Evidence Summary
Survey Confirms
Strong Support for Intellectual Freedom in Public Collection Development
Librarians
A Review of:
Oltmann, S.
M. (2019). Important Factors in Midwestern Public Librarians’ Views on
Intellectual Freedom and Collection Development: Part 1. The Library Quarterly, 89(1), 2-15. https://doi.org/10.1086/700659
Reviewed by:
Laura
Costello
Virtual
Reference Librarian
Rutgers
University Libraries
New
Brunswick, New Jersey, United States of America
Email:
[email protected]
Received: 24 Apr. 2019 Accepted: 19 July 2019
2019 Costello.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons‐Attribution‐Noncommercial‐Share Alike License 4.0
International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial
purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the
same or similar license to this one.
DOI: 10.18438/eblip29577
Abstract
Objective –
The article sought to explore whether librarian attitudes regarding
intellectual freedom conform to the stance of the American Library Association
(ALA).
Design –
Electronic survey.
Setting – Public
libraries in the Midwestern United States.
Subjects –
Subjects were 645 collection development library professionals employed in
public libraries.
Methods –
An electronic survey was distributed to public library directors in nine
Midwestern states and was completed by the library professional primarily
responsible for collection development. The survey focused on community
information and probed the participants for their stances on several
intellectual freedom topics.
Main Results –
The survey was sent to 3,018 participants via each state’s librarian
and had a response rate of 21.37%. The
first section of the survey focused on broad strokes statements representing
the ALA’s stance on intellectual freedom for public libraries. The results revealed
widespread agreement on these issues. More than 88% of participants agreed with
statements like “public libraries should provide their clients with access to
information from a variety of sources.” Despite strong agreement among
participants, particular demographic characteristics were more likely to lead
to disagreement with all statements including working in rural communities and
not holding a master’s degree in library science.
The
next section of the survey focused on how strongly participants’ personal
beliefs conformed to the intellectual freedom statements in the ALA’s Library
Code of Ethics. Again, there was widespread agreement, with 94.9% of
participants indicating that they agreed with the statement “we uphold the
principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library
materials.” Only one participant disagreed with the statement “it is the right
of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of
view without restriction.” When asked whether the ALA’s stance on intellectual
freedom ever conflicted with their personal beliefs, 39.8% of participants
indicated that it did, 22% were unsure, and 40% had never experienced conflict.
Participants holding a master's degree in library science and librarians in
large cities were less likely to experience conflict between their personal
beliefs and the ALA’s stance on intellectual freedom. In the free text
comments, several participants indicated that they experienced conflict when
the ALA’s stance did not reflect their personal beliefs or community values.
Conclusion –
While the overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that they agreed with
the ALA’s stance on intellectual freedom, a minority of participants
experienced some conflict. Respondents indicated that personal belief could
create conflict when librarians committed to intellectual freedom were required
to make choices in their professional work that conflicted with their own
views. Conflict could also arise when collection choices made to support
intellectual freedom were not supported by patrons in the community.
Commentary
This
article is the first in a two-part series focusing on the impact of
intellectual freedom on collection development. It is loosely based on a 1972
article (Busha, 1972) which found that librarians
supported ideas of intellectual freedom but were less likely to apply those
ideas in the context of censorship pressures. Oltmann’s
findings in part one reflect the first of Busha’s findings and the second part of Oltmann’s
article will explore the application of intellectual freedom ideas on
collection development practice. Issues of intellectual freedom are
particularly relevant in the current U.S. political climate and this article
suggests that the attitudes around intellectual freedom have not meaningfully
wavered in Midwestern librarians.
When
examined through the Glynn Critical Appraisal Tool (2006), this article
represents a large sample of Midwestern librarians, but it may not equally
represent librarian perspectives across the Midwest. The participant pool was
drawn from library director contact information supplied by state librarians
rather than through professional networks, so the participant pool is likely
free of investigator bias, but the response rate varied by state from
5.2%-22.5%. The response rate varied enough by state that state-by-state
analysis was not conducted, though there was enough representation in the other
demographic categories for analysis. One of the more interesting demographic
characteristics examined was whether participants held a master’s degree in
library science. Slightly fewer than half of participants (48.3%) did not hold
a degree and that characteristic was significantly associated with a greater
tendency to disagree with intellectual freedom statements. Participants from
rural areas were also more likely to disagree with the statements, but this may
be due to the community conflicts explored in the free text analysis section.
Statements
for the survey were drawn from official ALA documentation on intellectual
freedom and the survey tool was also used in Oltmann's
2016 study, limited to public librarians in Ohio. This study found similar
results reflecting librarian approval of intellectual freedom practices in
collection development. Through this larger-scale project, Oltmann
has made a convincing case that librarians still strongly support ideals of
intellectual freedom as defined by the ALA. The second part of this article
will explore whether librarians apply these views in collection development.
References
Busha, C.
(1972). Intellectual freedom and censorship: The climate of opinion in
Midwestern public libraries. Library
Quarterly, 42(3), 283–301. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4306179
Glynn,
L. (2006). A critical appraisal tool for library and information research. Library
Hi Tech, 24(3), 387-399. https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830610692154
Oltmann, S.
M. (2016). Public librarians’ views on collection development and censorship. Collection Management, 41(1), 23-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2015.1117998