Censorship

Every month, the newest issue of School Library Journal lands on my desk. One of my favourite columns is “Scales on Censorship” by Pat Scales, a former chair of the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee. In each issue, librarians write-in telling of their censorship challenges from co-workers, supervisors, caregivers or Boards, and Scales provides words of wisdom and guidance. When I read this column, I often have visions of the book burning scene in the movie Footloose, and I find myself wondering how censorship remains such a prevalent issue.

In Canada we have a Bill of Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to ensure access to all forms of knowledge and creativity, and the freedom to express our own opinions. The Canadian Library Association has a Position Statement on Intellectual Freedom outlining the responsibilities of libraries to maintain access to the widest variety of materials, even if society deems them “unacceptable.” Collingwood Public Library has adopted this statement, and also has a policy on Collection Development to ensure a balanced collection is purchased and maintained without biases. Although there are no guarantees, patrons are able to submit a Re-evaluation of Library Materials form, detailing the reasons they feel a title should be removed from our collection.

Every year the American Library Association compiles a list of the top ten frequently challenged books. You can see the 2014 list here – Collingwood Public Library holds nine of the titles on the list. The most frequent objections are offensive language, violence, sexual content, and being unsuitable for the intended audience.  Between 2000 and 2009, 5,099 challenges were reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom, demonstrating that the attempt to censor is very much alive and well. In fact, challenges are so frequent that, in America, Banned Book Week is taking place from September 27 to October 3, 2015. In Canada, we have the same event running from February 21 to 27, 2016, called Freedom to Read Week. Libraries and bookstores across the nation celebrate our freedom to read by displaying banned books and hosting events to promote awareness.

Despite legislature and documents ensuring our intellectual freedom, censorship remains a sensitive issue, and raises many questions, the most important of which is who has the authority to make censorship decisions? In a public library, trained librarians decide what ends up on the shelves, but it is up to patrons and caregivers to decide for themselves and their children what is appropriate.

                                                                                                                           

--Ashley Kulchycki 

Libraries and Privacy

Public Libraries have always felt it was important to protect the privacy of their patrons.  Your reading and viewing choices are your own, and we respect that.  In fact, this philosophy is imbedded in the Canadian Library Association’s Code of Ethics, which states that members of the CLA (the Collingwood Public Library is one) have the individual and collective responsibility to “protect the privacy and dignity of library users and staff.”

As Canadians, we watched with great interest what was happening south of the border where the Patriot Act allowed Homeland Security to enter public libraries and demand the personal information, including borrowing records, of persons who were under investigation.  American librarians pushed back, but the precedent was scary to say the least.

On December 9, 2014, Canada enacted a similar piece of legislation, although for a different purpose. The Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act (previously known as Bill C-13 and commonly called the Cyberbullying Act) contained some provisions which would seem to allow Canadian authorities to have similar powers in demanding private information from public libraries.

The Cyberbullying Act is laudable in intention.  For example, it makes the dissemination of private and intimate images illegal without the subject’s consent. This is an excellent thing.  There can be no debate about that. Posting embarrassing and humiliating images online without consent is now a criminal act. But the Act also gives police broader powers.  In the past, if the police were conducting an investigation and wished to see patron record information in a public library, including records of that patron’s computer activity while in the library, they needed to go through a formal subpoena process. The new legislation would seem to suggest that this is no longer necessary and that library staff would be prevented from seeking legal counsel in such cases.  So far, to my knowledge, there have been no cases of police requesting such records from a public library in Canada.  Still, the possibility is disquieting. It is ironic that an Act that is designed to protect a citizen’s online privacy might also be used to invade it.

We live in a world where the notion of privacy is changing, where it becomes normal to share our most personal experiences with complete strangers.  But I do think that there exists a trust between library patrons and their public library. There is an understanding that when we collect personal information from you, we do not share it.  If that trust is eroded, it makes us feel less secure as citizens.  I don’t think any librarian would stand in the way of a legitimate police investigation (I personally have no sympathy with cyberbullies), but we all need more privacy protection, not less.

--Ken Haigh

Arts & Culture at the Library

The cover story in the most recent issue of Municipal World (September 2015) celebrated how public libraries “are important facilitators and champions of your local culture.”  This should come as no surprise to us here in Collingwood.

At the Collingwood Public Library we do a lot to promote local artists, writers, and musicians. For example, we have regular shows of work by local artists in the library, both in our inviting ArtWalk and also scattered throughout the library in our different meeting rooms. Currently, we are exhibiting the work of two local artists: Tina Bradshaw and Frank Richter. Our popular annual children’s art exhibit, The Magic of Children in the Arts, celebrated its twenty-first anniversary this year.

Most people realize that we regularly bring authors to visit the library—Ian Hamilton, author of the best-selling Ava Lee mysteries, will be here on September 17—but few people realize that we also sponsor a twice-monthly meeting of local authors, where local writers get together, share their work and get valuable feedback from their peers.  We also ran a successful fan fiction workshop for teens this summer.

We celebrate the performing arts in our free noon hour concerts called Performance Workshops.  Our fall series begins on September 15 with pianist Avril Dell, followed by the Georgian String Quartet on October 6.  We encourage you to bring your lunch, settle back, and enjoy some fine music.  For the younger set, we will be starting up our Teen Open Mic nights again as well.  For those who would like to learn an instrument, why not sign out one of our ukuleles and join our ukulele club which meets at the library twice a month?

We could not mention local culture at the library without mentioning our Arts Advisory Council.  The AAC is a group of local volunteers who assist us with arts programming.  Already heavily involved in the arts as individuals, the AAC are our eyes and ears in the local arts scene, helping to bring local artists and performers to our attention.  They recruit performers, vet artistic submissions and help to promote the events.  They make our community a richer place in which to live.

To find out more about what is going on in the library, check out “Arts and Culture” on our library website for a list of upcoming events.