Librarians Don't Deserve to be Dragged into Culture Wars

Naylor, Lori

Stevenson, S. (2021, November 23). Texas School Librarians don't deserve gov. Abbott dragging them into culture wars. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-school-librarians-don-t-162416559.html

    With the recent troubles for school libraries, where books such as Gender Queer and All Boys Aren’t Blue are not only being pulled from shelves but even right out of students’ hands, this article (by a former Texas middle school librarian) is an update on the troubles in Texas.

    Now the governor of Texas is threatening legal action against the librarians for “promoting pornographic materials.” This is despite the fact that none of the recently challenged books fit the state of Texas’ legal definition of pornography which is “any visual or written material that depicts lewd or sexual acts and is intended to cause sexual arousal.” The author notes that in the entire liberal Austin school district (which serves over 77,000 students) there are actually only four copies, for example, of Gender Queer, one of the books librarians are supposedly at fault for providing.

    As a former librarian, Stevenson is a voice of reason. She reminds readers that “the existence of a book in a library in no way signifies endorsement” by the librarian. Also, she acknowledges that librarians can make mistakes; they cannot, of course, read every book they put on the shelves. The article notes that “the government — in this case, a public school — cannot restrict speech because it does not agree with the content of that speech,” according to the Bill of Rights Institute. “The decisions called libraries places for ‘voluntary inquiry’ and concluded that the school board’s ‘absolute discretion’ over the classroom did not extend to the library for that reason.”

Bias in Collection Development

Summary

The library literature addressing the role of bias in collection development emphasizes a philosophical approach. It is based on the notion that bias can be controlled by the conscious act of believing in certain values and adhering to a code of ethics. It largely ignores the psychological research on bias, which suggests that bias is a more complex and subtle phenomenon. Bias is not always conscious and cannot always be consciously controlled. Countering bias requires an understanding of both its conscious and unconscious influences on selectors and the selection process. This article examines the psychological research that has been conducted on bias and shows how it applies to selectors and the selection process in collection development.

Evaluation/opinion

This article provides a theoretical framework to help rethink collection development policies and processes to reduce bias in selection. While we can support the ethical values of intellectual freedom, the actual task of collection development requires a large cognitive load, and encourages mental shortcuts that can be subject to bias. While the article provides individual actions a selector can take to reduce bias during selection, it does not provide guidance for how to set up institutional processes to provide accountability among selectors to reduce bias.

Reference

Quinn, B. (2012). Collection development and the psychology of bias. Library Quarterly, 82(3), 277-304. 

Changed, Changed Utterly

 https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/06/05/academic-libraries-will-change-significant-ways-result-pandemic-opinion

Summary:

In this article Christopher Cox explores how library collection development has been forever altered in the wake of the 2020 pandemic. He discusses the "new- normal" -one where in person classes and service interactions may be impossible. He explores the diminishing value of print collections. He asks how we can make the content in our print collections more accessible and relevant in a post CVID 19 world? He questions mass digitization and access versus archives. He cites copyright right difficulties and issues which would need to be resolved before universal acceptance. He advocates for additional mass digitization efforts, leveraging collaborative storage agreements with repositories currently dedicated to print- content and making library print collections more accessible.

Cox predicts that over the next few years libraries will universally be spending more time and money to develop their electronic collections. As budgets are reduced he foresees a challenge in accomplishing this goal. Libraries will need to develop new strategies for negotiating better deals with publishers while simultaneously lobbying for greater access to streaming media and ebooks, which are more plentiful and cheaply accessible to individuals than they are to libraries. He cites the Macmillian e-book embargo as an indication of future difficulties regarding the development of new access models.

Several institutions have had to rethink multiyear licenses to large journal packages in light of the long term financial implications of COVID-19 as well as years inflationary increases by publishers. Cox believes if more libraries decide to purchase material title by title instead of relying on large contracts with publishers then they will save a significant amount of money. He believes that libraries can force publishers to develop an a la carte purchase option by relying on source sharing agreements and document delivery services. By canceling big publishing deals libraries send a  clear message that things need to change. 

