The library plays a crucial role in the production of an informed electorate and providing information access to the community, while occupying a precarious space within the legal landscape. As fraught as the existing complexity is, it is further complicated by regulations that continue to evolve, with constant changes to policies and laws and challenges from various angles trying to dismantle privacy and access to information. Librarians must be equipped to deal with this tumultuous environment so they can ensure patrons’ rights, and endeavor to plot a course to a more stable and fair future.
Libraries provide an array of functions in order to continue our democracy. They provide access to government records so that citizens can be informed of the workings of their government. They provide materials with multiple points of view on various topics so patrons can develop critical thinking skills (Rubin & Rubin, 2020). In addition to the library’s collection they are also an access point for the Internet, allowing people to keep up with current political events and access a broader range of information and viewpoints. Librarians actively engage in information literacy training to help people avoid misinformation and protect their privacy. These are just a few of the ways libraries help to ensure the citizenry can utilize their full rights under the first amendment, including the right to access information freely and with privacy.
Unfortunately, both patron privacy and broad information access are under attack. Librarians must understand the factors that promote and restrict access to information so they can effectively campaign on behalf of their users’ rights, taking a strong stance against filtering and other forms of censorship. That stance must also include turning a critical eye to the history of the library itself (Drabinski, 2019), when “librarians perceived themselves primarily as preservers of the public good and protectors of the predominant social mores” (Rubin & Rubin, 2020, chap. 9, Introduction section, para. 10) and wove biases into our collection development policies. The right to privacy is the complement to the right to information access. Without privacy there can be a chilling effect on the materials patrons choose to engage with. The American Library Association has an extensive collection of position papers outlining these rights and their importance in various contexts, starting with the Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read statement (American Library Association, 2016). They cover topics from avoiding requiring adults to request internet filters be disabled, to negotiating contracts with database vendors to prevent user privacy violations. These position statements, coupled with thorough library policies and access to legal counsel, can help guide librarians as they navigate the ethics and legalities of the decisions they must make.
These problems are unlikely to ever be truly resolved. As the library continues to chart its course into the future, changing issues of social justice, equity of information access, privacy, and legal issues will continue to be trends librarians will have to contend with. Many areas of library and information science have been researched, explored, and documented, like classification systems and metadata, but DEIA and information access versus privacy are two areas that are changing rapidly and are framed within a modern library context that hasn’t previously existed (Drabinski, 2019). These are areas that are still being explored and defined by society every day, and they deserve our attention to ensure they are framed in ways that protect our patrons and their access to information that is fair and equitable and not chilled or constrained by capitalist and legal requirements.
References
American Library Association. (2016, November 16). Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement. https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/oif/LBOR-FTR-statement-pamphlet
Drabinski, E. (2019). What is critical about critical librarianship? Art Libraries Journal, 44(2), 49–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/alj.2019.3
Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). American Library Association.