Supporting Intellectual Freedom: Symbolic Capital and Practical Philosophy in Librarianship

Knox, Emily J.M.

doi:10.1086/674033

Cited by 33 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…As noted previously, much of the research in library and information science on intellectual freedom focuses not on challengers but on librarians and institutional responses to challengers (Knox, 2014). These studies tend to focus on frameworks for information ethics (Doyle, 2002;Frické, Mathiesen, & Fallis, 2000); legal discussion and policy (American Library Association, 2010; Baldwin, 1996;Braunstein, 1990;Jones, 1999); and historical case studies (Robbins, 1993;Wiegand & Wiegand, 2007).…”

Section: Previous Research On Challengersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Society, institutions, and common sense: Themes in the discourse of book challengers in 21st century United States

Knox

2014

Library & Information Science Research

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Understanding why people attempt to remove, relocate, or restrict books in an age of ubiquitous access is one of the more puzzling aspects of contemporary challenge cases. In order to better comprehend this largely symbolic phenomenon, this study focused on the arguments that book challengers employed to justify the removal, relocation, or restriction of books in 13 challenge cases in public libraries and schools across the United States between 2007 and 2011. Three sources of discourse, which were coded for common themes, were analyzed. The first consisted of a variety of documents, obtained via state open record requests to governing bodies, which were produced in the course of challenge cases. Recordings of book challenge public hearings constituted the second source of data. The third source of discourse consisted of interviews with challengers. The study found the following common themes in challengers' worldviews: First, they saw contemporary society as being in a state of decline and were concerned with preserving the innocence of children in the midst of this decay. Second, they constructed public institutions as symbols of the community that must represent their values and aid parents in their difficult role as boundary setters. Finally, challengers demonstrated a reverence for the books as a material object and employed common sense interpretive strategies. It is hoped that this analysis will offer a starting point for comparing the discourse of challengers to the discourse of other social actors and aid librarians and other information professionals in providing effective responses to challengers to materials in their respective institutions.

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Section: Previous Research On Challengersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Society, institutions, and common sense: Themes in the discourse of book challengers in 21st century United States

Knox

2014

Library & Information Science Research

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“…Knox focuses exclusively on professional standards and ethical codes, arguing that librarians have a "sophisticated" theoretical foundation for fighting censorship and protecting intellectual freedom that has been formed through codification, institutionalization, and investigation (that is, research on the topic). 3 Naturally, such frameworks only matter if they are translated into practice. Knox views the "symbolic capital" of professional codes like those prescribed by ALA as giving librarians power to uphold ethical principles.…”

Section: I: Perspectives On Librarianship and Intellectual Freedommentioning

confidence: 99%

To Uphold and Resist: Protecting Intellectual Freedom through Progressive Librarianship

Childs

2017

The Serials Librarian

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Public librarians uphold an ethical commitment to protect the intellectual freedom of their patrons, but when information is accessed online, users become vulnerable to censorship and surveillance. The public library is a democratic institution in which patrons should be able to interact with information free of restriction or judgment, and this right is threatened by the conflict between access and privacy. Librarians must reject the notion that they are neutral and instead adopt a political stance in defense of intellectual freedom, a framework for which can be found within the theory of progressive librarianship.

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“…However, the theoretical basis (as opposed to the ethical basis) of IF is rarely articulatedor, as Emily Knox (2014) said, the prevalent case studies "do not emphasize theory and analysis" (17). Similarly, John Buschman (2007) noted that very little of the LIS literature that mentions democracy is peer reviewed.…”

Section: Intellectual Freedom and Freedom Of Speech: Three Theoreticamentioning

confidence: 99%

Intellectual Freedom and Freedom of Speech: Three Theoretical Perspectives

Oltmann¹

2016

The Library Quarterly

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Supporting Intellectual Freedom: Symbolic Capital and Practical Philosophy in Librarianship

Cited by 33 publications

References 12 publications

Society, institutions, and common sense: Themes in the discourse of book challengers in 21st century United States

Society, institutions, and common sense: Themes in the discourse of book challengers in 21st century United States

To Uphold and Resist: Protecting Intellectual Freedom through Progressive Librarianship

Intellectual Freedom and Freedom of Speech: Three Theoretical Perspectives

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