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LIBR 593B: SEMINAR: INFORMATION ETHICS & INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM RESEARCH -- COURSE SYLLABUS

 

 

Program: Master of Library and Information Studies
Year: Winter Session 2005-2006, term 1
Location: TEF 320
Instructor: Ann Curry
Office location: TEF 322
Office phone: 604-822-4250
Office hours: Wednesdays 1-3 (by appointment if possible) . Please make appointments by email
E-mail address: ann.curry@ubc.ca

Course Goal: To provide students planning to conduct research in information ethics/intellectual freedom with the knowledge required to do so

Course Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Discuss the history and current trends in information ethics/intellectual free (IE/IF) research
  • Identify the major researchers and research studies in this area
  • Identify the research questions of the past and present
  • Discuss the methodologies used in IE/IF research projects
  • Identify the communication channels and venues for IE/IF research

Course Topics: The course will focus on both past intellectual freedom topics and incidents, and topics of current interest.

Prerequisites: Open to all doctoral students. Also open to master’s students who have completed LIBR 569J. In other circumstances, permission of the SLAIS Graduate Adviser is required.

Format of the course: Seminar discussions

Required and Recommended Reading :

Required:

  • Sumner, L.W. The Hateful and the Obscene: Studies in the Limits of Free Expression. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.
  • Other readings of theses, books, and research articles to prepare for seminar discussions. Most readings will be selected from the Resource List below.

Resource Reading List:

