Sara Farriba

FRIT 7332

The concept of intellectual freedom in the United States of America has its origins in the

foundation of the country. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the

right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of

grievances” ((U.S. Const. amend. I). As society and technology have grown, the idea of

intellectual freedom has become more complex. A more simple definition of intellectual freedom

is that it “ is an individual’s right to seek out information of any kind and enjoy the free

expression of ideas and information” (Fletcher-Spear & Tyler, 2014, p.2). This information in

the 21st century media center includes physical and digital materials such as printed books,

newspapers, magazines, digital eBooks, videos, and websites.

As a school media specialist, providing a diverse range of types of materials that cover a

variety of topics is of the utmost importance. The school media center should be a center for

learning and exploration for young people. The materials provided to help students in their

intellectual journey need to be carefully selected to help them practice synthesizing information

in the goal of forming informed decisions. The topics need to be relevant to the student

population and multiple different opinions should be expressed to give students the complete

picture. The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom defines “diverse

content” as resources containing: non-white main and/or secondary characters, LGBT main

and/or secondary characters, disabled main and/or secondary charactersm, issues about race or

racism, LGBT issues, issues about religion, which encompass in this situation the Holocaust and

terrorism, issues about disability and/or mental illness, and non-Western settings” (Adams, 2016,

p.36). Considering that Calhoun City Schools is situated in a historically white conservative area,

many of these topics have been ignored and censored. However, the city and school has been
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rapidly changing and diversifying which have brought many topics, once considered taboo, to

the forefront of local conversation.

As the school media specialist, I believe that student access to information should not be

censored or limited. “Students should not form opinions without reading widely how others

argue about the topic” (Gregory, 2020, p.26). I believe that I could harness valuable internet

resources, like the ones provided by the American Library Association and it’s Office for

Intellectual Freedom, developed to help media specialists make informed purchases about

relevant topics that are important to young people. These materials should be credible and

written for audiences of differing reading levels and age groups. I also believe that students

should have access to resources available through the internet and that they should be taught to

analyze those resources to determine whether they are credible. Regarding self-censorship, I

believe that I need to do my best to provide materials that cover different viewpoints on different

subjects to help students explore topics, even controversial or uncomfortable ones, in a safe

place. This means I need to include resources about topics or opinions with which I may

disagree. Because it is hard to overcome personal bias at times, I think seeking out professional

development opportunities specifically geared towards helping teachers or librarians learn to

identify gaps in diversity within their collections and have access to new materials to fill those

gaps. I also think seeking the opinions of our ever diversifying staff of teachers could help me

add to my collection to help support topics that are important to them, their students, and their

curriculums.

Inevitably, challenges may come because my idea of self-censorship is that it should be

done as little as possible. In fact, according to the Children’s Internet Protection Act, which

many public institutions use to justify their censorship of materials for young people, my only
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obligation is to censor images that are "harmful to minors, that is, sexually explicit images that

adults have a legal right to access hut lacking any serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific

value for minors” (Caldwell-Stone, 2013, p.60). I will continue the practice of making materials

with sexually explicit content or “adult” topics reserved for high school students only

considering the middle and high schools share the same media center. But ultimately, I believe

teaching students to make informed choices is more important than upholding certain

individual’s beliefs about certain topics or what is or is not appropriate. At the end of the day,

parents can always choose to censor the materials that their own child can access but “they

cannot stop all young people from reading quality literature that represents the diverse peoples

and experiences of our community” (Garnar, Lechtenberg, & Vibbert, 2020, p.36).

I believe that I can create an environment that promotes intellectual freedom by fighting

for more diverse content within my media center and by providing opportunities for students to

learn how to harness the power of reading to help make themselves more informed citizens. “A

library is one of the only places where teens can explore controversial issues, and a challenge

represents a chance for you to defend teenagers’ right to have access to a wide variety of

materials on any given subject” (Fletcher-Spear & Tyler, 2014, p.27). To help support my

students, the media center should be a welcoming place that projects the image that can “help

them find whatever they need, in whatever materials are appropriate, without judgment, we can

ensure that they continue to find the library a necessary resource” (Fletcher-Spear & Tyler, 2014,

p.10).

As an advocate for intellectual freedom, I would provide opportunities to join topic based

book circles that could use the media center as a space to discuss their thoughts on modern day

topics or current events using carefully curated materials.I would host research competitions,
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similar to our current technology competitions, where students select a topic they want to explore

and are given the time, materials, and support to form and defend their opinion. I would ensure

that students had access to our private study rooms where they can investigate topics in their own

time and in private. I would also want to work with a group of teachers, parents, and students to

help grow the media center collection to ensure that all needs are being met. I believe that by

working closely with these groups, the lines of communication can remain open and transparent

which will help hold me accountable and help the community at large understand the purpose of

the media center and its programs. Finally, I believe that, to be an effective leader in the pursuit

of promoting intellectual freedom in my media center, I need to teach students about the concept

of intellectual freedom so that they can defend their right to read and access information in the

pursuit of knowledge and personal growth. After all, these students will eventually become

adults who will need to be able to analyze completely uncensored content, think critically about

information those sources provide, and use it to be more informed citizens.

References

Adams, H. R. (2016). 65 Years & Counting: AASL and School Librarians--Still Champions of

Intellectual Freedom. Knowledge Quest, 45(1), 34–41.

Caldwell-Stone, D. (2013). Filtering and the First Amendment. American Libraries, 44(3/4), 58–

61.

U.S. Const. amend. I.

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Garnar, M., Lechtenberg, K., & Vibbert, C. (2020). SCHOOL LIBRARIANS and the

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM MANUAL. Knowledge Quest, 49(1), 34–38.

Gregory, J. (2020). School Librarian: Teaching the First Amendment. Teacher Librarian, 47(4),

23–27.

Kristin Fletcher-Spear, & Kelly Tyler. (2014). Intellectual Freedom for Teens : A Practical

Guide for Young Adult & School Librarians. ALA Editions.