ALA 2010 Midwinter Meeting: WI LibraryNamed IF Award Recipient
ALA 2010 Midwinter Meeting - American Library Association - Library Journal
By LJ Staff -- Library Journal, 12/09/2009
A press release about the award, issued by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is below. Here's past coverage of the issue in School Library Journal.The press release
The West Bend Community Memorial Library in West Bend, Wisconsin, is the recipient of the 2009 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award given by the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The faculty voted overwhelmingly to give this year’s award to the West Bend Library for its steadfast advocacy on behalf of intellectual freedom in the face of a library challenge that garnered national attention. The efforts of the library board, Library Director Michael Tyree, the library staff, and many supportive community members are to be commended.
The controversy began in February 2009 when West Bend resident and conservative blogger Ginny Maziarka formally objected to the presence of books with LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) content in the young adult section of the library. She formed a citizens’ group, West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries, and circulated a petition that called for the library to, among other requests, move “youth-targeted pornographic books into the adult section of the library.”
In response to her objection, a second citizens’ group was formed, West Bend Parents for Free Speech, which was active in supporting the library’s decision not to move or remove any of the titles in question.
The controversy quickly escalated in this town of 30,000 people located outside of Milwaukee. Hundreds of people attended library board meetings and town hall gatherings. In April 2009, four library board members were denied reappointment by the West Bend Common Council for not acting on the petitions to remove the materials. According to Alderman Terry Vrana, who was quoted in the West Bend Daily News, “the appointees were not serving the interests of the community ‘with their ideology.’” At a June 2009 meeting of the library board, a vote was taken and a unanimous decision to maintain the young adult collection without removing, moving, labeling, or restricting in any way, triumphed.
The American Library Association issued a statement in support of the library and against the efforts to control access to library collections. “Fanning the flames of this controversy, opponents of open access in libraries have launched a campaign spreading fear and misinformation. . . By resisting calls to censor potentially controversial materials, [the West Bend Library] promote[s] and protect[s] true education and learning, and uphold[s] the cherished freedoms that we, as Americans, hold most dear.”
Maziarka launched an aggressive campaign and used social media, including her blog, to spread her message. National media outlets such as CNN, ABC News, and Fox News covered the story. In mid-July, the Pew Research Center’s Project on Excellence in Journalism ranked the West End book challenges as among the top five blogged-about topics in the news.
“The West Bend librarians, library board, and library supporters demonstrated the strong and steadfast advocacy on behalf of intellectual freedom that is the focus of the Downs Award. Despite the enormous media attention that the controversy received, they were unwavering in their support of the public library's responsibility to provide a diverse collection to serve *all* community members,” said Christine Jenkins, GSLIS associate professor and director of the Center for Children’s Books.
A reception to honor the West Bend Library will take place during the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association in the Arlington Room of the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on January 16, 2010, from 5:30–7:00 p.m. The ABC-CLIO publishing company provides the honorarium to the recipient of the Downs Intellectual Freedom Award and also co-sponsors the reception.
The Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award is given annually to acknowledge individuals or groups who have furthered the cause of intellectual freedom, particularly as it affects libraries and information centers and the dissemination of ideas. Granted to those who have resisted censorship or efforts to abridge the freedom of individuals to read or view materials of their choice, the award may be in recognition of a particular action or long-term interest in, and dedication to, the cause of intellectual freedom. The award was established in 1969 by the GSLIS faculty to honor Robert Downs, a champion of intellectual freedom, on his twenty-fifth anniversary as director of the school.
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