Throughout my coursework in the SLM program at McDaniel College, I have been part of excellent discussions regarding the legal and ethical issues of librarianship, and I have learned much about the importance of these issues. In my very first course, Children’s Literature, I wrote an essay called “My Stand on School Library Censorship,” in which I described two incidents of book challenges that emerged during my very first few months on the job! One involved a cute little pink book called Funny Bunny, Honeybunny by Marilyn Sadler. It was a book about a bunny who teases his younger sibling. A parent of a kindergarten student objected to the character’s behavior and the outcome of the story. The other complaint was about a book called Making Life: How We Reproduce and Grow by Richard Walker. The mother of a second grader came in personally to tell me that she thought that the pictures of a mother giving birth to her baby were too much for her seven-year-old daughter. Both of these incidents were trial by fire for me since I did not have a full grasp on the concepts of readers’ rights or censorship at the time. Luckily, I went to the right place and received appropriate advice from the library department chair on how to handle the concerns before I took any actions on my own. She told me about the “Request Form for Reevaluation of Materials,” and it turned out that neither parent decided to go as far as to fill out these forms. We left the bunny book in the library, but we decided to move the reproduction book to the science classroom to be used specifically with the puberty unit in fifth grade. These incidents impressed upon me the importance of knowing and making known the ethical principles and rights to intellectual freedom and privacy that are crucial in any library.
It was in the Administration and Leadership course that we dealt with these issues head-on. We were required to write a policy manual and develop a website that incorporated all of our policies and procedures, including pertinent legal and ethical issues of librarianship. I already had a website for my Lower School Library at Roland Park Country School, but it did not include any information about these important issues. I had a very basic Policies and Procedures page on the site, so I decided to add sections on selection policy, plagiarism, copyright, intellectual freedom and censorship. My readings and discussions in the course made me realize that these were the essential points to address on my website. I had to decide who my audience was for this page and how detailed to get when explaining the concepts. I decided to go for the “less is more” approach since I knew that there was a wide range of viewers who access my site, from elementary children to parents, faculty and other members of the school community. I decided to keep the wording concise and include only a few links for more detailed information. For example, I put brief explanations for plagiarism and copyright and included two links to kid-friendly explanations of the concepts. I figured that my audience would be more likely to read through the policies page if it were not cluttered with lengthy descriptions and multiple links.
One obstacle I encountered was the program my school uses for websites—SharePoint. It is awkward and cumbersome to use, so it was a challenge to make the page both attractive and readable. I wish I could use a program with more freedom in design. As I look at the page now, I can also see where I might make some improvements in content. I could include a link to the actual form I mention under censorship: “Request Form for Reevaluation of Materials.” I could also be more specific in my selection policy. I included the wording that suits the entire library department of my K-12 school, but I could add some of the specific criteria I wrote in a selection policy for the Children’s Literature course. I have also come to realize that I cannot count on my website as my only means of communicating these legal and ethical issues to my school community. Not everyone reads through a website or policy manual. When it comes to plagiarism and copyright, I do several lessons on different grade levels, but I should teach the concepts of censorship and intellectual freedom, at least to some of the older students. I also think that it is important for me to ask for some small chunks of time in a faculty meeting to review these concepts since teachers should be aware of them and how they relate to their students.
It was in the Administration and Leadership course that we dealt with these issues head-on. We were required to write a policy manual and develop a website that incorporated all of our policies and procedures, including pertinent legal and ethical issues of librarianship. I already had a website for my Lower School Library at Roland Park Country School, but it did not include any information about these important issues. I had a very basic Policies and Procedures page on the site, so I decided to add sections on selection policy, plagiarism, copyright, intellectual freedom and censorship. My readings and discussions in the course made me realize that these were the essential points to address on my website. I had to decide who my audience was for this page and how detailed to get when explaining the concepts. I decided to go for the “less is more” approach since I knew that there was a wide range of viewers who access my site, from elementary children to parents, faculty and other members of the school community. I decided to keep the wording concise and include only a few links for more detailed information. For example, I put brief explanations for plagiarism and copyright and included two links to kid-friendly explanations of the concepts. I figured that my audience would be more likely to read through the policies page if it were not cluttered with lengthy descriptions and multiple links.
One obstacle I encountered was the program my school uses for websites—SharePoint. It is awkward and cumbersome to use, so it was a challenge to make the page both attractive and readable. I wish I could use a program with more freedom in design. As I look at the page now, I can also see where I might make some improvements in content. I could include a link to the actual form I mention under censorship: “Request Form for Reevaluation of Materials.” I could also be more specific in my selection policy. I included the wording that suits the entire library department of my K-12 school, but I could add some of the specific criteria I wrote in a selection policy for the Children’s Literature course. I have also come to realize that I cannot count on my website as my only means of communicating these legal and ethical issues to my school community. Not everyone reads through a website or policy manual. When it comes to plagiarism and copyright, I do several lessons on different grade levels, but I should teach the concepts of censorship and intellectual freedom, at least to some of the older students. I also think that it is important for me to ask for some small chunks of time in a faculty meeting to review these concepts since teachers should be aware of them and how they relate to their students.