  • Agler, R.B.’ “Problem” books revisited. Library Journal 89 (1964): 2019-2030.
  • Ahrens , N.H. “Censorship and the Teacher of English: A Questionnaire Survey of a Selected Sample of Secondary School Teachers of English.” Unpublished EdD dissertation. Columbia University, 1965.
  • Birdsall, Peter, and Delores Broten. Mind War: Book Censorship in English Canada. Victoria: Canlit, 1978.
  • Black, Alistair. “The English Public Library as an Agency for Social Stability c. 1850- 1919.” PhD. dissertation. Polytechnic of North London. Revised version published as A New History of the English Public Library : Social and Intellectual Contexts, 1850-1914 . London: Leicester University Press, 1996.
  • Broderick, D.M. ‘“Problem nonfiction.” Library Journal 87 (1962): 3373-3378.
  • Bukoff, R. N. “ Censorship and the American college library” [survey of challenged material at 68 institutions, 1988-1994]. College & Research Libraries 56 (September 1995): 395-407.
  • Burns, Elizabeth Chalmers. “Board member practice and knowledge: Students' First Amendment rights in library selections.” Unpublished EdD dissertation. Arizona State University, 2001.
    Burress, Lee. How Censorship Affects the School. Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English, 1963. Special Bulletin No. 8. Available as ERIC doc ED 053 110.
  • Busha, Charles H. Authoritarianism and Censorship: Attitudes and Opinions of Students in the Graduate Library School of Indiana University: A Report of an Exploratory Project Conducted as a Preliminary for a Proposed Nationwide Study of American Public Librarians and Intellectual Freedom.” Bloomington, Indiana, 1969. Available as ERIC Doc ED 033 727.
  • Busha, Charles H. Freedom Versus Suppression and Censorship: With a Study of the Attitudes of Midwestern Public Librarians and a Bibliography of Censorship. Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1972. (Also Library Quarterly article Vol. 42:283-301)
  • Carrier, Esther Jane. Fiction in Public Libraries 1900-1950. Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1985.
  • Cole, Natalie. “Intellectual Freedom and the Public Library: A Study of Librarians’, Elected Members’ and Library Users’ Attitudes Towards Intellectual Freedom, and the Impact of These Attitudes on Stock Management Policy-Making and Practice.” Unpublished PhD dissertation. University of Sheffield, 1998.
  • Curry, Ann. "American Psycho: A Collection Management Survey in Canadian Public Libraries." Library & Information Science Research 16 (Summer 1994): 201-217.
  • Curry, Ann. “A Comparison of the Roles and Attitudes of Canadian and British Public Library Directors in Dealing with Intellectual Freedom issues.” PhD. dissertation. University of Sheffield, 1993. Revised version published as The Limits of Tolerance: Censorship and Intellectual Freedom in Public Libraries. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 1997.
  • Curry, Ann. "Intellectual Freedom Lectures & the Dilemma of Offense-Free Teaching." Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 38 (1): 43-53.
  • Curry, Ann. "The Library Association Record and Censorship: A Content Analysis." Libri 47 (4): 213-33.
  • Curry, Ann. “Literature about Illicit Drugs: Libraries and the Law.” With Bethan Davies. Journal of Information Ethics 10 (2): 13-39.
  • Curry, Ann. “Where is Judy Blume? Controversial Fiction for Older Children and Young Adults.” Journal of Youth Services 14 (Spring 2001): 24-33.
  • DelFattore, Joan. What Johnny Shouldn't Read: Textbook Censorship in America. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press 1992.
  • Eakin, M.L. “Censorship in Public High School Libraries.” Unpublished Master’s thesis. Columbia University, 1948.
  • England , C.S.C. “The Climate of Censorship in Ontario: An Investigation into Attitudes Toward Intellectual Freedom and the Perpetual Factors Affecting the Practice of Censorship in Public Libraries Serving Medium-Sized Populations.” Unpublished PhD. dissertation. University of Toronto, 1974.
  • Farley, John. “Book Censorship in the Senior High School Libraries of Nassau County, New York. Unpublished PhD. dissertation. New York University, 1964.
  • Finks, Lee. “Measuring the Attitudes of Library School students Toward Intellectual Freedom, Innovation and Change, Service, Research and Administration and Management.” Unpublished PhD dissertation. Rutgers University, 1973.
  • Fogelman, Martin Lee. “A Study of Freedom of Expression and Technology: The Case of Computer-mediated Communication.” Unpublished PhD dissertation. State University of New York at Albany, 1999.
  • Gellatly, Peter. Sex Magazines in the Library Collection: A Scholarly Study of Sex in Serials and Periodicals. New York: Haworth Press, 1981.
  • Geller, Evelyn. “Ideals and Ideology: The Freedom to Read in American Public Libraries, 1878-1939.” PhD dissertation. Columbia University, 1980. Revised version published as Forbidden Books in American Public Libraries, 1876-1939: A Study in Cultural Change. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984.
  • Ghazali, Hamed. “Examining High-school Students' Views on Computer and Information Ethics.” Unpublished PhD dissertation, Kansas State University. 2003
    Graham, Patterson Toby. “Segregation and civil rights in Alabama's public libraries, 1918-1965.” PhD dissertation. University of Alabama, 1998. Revised version published as A Right to Read: Segregation and Civil Rights in Alabama's Public Libraries, 1900-1965. Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 2002.