Evaluation:

Being back in a public library for these last five months have shown me that most of what Dean Cox talks about is exactly what we need to evolve forward in the information science world. What is disheartening is to learn about budgetary reductions at a time when those funds are needed most to ensure the safety of library workers. Large sections of hard plastic barriers now enclose the circulation and reference desks which do provide a bit more assurance of protection from COVID. The new normal of face masks and social distancing have allowed our staff meetings to still be held virtually as we seek not to infect each other in the office. What is new is that most patrons are now fully comfortable with the LAPL app which provides them almost unrestricted access to our whole website. I have also noted a less intensive process of cataloguing in the collection. Recently a patron checked out a stack of magazines popular in England, they mentioned that they almost exclusively used the LAPL to get their access but when she learned we had physical she wanted to get them for her mother who is hard of seeing. The encounter with that patron made me realize that whats really required  for libraries to succeed post pandemic is a balanced collection that preserves and circulates print material while emphasizing the availability of electronic resources.

Collecting the Dust Collectors: Reimagining and putting to use materials your school is not using.

 

Cullinane, A. (2018, January 11). School library incorporates reading with exercise. 10 WJAR. 

https://turnto10.com/news/local/school-library-incorporates-reading-with-exercise

           

Summary: This article was interesting in this work because it talked about the often forgotten task of simply rummaging through your school storage areas and putting to use what is not being used. Then, simply putting clip boards over the handlebars, the students are now able to use equipment the school paid for and read at the same time, effectively building a life skill of associating reading with physical and mental health. The librarian in this story also works at the high school in the district, so this is a habit she could potentially build on going forward for students. This was free!

 

Evaluation: You never know what you can find in the depths of your school’s, and even district’s, storage areas. I once found old LeapPads-with the cartridges-in the library of a highly disadvantaged, 100% free reduced lunch school and they weren’t being used. They should have been in classrooms and in the library but they were in storage. I was so mad. The school was build in 1921 so my classroom legit had five outlets with two plugs and a few plugs didn’t work. Another outlet was our SmartBoard and another the class phone. So, with what was left, I plugged in four LeapPads for the kids. They loved them. They were bulky enough to survive being on the floor incase of accidental kicking. What I enjoyed with this article was the implementation of the bikes and ellipticals in the library. This allows rambunctious students to burn some energy in a calm atmosphere. To begin connecting exercise and reading with physical and mental health. I would love to see public libraries do this for all ages but specifically school libraries as obesity rates rise and literacy rates lower. Let’s fight both battles at once!

The Point of Collection Mapping

 

O’Donnell, Meghan.

Herren, A. (2021). Transforming library collections and supporting student learning with collection mapping. The Serials Librarian, 80(1-4), 142-148. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361526X.2021.1883207

Summary:

A community college library in Florida revamped their collection to better align with curriculum using collection mapping in 2015. The project improved alignment to curriculum, collection diversity, and relations between library staff and college faculty. Having less unneeded works made room for more study space which students had been requesting. Circulation did not improve in the 6 years since then. However, at least the library staff know that what is circulating better meets student needs. When the project began in 2015, research showed that students tended to prefer print works over digital for research. As the project progressed, research in 2018 showed that digital works were beginning to be preferred over print by students. Therefore, the lack of improved physical circulation does not show a failure of the project.

Evaluation or opinion:

Since we approached collection mapping using infographics, I thought the process was mostly visual. I read an academic article about a university library’s experience using collection mapping. This article changed my understanding of collection mapping. I’m no longer seeing it as some ethereal thing. It is a tool used to accomplish a purpose.

Collection mapping has nothing to do with helping patrons or potential sources of funding understand your collection. It is not about creating an easily grasped visual or graphically displaying information. You might end up creating a collection map that is nice in those ways. However, doing so is not your goal.

The point of collection mapping is to assist library staff in charge of collection management. You need to identify what your collection contains, check for gaps and saturation points, and ensure that your collection aligns with user needs. It is a tool for selection and deselection. It could possibly be a tool for looking at rearranging your layout.

The appearance of your collection map does not matter. It might be a massive boring spreadsheet. It is simply data that represents your collection. You don’t need to make the data attractive. You just need to make the data actionable so you can act on the data and make your collection as useful as possible.

