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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>I’ve always understood it in the context of Ethics statements 6 and 7:<o:p></o:p></p><ol style='margin-top:0in' start=1 type=1><li class=MsoNormal style='color:#333333;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;background:#FEFEFE;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoNormal style='color:#333333;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;background:#FEFEFE;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol><p class=MsoNormal>That is, we are neutral in terms of interjecting our personal views into providing service to users. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Steve Silver<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><b>From:</b> Libs-Or <libs-or-bounces@omls.oregon.gov> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Matthew Baiocchi via Libs-Or<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, June 2, 2022 4:12 PM<br><b>To:</b> libs-or@omls.oregon.gov<br><b>Subject:</b> [Libs-Or] Library Neutrality<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p><div id=divtagdefaultwrapper><p style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>They're probably going to take away my MLIS for not knowing this.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>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?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>So, anyone have a good definition of library neutrality? Anyone know where this core tenet of our profession originates?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Thank you, as always, for listening. Happy Thursday, all!<o:p></o:p></span></p><div id=Signature><div id=divtagdefaultwrapper><div id=divtagdefaultwrapper><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:.5in;background:white'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;background:white'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>Matthew Baiocchi</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>REFERENCE LIBRARIAN</span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;line-height:8.0pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#FF6C37'>__</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;background:white'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#003635'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;line-height:11.0pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>City of Lincoln City </span><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#E36541'>|</span></b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'> Driftwood Public Library</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;line-height:11.0pt;background:white'><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>801 SW Hwy 101 </span><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#E36541'> |</span></b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'> PO Box 50 </span><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#FF6C37'>| </span></b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#003635'> </span><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>Lincoln City, OR</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;line-height:11.0pt;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>P:</span></b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'> 541.996.1261 </span><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#FF6C37'>|</span></b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#003635'> </span><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>E</span></b><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#003635'>:</span></b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'> </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><a href="mailto:mbaiocchi@lincolncity.org"><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0563C1'>mbaiocchi@lincolncity.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;margin-left:.5in;line-height:11.0pt;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>W: </span></b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>Driftwoodlib.org </span><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#FF6C37'>| </span></b><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>W</span></b><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#003635'>:</span></b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#003635'> </span><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#005F70'>LincolnCity.org</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;background:white'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;background:white'><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#E2C501'>ook </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>