    Harkovitch, Michael, Amanda Hirst, and Jenifer Loomis. “Intellectual Freedom in Belief and Practice.” Public Libraries 42 (6): 367-74.
  • Hopkins, Dianne McAfee. Factors Influencing the Outcome of Challenges to Materials in Secondary School Libraries: Report of a National Study. Washington, D.C. U.S. Dept. of Education, 1991. Available as ERIC Doc ED 338 266.
  • Jenkinson, David. “Censorship Iceberg: Results of a Survey of Challenges in Public and School Libraries. Canadian Library Journal 43 (February 1986): 7-21.
  • Knuth, R. Libricide: The Regime-sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the Twentieth C entury. Westport, Conn.: Praeger 2003.
  • McDonald , Frances Beck. “Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Attitudes of Secondary School Librarians and Principal [Principled?] Moral Reasoning.” PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1989. Revised version published as Censorship and Intellectual Freedom: A Survey of School Librarians’ Attitudes and Moral Reasoning. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1993.
  • Moody, Kim. “ Censorship by Queensland Public Librarians: Philosophy and Practice .” Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services 17 (4) (December 2004) : 168-85.
  • Moon, Eric. ‘”Problem” Fiction. Library Journal 87 (February 1): 484-96.
  • Murphy, Priscilla Coit. “What a Book Can Do: 'Silent Spring' and Media-borne Public Debate (Rachel Carson).” Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000.
  • Peterson, Carol McCannon. “A Study of Censorship Affecting the Secondary School English Literature Teachers 1968-1974.” Unpublished EdD thesis. Temple University, 1976.
  • Pope, Michael. “A Comparative Study of the Opinions of School, College, and Public Librarians Concerning Certain Categories of Sexually Oriented Literature.” PhD dissertation. Rutgers University, 1970. Revised version published as Sex and the Undecided Librarian: A Study of Librarians’ Opinions on Sexually oriented Literature. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1974.
  • Ravitch, Diane. The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn, New York: Knopf, 2003.
  • Robbins, Louise. “Toward Ideology and Autonomy: The American Library Association’s Response to Threats to Intellectual Freedom 1939-1969. PhD dissertation. Texas Women’s University, 1991. Revised version published as Censorship and the American Library : the American Library Association's response to threats to intellectual freedom, 1939-1969 . Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996.
  • Roberts, Elizabeth Ann. “A Survey of Censorship Practices in Public School Libraries in Saskatchewan. Unpublished MEd thesis. University of Regina. 1996.
  • Samek, Antonia. “Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility: An Ethos of American Librarianship, 1967-1973.” PhD dissertation. University of Wisconsin, 1998. Revised version published with the same title in Ann Arbor Michigan: UMI Microforms, 1998.
  • Schrader, Alvin M. Fear of Words: Censorship and the Public Libraries of Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association, 1996.
  • Serebnick, Judith. “Self-Censorship by Librarians: An Analysis of Checklist-Based Research. Drexel Library Quarterly 18 (Winter 1982): 35-56.
  • Serebnick, Judith. “The Relationship between Book Reviews and the Inclusion of Potentially Controversial Books in Public Libraries. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Rutgers University, 1978.
  • Serebnick, Judith. “Self-Censorship by Librarians: An Analysis of Checklist-Based Research.” Drexel Library Quarterly 18 (Winter 1982): 35-56.
  • Smith, Martha Montague .”Information Ethics: An Hermeneutical Analysis of an Emerging Area in Applied Ethics.” Unpublished PhD dissertation. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1996.
  • Symula, James Francis. “Censorship of High School Literature: A Study of the Incidents of Censorship Involving J.D. Salinger’s ‘The Catcher in the Rye.’” Unpublished EdD dissertation. State University of New York at Buffalo, 1969. (Good follow-up book is Pamela Steinle’s In Cold Fear: The Catcher in the Rye, Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 2000)
  • Szuchewycz, Bohdan. “New Right Publications: A Survey of Public and Academic Libraries in Metropolitan Toronto. Canadian Library Journal 47 (February 1990): 17-25.
  • Thompson, Anthony. Censorship in Public Libraries in the United Kingdom during the Twentieth Century. Epping: Bowker, 1975.
  • Torke, Keith. “Sex Education Books, Censorship, and Colorado High School Libraries: A Survey. Unpublished EdD thesis. University of Northern Colorado, 1975.
  • Wertheimer, Andrew B. , “Japanese American Community Libraries in America's Concentration Camps, 1942—1946.” Unpublished Ph.D dissertation. University of Wisconsin – Madison, 2004.
  • White, Elizabeth Norris. “A Heuristic Study of the Attitudes of School Library Media Specialists toward Intellectual Freedom and Censorship. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Georgia State University, 1988.
  • Wiegand, Wayne. An Active Instrument for Propaganda: The American Public Library during World War I. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.
  • Williams, Claire Louise, and Dillon, Ken. Brought to Book: Censorship and School Libraries in Australia. Deakin, ACT: ALIA Press, 1993.

