ALA members to discuss controversial film ‘The Speaker’ at Annual Conference | News & Press Center

“Barbara Jones, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, said she has received requests from many younger ALA members over recent years who want to understand what happened in 1977 and want to revisit the controversy with a 21st-century perspective.  “I remember my first term paper at Columbia University’s School of Library Service (1977) was about ‘The Speaker’ controversy.  It is an issue still with us today when it comes to speech that most of us hate to protect or endorse.  We plan to give ALA membership ample opportunity to express their opinions about this issue before, during, and after the conference, because it is complex and important.”

“The debate over the limits of free speech has always been incendiary,” said Judith Platt, director of free expression advocacy for the Association of American Publishers.  “For those of us in the book community it is crucial to understand the history and context within which that debate has taken place. This program on ‘The Speaker’ and it’s attendant controversy will provide an excellent forum to deepen our understanding.””

ALA members to discuss controversial film ‘The Speaker’ at Annual Conference | News & Press Center.

Aaron Swartz and Too-Comfortable Research Libraries – Library Hat

Aaron Swartz and Too-Comfortable Research Libraries – Library Hat.

Some good questions from Bohyun Kim. Let’s answer them.

“Many academic libraries offer computers, which are necessary to access electronic resources of the library itself. But how many of academic libraries keep all the computers open for user without the user log-in? Often those library computers are locked up and require the username and password, which only those affiliated with the institution possess. The same often goes for many electronic resources. How many academic libraries allow the on-site access to electronic resources by walk-in users? How many academic libraries insist on the walk-in users’ access to those resources that they pay for in the license? Many academic libraries also participate in the Federal Depository Library program, which requires those libraries to provide free access to the government documents that they receive to the public. But how easy is it for the public to enter and access the free government information at those libraries?”

Are our academic and research libraries fulfilling their civic duty by providing access to information? Or are they too comfortable?

“Too-comfortable libraries do not ask themselves if they are serving the public good of providing access to information and knowledge for those who are in need but cannot afford it. Too comfortable libraries see their role as a mediator and broker in the transaction between the information seller and the information buyer. They may act as an efficient and successful mediator and broker. But I don’t believe that that is why libraries exist. Ultimately, libraries exist to foster the sharing and dissemination of knowledge more than anything, not to efficiently mediate information leasing.  And this is the dangerous idea: You cannot put a price tag on knowledge; it belongs to the human race. Libraries used to be the institution that validates and confirms this idea. But will they continue to be so in the future? Will an academic library be able to remain as a sanctuary for all ideas and a place for sharing knowledge for people’s intellectual pursuits regardless of their institutional membership? Or will it be reduced to a branch of an institution that sells knowledge to its tuition-paying customers only? While public libraries are more strongly aligned with this mission of making information and knowledge freely and openly available to the public than academic libraries, they cannot be expected to cover the research needs of patrons as fully as academic libraries.”

Emphasis is mine.

I expect more from our libraries. Do you?