Absolutism

One of our school counselors is sending me beautiful library-themed affirmations every day of National Library Week (thanks, Kirsten!). This one I thought was brilliant.



When I was working toward my MLIS (received in December of 2018), there were so many important conversations that were fascinating to engage in. We talked about tech and how it's making libraries evolve and redefine and re-evaluate. We talked about the inequities of access to information, among all communities, all over the world. But I think that one of the most intriguing conversations that I remember for me was around the idea that people/patrons have the right to information that is FALSE as much as they have the right to information that is TRUE.

At first that sounds really weird. But what we were talking about, essentially, was interpretation. And context and how someone's environment and lifestyle and experience influences the information that they are engaging with. We talked about how it's not our duty as librarians to sway patrons one way or another or to follow a certain set of philosophies or beliefs or a certain political agenda. We talked about our job being like a conduit -- a way for anyone to access any kind of information that they need. I know that that sounds vague. I remember specifically a chat with peers via the platform Blackboard about access to magazines like the Enquirer or archive access to programming from networks that are very much leaning toward one political side. Our role as librarians is to offer ALL options to any patron at any time. This was very powerful to me. 

This reminds me of an episode of KNPR's State of Nevada about Drag Queen story time at public libraries in Las Vegas and Reno. There was a debate, protests, public discussion. The argument was that the library is federally funded, and that this would mean that the government condones such a story time. They would not condone a Bible study, one of the guests argued on State of NV, so why should funds go to support something like this?

The storytime went on as planned and as far as I heard, no one was injured or damaged in the process. :)

In terms of Absolutism, here is an example of my ideal Library Special Events calendar: 
Mondays:  Bible study 
Tuesdays:  Drag Queen Storytime
Wednesdays:  Gun safety seminar
Thursdays:   Yoga
Fridays:  Divorce support group

Because WHY NOT? If libraries are TRULY bipartisan and harbingers of ALL KINDS of programming/access to ALL information, if libraries have the freedom to offer patrons materials and opportunities that reflect all of our differences, is this not possible?

Comments

  1. You are quite welcome, Jen. You are such a gift to our school and I miss wandering across the hall to your sanctuary of knowledge and warmth.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are quite welcome, Jen. You are such a gift to our school and I miss wandering across the hall to your sanctuary of knowledge and warmth.

    ReplyDelete

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