[Libs-Or] Library Neutrality

[Rachel Humpert]

I will be away from the Library until Tuesday, September 6. If you need immediate assistance, please call Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney at 541-

On Jun 2, 2022, at 4:45 PM, Steve Silver via Libs-Or <libs-or at omls.oregon.gov> wrote:

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I’ve always understood it in the context of Ethics statements 6 and 7:
        1.      We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions.
        2.      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.
That is, we are neutral in terms of interjecting our personal views into providing service to users.

There are other strong ethics (such as protecting intellectual freedom) that are decidedly political, so I don’t think political neutrality was ever the intent of library neutrality.

As you point out in your question, there are many spheres in which neutrality could be understood, and being very clear about which sphere(s) we are talking when considering neutrality can, I believe, be a useful nuance in those (very important) discussions. This is a good question to raise and discuss.

Steve Silver

From: Libs-Or <libs-or-bounces at omls.oregon.gov> On Behalf Of Matthew Baiocchi via Libs-Or
Sent: Thursday, June 2, 2022 4:12 PM
To: libs-or at omls.oregon.gov
Subject: [Libs-Or] Library Neutrality

They're probably going to take away my MLIS for not knowing this.

I've been thinking a lot about library neutrality and what it means, and it occurred to me that I've never seen a really good definition of library neutrality. I can't find it "written down anywhere official" as a core tenet of our profession. I've looked all over ALA and OLA. I've looked at library professionals' presentations, statements, and blog posts. I checked Google Scholar and looked at articles I had access to. I haven't checked out books yet but that's because we don't have any in our library system.

Does library neutrality mean political neutrality? Ethical neutrality? Social neutrality? Is it a description of how we ensure intellectual freedom? Does it mean we don't let our own viewpoints cloud service to patrons? Some of these? All? None?

So, anyone have a good definition of library neutrality? Anyone know where this core tenet of our profession originates?

Thank you, as always, for listening. Happy Thursday, all!

Matthew Baiocchi
REFERENCE LIBRARIAN
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