I found this article in the Seacoast Online, about the Portsmouth Public Library canceling the final installment of the Seacoast Peace Response and Palestine Education Network’s “Palestine Teach-In.” Previous to this, the library had held three of these meetings, which were meant to show the Palestinian side of the conflict. Organizers of the series believe this last meeting was cancelled because the topic was just too controversial, while the library director claims it was due to a scheduling conflict. If the meeting room was booked far in advance, as the director stated, then there shouldn’t have been a problem. Something doesn’t add up, but I realize I am only piecing this together from 1 news article.
According to the ALA’s Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights, meeting rooms should be made available “…regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.” Considering that the library already held 3 meetings in this series, and was surely aware of their controversial content, it seems that they did open up their facilities “on an equitable basis.” However, the Intellectual Freedom Manual highlights the Cornelius case, which held that “avoidance of controversy is not a valid ground for restricting speech in a public forum” (IFM 2006, 380). I can’t help but wonder about how affected the director was by the intensity of those first 3 meetings, and also about how influenced she may have been by angered individuals or groups in the community. If fear of confrontation or controversy were good enough reasons for librarians to not allow groups to use meeting rooms, or to not order certain materials, then I’m guessing shelves (and libraries) would be empty. I just hope that the director from the Portsmouth library didn’t actually back down. But then again, how big of a role should community standards play in all of this? It sort of weirds me out to think that decisions I make could possibly lead to so much unrest, but I just have to trust myself to make the best decisions.
Intellectual Freedom Manual. Chicago, IL: American Library Association-Office for Intellectual
Freedom, 2006.
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2 comments:
When we talk about banned and challenged books we'll deal a bit more with the local politics confronting public and school libraries. Community standards can really vary from one place to another.
This kinda makes me feel a little sick to the stomach. Considering there were 3 meetings, it is easy to assume that people were attending meetings. I think that librarians need to be standing up for controversial views, especially views that are being considered by more than one person.
This is an area that hits fairly close to home for me because many academics who write papers or try to talk about the Palestinians in a neutral or positive light are labeled anti-Semites or are discredited. Especially in this topic, I think both sides need to be brought to light because only then can understanding of the conflict really occur.
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