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My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Royal Highness Judith the Functional of Wimblish upon Frognaze Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title |
As I was driving home this afternoon, some fellow in a VW Golf pulled up in front of me. Emblazoned on the back of his car was an oversized bumper sticker reading “Thank God your mom was pro-life.” Stupid signs like that infuriate me. I wanted to roll down my window and yell, “My mom is pro-choice, fuck you very much.”
A person can be pro-choice AND give birth. Shocking, I know.
I’m not sure why I am (yet again) starting a blog. I never seem to have anything to say and yet I have this persistent desire to have a blog. Perhaps this time I will find inspiration in school. Anything is possible, right?
I started classes last week. My first class is basically a computer literacy course. I don’t think it should be too bad. From what I could tell, I know just as much about computers as most of the students (and more than some). Not bad for an old broad, IMHO.
My other course sounds a bit more challenging. Essentially, it’s “Reference Sources 101.” IOW, where the heck do I find information on subject X, Y or Z? Of the ten people registered in the class, only eight showed up the first night. I’m not sure if that is a result of the instructor putting the wrong room number on the syllabus or because two people dropped already. At any rate, it’s a small group, so there isn’t really any way to be inconspicuous.
I suppose it is entirely appropriate that the first thing I learn in library school is the “librarian code of ethics.” Frankly, I didn’t know there was a librarian code of ethics. I suppose it makes sense. Other professionals have codes of ethics … why not librarians?
- We provide the highest level of service to all library users through appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased and courteous responses to all requests.
- We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources.
- We protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.
- We recognize and respect intellectual property rights.
- We treat co-workers and other colleagues with respect, fairness and good faith, and advocoate conditions of employment that safeguard the rights and welfare of all employees of our institutions.
- We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions.
- 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.
- We strive for exellence in the profession by maintaining and enhancing our own knowledge and skills, by encouraging the professional development of co-workers, and by fostering the aspirations of potential members of the profession.
Adopted June 28, 1995, by the ALA Council
Check out #7. No “pharmacists for life” at the library.
And for our patrons, there is the Library Bill of Rights.
The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.
- Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
- Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
- Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
- Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
- A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.
- Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.
Adopted June 18, 1948, by the ALA Council; amended February 2, 1961; January 23, 1980;inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996.
In these days of the Patriot Act, I’m glad to see the ALA has a strong focus on intellectual freedom.