The article I read was Transforming Library Collections and Supporting Student Learning with Collection Mapping  by Arenthia Herren. Herren relayed the experience of using collection mapping to revamp physical holdings at Florida SouthWestern State College Libraries in 2015. The project realigned the holdings to better align with curriculum. Most interesting to me was that the libraries sought syllabi from classes and used them to determine what to have in the library collection.

I cannot use this technique for my non-school-affiliated library. However, that tactic has made me consider what I could do along the same lines. Homeschooling parents make heavy use of my juvenile nonfiction section. Are there homeschool educational benchmarks for my state that I could align some of my juvenile nonfiction collection to meet? The article made me think and definitely improved my understanding of what collection mapping accomplishes.

Library collections and services during Covid-19: Qatar National Library experience

Medawar, K., & Tabet, M. (2020). Library collections and services during Covid-19: Qatar National Library experience. Alexandria: The Journal of National and International Library and Information Issues, 30(2–3), 178–190. https://doi.org/10.1177/0955749020986377

 Summary:

This article talks about the changes made in library collections and services during the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on the Qatar National Library. Because of the pandemic, many libraries like the Qatar National Library had to change the way they handled their collection and resources. Global and international library associates came together to put together guides and best practices and protocols in order to deal with the situation. Maybe hybrid libraries (with physical and electronic resources) had to switch to digital in a short amount of time. The Qatar National Library just opened in November 2017, and it known as a National, Public, and Research library. This space is quite exceptional looking and was designed so elegantly and beautifully. Their open space was inviting to all visitors and they also had more than one million books and more than 500,000 e-books, periodicals, newspapers, and special collections. Unfortunately, the library had to close it's doors in March 2020 because of the pandemic and they had to initiate a digital transformation with a huge impact on staff, services, and collections. This library used to host 90 events per month, but because of the pandemic, they had to replace those events with online Microsoft Teams events. There was also increase of social media use to promote programs and resources because that was their best way to get the word out. 

Insight and Thoughts: 

Reading through one library's experience definitely gives you a perspective of how quickly and easily their focus can change. Within a few years, they had to completely alter their way of presenting their services and resources to their patrons. All that money, effort, and time spent on a phenomenal space, and they had to shut it all down. The designers and creators had a vision of people coming into this library in big groups to show off their design and artistic interior, but now it is so much different from what they had imagined it would be. It makes me wonder if any future developers in libraries will want to spend all this money on designing physical spaces when more and more resources will be available online. Will there be a need for spaces like this? Will people prefer to come together in a building like this when everything is easily assessible online? Digital transformation has become so crucial and almost normal to our current society. The new generation will expect their resources to be available remotely. It also goes to show how adaptable library and library collection management has to be. There could be so many factors that come into play when it comes to collection planning and management. Curve balls can be thrown at you at anytime, and as librarians, we'll need to be prepared for them!

 

 Aggleton, J. (2018). Where are the children in children’s collections? An exploration of ethical principles and practical concerns surrounding children’s participation in collection development. The New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, 24(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614541.2018.1429122

Summary: 

    This article considers the role of children in the development and selection of children's services collections. The author argues that, as the target audience of a children's services collection, children should be involved in this selection process. Children are almost entirely absent from involvement in the writing and publication of children's books, and by keeping them out of the collection development process at school and public libraries, children's literature becomes a reflection of adult culture rather than child culture as is the aim. However, the author does not propose that the process should be handed over to children entirely. Rather, it is argued that libraries and librarians must develop an understanding that "It is not sufficient for adults to assume that they understand children’s opinions on children’s literature" and as such it "is needed is for the librarian or archivist to find ways to enable children to participate, though not to have total control over the process". 

Evaluation:

    I found myself in full agreement with most of what the author of this article was presenting. It is entirely too common for librarians in charge of developing youth or children's collections to do so without any input or participation from the audience they are seeking to serve. The assumption that adults have a firm knowledge on the tastes and desires of young readers must be abolished. While this article doesn't necessarily provide practical steps for facilitating the involvement of children in the selection process, it provides a solid theoretical understanding for the importance of doing so and could be used to support the implementation of these practices in library systems that are hesitant to do so.