Course Assignments:

Assignment

Due Date

Weight

#1 – Seminar presentations & contributions to seminar discussions

 

40%

#2 - Contributions to co-authored paper

Dec. 1

25%

#3 – Major paper

Dec. 9

35%

Course Schedule:

Date

Topics

Sept 8

  • Introduction to Course
  • Discussion of Course goals and student’s individual goals and objectives
  • Discussion of philosophical and linguistic frameworks re “information ethics,” “intellectual freedom,” “censorship”

Sept 15

  • Discussion of:
    • John Milton’s Areopagitica,
    • John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty,
    • Sumner Chap. 1 – “A Theory of Free Expression?” and
    • Sumner Chap. 2 - “Mill’s Framework,
    • Lester Asheim’s “Not Censorship but Selection,”
    • Judy Serebnick’s “A Review of Research Related to Censorship in Libraries.” (Serebnick’s conceptual frame of censorship research provides the structure for the course)

Sept 22

  • Discussion & assessment of studies with librarian-based variables: attitudes, demographics, perceived role
  • Sumner Chap. 3 – “The Balancing Act” and
  • Sumner Chap. 4 – “The Myth of Community Standards.”

Sept 29

  • Cont’d discussion of studies with librarian-based variables
  • Discussion & assessment of studies with LIS student-based variables
  • Sumner Chap. 5 – “In Harm’s Way?”

Oct 6

  • Discussion & assessment of studies with library-based variables: organizational structures, selection policies, budgets, collections
  • Sumner Chap. 6 – “From Principle to Policy”

Oct 13

  • Cont’d discussion of studies with library-based variables
  • Discussion & assessment of studies focused on a single item, e.g. Silent Spring, The Catcher in the Rye, American Psycho

Oct 20

  • Discussion & assessment of studies with community and community-action variables: census data; pressure groups; nature, number, and resolution of censorship challenges

Oct 27

  • No Class

Nov 3

  • Cont’d discussion of studies with community variables

Nov 10

  • Discussion & assessment of studies with mass media variables: materials’ reviews, coverage of challenges, relationship with media
  • Discussion & assessment of studies with legal variables: judicial decisions, legislation, e.g. Patriot Act, Filtering legislation

Nov 17

  • Discussion & assessment of historical studies
  • Discussion of impact on technology on intellectual freedom research

Nov 24

  • Putting it all together: Research results pertaining to particular information/library environments or groups, e.g. school, public, university

Dec 1

  • Putting it all together: Best practices in the methodologies used

Course Policies :

Attendance: The UBC calendar states: “Regular attendance is expected of students in all their classes (including lectures, laboratories, tutorials, seminars, etc.). Students who neglect their academic work and assignments may be excluded from the final examinations. Students who are unavoidably absent because of illness or disability should report to their instructors on return to classes.”

Students who have medically documented continuing/chronic disabilities that may affect their ability to complete assignments on time should report this to their adviser or to me before problems arise.

Regular on-time attendance in class is an important and required part of this course. I will provide copies of all handouts distributed during sessions you miss, but it is your responsibility to obtain notes from one of the other class members.

I recognize that sudden unexpected problems arise for everyone (including myself), but I expect you to attend and be on time for class. Repeated absences or tardiness will result in a lower course mark or in a request from me that you drop the course. The size of an attendance-related course mark penalty will be determined by the instructor. Missing more than two classes will likely result in course failure. If you ARE late for class (for whatever reason) please come into the classroom rather than waiting for the break.

Evaluation: Assignments will not be accepted late unless prior arrangements are made with me. Consideration will be given to legitimate emergencies. If an extension is granted, a late penalty may be imposed at my discretion; this will be discussed when you request an extension.

All assignments will be awarded letter grades using the evaluative criteria given on the SLAIS web site: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/RESOURCES/slais-marking.htm.

Written & Spoken English Requirement: Written and spoken work may receive a lower mark if it is, in the opinion of the instructor, deficient in English. Marks will also be deducted for deficient bibliographic citation style

Footnotes/References: Please do not use any footnote or endnote software when writing papers for this class. This software makes revisions for publication very difficult, and the software is not accepted by most publishers.