paper on CIPA and filtering.

OITP, the Office for Information Technology Policy in ALA's Washington DC office, has created a new Program on Youth and Technology Policy. Marijke Visser is the director of the program from OITP staff, and I am serving as a fellow advising and working with her as a member of ALA. The goal is to have a national program focused on technology issues like filtering, access, privacy, and more that are have a direct and distinct impact on children and youth. The program will be able to help facilitate research, development, education, and communication across the ALA youth divisions of AASL, ALSC, and YALSA.

Marijke and I are convening a brainstorming meeting in Chicago for midwinter to come up with more specific program goals and policy items, but I know that IF issues will certainly continue to be important. Libraries and tech directors around the country are struggling with issues like the recent After School app kerfuffle that brought secret communication apps back into national headlines. Should schools block these apps? They are a horrific source of bullying that can be directly linked to more than one teen suicide. What, though, are the IF implications?

We certainly need people at the school level to speak up and ask these tough questions! My hope is that the new OITP Program on Youth and Technology Policy will be able to help guide and inform (and be guided and informed by) local action. But we still need people in every school to do the real work.

Thank you for a great read and for sharing Helen's great work.

[Jo-Anne Gibson]

My grade 9 students just finished an exit slip for me in the library that asked them to define intellectual freedom and discuss whose job it is to protect it in a democracy like Canada. It's one of the last activities I have them do as part of my Freedom to Read unit. They could certainly tell you all about the importance of intellectual freedom and that it's everyone's job to protect it. My students have been a part of a series of lessons that I hope they will remember as they move to high school and adulthood. We've had a great many stimulating conversations about this topic.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the update on the work of ALA on this issue. My only concern is that ALA will not work with other organizations, but remain insular, in its work. This has to be outreach if it is to have impact.

Doug

Hi Jo-Anne,

Very nice to hear from you! I love the activity and your students are fortunate to have such a lesson.

All the best and happy holidays to you,

Doug