Librarians are freedom fighters, says author
July 31, 2006 - Edmonton - The dwindling number of school librarians in Alberta is a breach of basic human rights and a direct threat to democracy, say education researchers at the University of Alberta.
Twenty-five years ago, more than 500 teacher-librarians worked half-time or full-time in Alberta's schools. Today, there are fewer than 75.
"There is a lack of understanding about the role of librarians in society," said Dr.
In her upcoming book entitled Librarianship and Human Rights (in press by Chandos Publishing (Oxford) Limited), Samek depicts library and information workers as political actors whose core values are grounded in existing (and proposed) aspects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). She cited the Canadian Library Association's 1974 Statement on Intellectual Freedom, which states that 'libraries have a basic responsibility for the development and maintenance of intellectual freedom.'
Samek challenges the popular notion of teacher-librarians as neutral information specialists who collect resources that support standardized curriculum; the latter of which, she argues, can be based on dominant ideologies.
"Teacher-librarians strive to ensure library collections support the curriculum but also complement it by representing other or alternative points of view. They have a special responsibility to marginalized groups. A critical librarian will push for participatory and democratic education processes," she said. "To not fund teacher-librarians is contributing to a disturbing erosion of public space and public sphere. This equates to a closing down of democracy."
Dr. Jennifer Branch, a professor in Elementary Education and co-ordinator for the U of A's Teacher-Librarianship Distance Learning (TL-DL) graduate program, asks who will speak for intellectual freedom if there are no teacher-librarians.
"Who is ensuring Canadian and multicultural contexts are represented in our schools? "Who is fighting to ensure lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-identified, queer (LGBTQ) kids are represented in our collections?"
Dr. Alvin Schrader, professor in the School of Library and Information Studies, cites the library as a place to "broaden the canvas" of what is going on in the world, specifically with regards to sexual orientation.
"What message are we giving to teenagers, children, their families and friends, if we leave the life experiences of sexual minority youth out of our library collections and services?"
Schrader says librarians should attend carefully to the responsibility and power they have to ensure all aspects of society are represented.
Samek, Branch and Schrader, along with Dr. Dianne Oberg, chair of the Department of Elementary Education, are part of a TL-DL graduate course on issues in teacher-librarianship, intellectual freedom and social responsibility. The course, developed by Samek and Oberg, drew 28 graduate students from across Canada and from countries abroad, including Japan, China and Ethiopia.
Samek's book offers about 100 social action strategies grounded in critical 21st century information work worldwide. It is also a call to action for global society to recognize librarians as social activists who practice strategies for resistance and challenge networks of control.
"School and public libraries should be places of refuge and solace, privacy and confidentiality, a haven of learning and discovery and a space where there is no judgment. The work of librarians is often practised in the face of adversity when you consider the urgent contexts of war, revolution, social change and global market fundamentalism," said Samek.
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by Don Perkins
Aug 01, 2006
