Librarians as Advocates

1570 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: censorship in libraries essay

Dobija (2007) has clearly researched problems with First Amendment Rights. The government in its attempt to stop the leakage of news from its offices and the legislators’ attempt to thwart the internet has impeded an open access society from truly exercising its First Amendment Rights. Their policies have troubled librarians, upset educators, and frustrated researchers.

Congress passed the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in 2000 to protect children, but it has been more of a hindrance than an aid as far as many educators are concerned. According to Dobija (2000, p. 2), an informal survey of high school librarians shows that in some cases students are being denied access to materials and technology needed for their homework. These librarians also feel that when CIPA filters block social networks students' mastery of technologies required in this online era slows down.

Many can understand the censoring of sites for children, but the violation of adults’ rights has had consequences. In fact, in a case the American Civil Liberties Union filed against the North Central Regional Library District in Washington, plaintiffs allege that librarians refused to unblock public computers when adult patrons asked them to do so even though CIPA requires that such requests be honored. (As quoted by Dobija, p. 3)

The Freedom to Read Foundation has supported court challenges made against censorship, but

the cases have not been completely resolved. For instance, in Connecticut, four librarians won a confrontation with the government that forbade them to discuss an FBI demand for library records. The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) also had its day in court. Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell Reed Jr. ruled that law calling fo...

... middle of paper ...

... will help their community.

Many librarians are not born with a skill to be an advocate. Fortunately, there are many professional organizations that provide resources and support for them to acquire and hone their

skills.

Works Cited

Dobija, J. (2007). The First Amendment Needs New Clothes. American Libraries, 38(8), 50-53.

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/

Estabrook, Leigh (2002). Coping, View 2: Response Disappointing. American Libraries, 33(8), 37

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/

Hill, Rebecca. (2010). The Problem of Self-Censorship. School Library Monthly, 27(2), 9-12.

http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/

Martin, A. (2007). The Evolution of the Librarian as Advocate. Knowledge Quest, 36(1), 16-19.

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/knowledgequest.cfm

Show More
Related

  • American Civil Liberties: Do Americans Have Enough Protections for Civil Liberties, or Not?

    1449 Words  | 3 Pages

    Friedman, L. S. (2010). What Is the State of Civil Liberties in the United States?. Civil liberties (pp. 11-49). Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press.

    Read More

  • Internet Pornography, the ACLU, and Congress

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    No one has been prosecuted under COPA; the ACLU brought suit as soon as the law was passed, and a federal judge in Pennsylvania agreed to block enforcement. The Third Circuit upheld the injunction, ruling that COPA's reliance on community standards improperly allows the most conservative communities to dictate what should be considered indecent. The ACLU represents a number of plaintiffs who publish materials online, including an art gallery, Salon.com magazine, a bookstore, and the producer of a...

    Read More

  • First Amendment Rights of Public School Students

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    First Amendment Center. David L. Hudson, JR., 28 Sept. 2002. Web. The Web. The Web.

    Read More

  • Censorship in Schools

    2166 Words  | 5 Pages

    Issues of censorship in public schools are contests between the exercise of discretion and the exercise of a Constitutional right. The law must reconcile conflicting claims of liberty and authority, as expressed by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 1940 in “Banned in the U.S.A.: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries” by Herbert N. Foerstel (23).

    Read More

  • The First Amendment

    1536 Words  | 4 Pages

    Notable First Amendment court cases. (n.d.). American Library Association. Retrieved April 20, 2011, from www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/

    Read More

  • Censorship In Schools Essay

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people believe the most precious constitutional right is the first amendment. People may censor due to content that is considered to be too violent, or obscene, or even the language may be too vulgar. There are many reasons given for censorship in a classroom or library, a book or other learning resource may be restricted or banned because it includes social, political, or religious views believed to be “inappropriate or “threatening.” In the classroom or in the schools, the teachers or the administrators are the determining factor on what’s appropriate. In a community there are other certain people that look over textbooks, movies, and other published sources. On a federal or higher level sometimes it’s the legislators. The basic right to freedom of expression in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the constitution. In 1791, the bill of rights was the base of basic rights for citizens 4 years after signing of the constitution. There was controversy over to include the Bill of Rights when the United States was founded. One of the rights the Bill of Rights protects is freedom of spee...

    Read More

  • To Ban or Not to Ban books: The Color Purple

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    Objectionable content found in challenged books across the country can range from some vulgar language, to rape and incest, and even to explicit sex scenes. However objectionable these topics may be, high schoolers are already exposed to them in some way, whether it be through listening to popular music on the radio, watching television, or browsing the internet. Many parents, and even board members of some schools, object certain books for a variety of reasons. What they have failed to realize is this: if they are so concerned about what their children read in school, are they as concerned about monitoring what they hear on the radio, see on television, and search online? Many schools across the country are now taking the technological route when it comes to teaching. This often means students can have access to the internet while in their classroom. This point goes back to the prior statement of ...

    Read More

  • Community Involvement Project: Reading Partners

    1548 Words  | 4 Pages

    For my community involvement project, I volunteered at Memminger Elementary School for a program called “Reading Partners.” The program focuses on helping children build strong literacy skills to carry with them into their academic careers. It requires the tutor to read to the student that has been assigned, and in turn, the student reads to the tutor. The program assists in teaching the students valuable reading skills. Being able to read is critical to a child’s educational success.

    Read More

  • Public Libraries Should Not Block Internet Pornography

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1998, a district court in Virginia made a ruling on the use of filtering software in public libraries that set a precedent for the unconstitutionality of internet filters. Todd Anten’s article, “Please Disable the Entire Filter: Why Non-Removable Filters on Public Library Computers Violate the First Amendment gives an account of the ruling. The Loudoun County Library had instituted restrictions to internet access on all library computers with software that would block sites that “displayed obscene material, child pornog...

    Read More

  • Censorship in Schools

    3744 Words  | 8 Pages

    This article emphasizes the point that censors go too far when they attempt to not only ban a book for their own children but want to remove it altogether from a school library, so that other students cannot read it.

    Read More

  • Book Censorship: Good or Bad?

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    Especially considering America’s wide access to information through technology, the attempt to restrict “inappropriate” information from children is an infeasible and somewhat malicious task. First of all, children are not “protected” when unable to read books that contain adult material. Kids need to be exposed to things like sex and violence because if they are unfamiliar with these “adult” topics, when they come upon them in the uncensored, real world, their reactions will be unpredictable. Censoring reading material about murder, for example, may seem like a good solution to preventing violence among the future adult generation. But if a child did not understand the concept of taking another per...

    Read More

  • Censorship In Schools Essay

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    Censoring school books in libraries can often lead to censorship of our basic freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment. In some cases, a minority ends up dictating the majority in censorship

    Read More

  • The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    McCarthy, M. (2005). THE CONTINUING SAGA OF INTERNET CENSORSHIP: THE CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION ACT. Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal, (2), 83-101.

    Read More

  • The Negative Effects of Censorship

    3203 Words  | 7 Pages

    Reitman, Rainey. " The Cost of Censorship in Libraries: 10 Years Under the Children’s Internet Protection Act." Electronic Frontier Foundation. Electronic Frontier Foundation, 4 Sept. 2013. Web.

    Read More

  • The Fight Against Child Pornography

    2328 Words  | 5 Pages

    There are two real issues at stake when looking at this controversial topic. The first issue is finding a way to protect our children from potentially damaging material. There are advocates to censoring the Internet and removing this type of material because it will help shelter our children from this type of content. On the other hand, Free Speech advocates believe that it is the individual citizens right to have access to this typ...

    Read More

More about Librarians as Advocates

Open Document