[Libs-Or] Library Neutrality

[stevesilver673 at gmail.com]

I've always understood it in the context of Ethics statements 6 and 7:

1.	We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users,
colleagues, or our employing institutions.
2.	We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional
duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair
representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to
their information resources.

That is, we are neutral in terms of interjecting our personal views into
providing service to users. 

 

There are other strong ethics (such as protecting intellectual freedom) that
are decidedly political, so I don't think political neutrality was ever the
intent of library neutrality.

 

As you point out in your question, there are many spheres in which
neutrality could be understood, and being very clear about which sphere(s)
we are talking when considering neutrality can, I believe, be a useful
nuance in those (very important) discussions. This is a good question to
raise and discuss.

 

Steve Silver

 

From: Libs-Or <libs-or-bounces at omls.oregon.gov> On Behalf Of Matthew
Baiocchi via Libs-Or
Sent: Thursday, June 2, 2022 4:12 PM
To: libs-or at omls.oregon.gov
Subject: [Libs-Or] Library Neutrality

 

They're probably going to take away my MLIS for not knowing this.

 

I've been thinking a lot about library neutrality and what it means, and it
occurred to me that I've never seen a really good definition of library
neutrality. I can't find it "written down anywhere official" as a core tenet
of our profession. I've looked all over ALA and OLA. I've looked at library
professionals' presentations, statements, and blog posts. I checked Google
Scholar and looked at articles I had access to. I haven't checked out books
yet but that's because we don't have any in our library system.

 

Does library neutrality mean political neutrality? Ethical neutrality?
Social neutrality? Is it a description of how we ensure intellectual
freedom? Does it mean we don't let our own viewpoints cloud service to
patrons? Some of these? All? None?

 

So, anyone have a good definition of library neutrality? Anyone know where
this core tenet of our profession originates?

 

Thank you, as always, for listening. Happy Thursday, all!

 

Matthew Baiocchi

REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

__

 

City of Lincoln City  |  Driftwood Public Library

801 SW Hwy 101  |  PO Box 50  |  Lincoln City, OR

P: 541.996.1261  |  E:  <mailto:mbaiocchi at lincolncity.org>
mbaiocchi at lincolncity.org

W: Driftwoodlib.org | W: LincolnCity.org

 

ook 

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