Project+Intellectual+Freedom+LIS+5250

__**Steps in the Reconsideration Process**__

 * 1) **A request for reconsideration must be submitted by filling out the district's Reconsideration Request form. (every group I looked at started with filling out a required form)**
 * 2) **The librarian will present the patron with the complaint a copy of the library's selection policy and the curriculum justification for the book. The librarian will be available to answer any and all questions regarding the material. (all sources)**
 * 3) **If the patron is not satisfied the librarian will then direct the patron to speak with the principal and in turn the superintendent. (Fayetteville)**
 * 4) **If the patron wishes to go forward with the reconsideration process a review committee will be assembled to hear the complaint. (Fayetteville)**
 * 5) **The committee hearing will be made open to the public (ALA)**
 * 6) **Enough time will be given, depending on the length of the material in question, for the committee to become familiar with the material and for both sides to gather any information pertinent to their side of the argument. (CCBC, Fayetteville)**
 * 7) **The committee will review the material and listen to both sides of the argument. (all sources)**
 * 8) **The decision of the committee will be final and will be made available to the public and to the patron who initiated the process in writing. (all sources)**
 * 9) **All records of the committee's decision will be retained by the librarian. (Fayetteville)**
 * 10) **The material that has been through the reconsideration process cannot repeat the process for a period of 5 years. After the 5 years the material can be challenged again or may be up for reinstatement in the library. (Fayetteville)**

//Administration Regulations for Policy #6.15.// Fayetteville Public Schools//.// 10 Oct. 2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

Lanier, Gene K. //Conducting a Challenge Hearing.// American Library Association, 2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

//Suggested Steps to Take When Materials are Challenged.// Cooperative Children's Book Center. n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2011.

__**Pro-Book**__
**American Civil Liberties Union – [|http://www.aclu.org]** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The name lends itself to being pro intellectual freedom, home page has info on how to start a gay straight alliance at schools. Their mission statement talks about guarding liberty for the nation and for individuals. They are working to get rid of censorship and to show the dangers of censorship at the individual and community levels.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom – []** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">First item on the page is their mission statement on protecting intellectual freedom and the free access to all library materials for all library patrons. <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">They mention projects like Banned Books week which is intended to raise awareness over previous attempts to censor intellectual freedom. They have a section on support for librarians who are dealing with the same problem outlined in this project as well as a section of the website dedicated to censorship in schools. This website would be extremely helpful in dealing with this situation.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Electronic Frontier Foundation - []** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Claims to be defending your rights in a digital world. They give a checklist on how protected you and your digital books are. Their about us section mentions their constant lobbying for the rights of free speech and consumer rights.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**National Coalition Against Censorship – []** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Mission statement says they are promoting freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression, fighting censorship in all forms. They have a free speech celebration and they also promote Banned Books week. They also have a kids right to read project and a youth free expression project, both of which fight the kind of censorship in this project.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**People for the American Way – [|http://www.pfaw.org]** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">They make the point that not agreeing with what's in a book doesn't give you the right to restrict that view for others. It's your protected right not to look at it, but you cannot take away another person's right to look at it. 70% of challenges to intellectual freedom come from challenges over library books and materials. They give a breakdown over what exactly was challenged, ex. 1,607 challenges last year were made about sexually explicit material.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__**Conservative**__
<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**American Family Association – [|http://www.afa.net]** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Their home page has many different mentions of church/religion/Jesus and they claim to be very pro-family. They also have negative articles about the president and had an article outlining the dangers of allowing transgender boys in the Girl Scouts. They would probably want to remove the book in order to protect children from what they would consider harmful influences. But groups like this can't make decisions for every child and their war on American culture definitely promotes the idea of censorship. As a Christian I struggle with organization like this because I definitely believe that not all influences are good, but that doesn't mean i should stop people from learning and deciding for themselves.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**ClassKC.org - []** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This site is run by parents of the Blue Valley school district in Kansas. They seem intent on removing any book with any foul language or mention of sexuality. They don't seem concerned with intellectual freedom and only want to impress their personal views on the school and library. They have a section on their website dedicated to what you can do as a parent as well as a list of current "improper" readings for grade levels and their suggested replacements. You can click on the "bad" titles and see what's wrong with them but they don't have any links for you to see what's in the books they would prefer, you have to do your own digging then. Plus the books they suggest are older and the writing style is vastly different than that of today's literature. It almost seems like a push backwards instead of forward. They're not looking for new alternatives they're only going back to old "classics" They actually have a statement that pops up before you can view any of the linked material in the controversial books that mentions the explicit content and asks that you be 18 years of age to view, like a pornographic site would.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**The Eagle Forum – [|http://www.eagleforum.o]**I <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">t's a shame that when I see pro-family website I know that the site will ultimately condemn the book and would probably favor removing it, all in the name of protecting the family. Again, that's for each individual to decide, not for a well meaning group. One group cannot make decisions for us all. The site mentions the importance of religion to democracy. Their school board questionnaire mentions supporting abstinence only education and allowing parents to review and edit school materials and lesson plans.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Focus on the Family – [|http://www.family.org]** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">As far as conservative groups go this one seems more concerned about helping you make informed decisions for what you think is best for your family. While very religious they appear less judgmental than previous websites and even though they would probably still condemn the book I think they would make much better alternative selections and recommendations than the Kansas group. They're a real organization, not just a bunch of angry parents.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**PABBIS - []** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">They advocate the switch to private schools, to cut down on the questionable material that your children would be exposed to. They state their approach much more calmly than the Kansas group, but the sentiment is the same. They even accuse the ALA of being left wing nuts who take things to the extreme. The website mentions how we should show them why the book is good upfront, instead of them having to prove why it's bad later.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Parents Protecting the Minds of Children - []** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> I think they would let you keep the book, but they would want you to provide an alternative book as well. Their mission statement says that their objective is not to remove any books from the library, it is simply to enforce the parental right to choose for our children. They do mention that apparently diversity means the promotion of the homosexual agenda which seems a narrow minded and uniformed statement which undoes any good their first original statement makes.

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**POLICY HIGH POINTS**
<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** Fayetteville, Arkansas** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Library Materials Selection Policy #6.15 [] <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Administration Regulations for Policy #6.15 []
 * 1) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**The primary objective of library materials is to implement, enrich and support the educational program of the school. It is the duty of the schools to provide a wide range of materials on all levels of difficulty, with diversity of appeal, and presentation of different points of view.**
 * 2) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**The Board delegates the responsibility for the selection of library materials to the professionally trained personnel employed by the school system.**
 * 3) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**In the selection section: representation of opposing sides of controversial issues in order to develop critical reading, listening, viewing, and thinking**
 * 4) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**The parent form for the reconsideration process form.**
 * 5) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**The Library Media Specialist shall provide the patron a copy of the Library Materials Selection Policy and Administrative Regulations and offer to review the policy and procedures with the patron. The library Media Specialist shall also provide a copy of the Frequently Asked Questions about Library Materials Selection.**

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//I liked the way they worded how that the library has a duty to provide material that covers a wide variety of information. (1) I think it's important for anyone reading the selection process that they know that trained professionals are the ones selecting materials. These are people trained to do this and they really do think about what is best for the students and the school. (2) Again with number 3, I think it's important for anyone reading the selection process to know that librarians have a responsibility to pick topics from a wide variety of opinions and topics to make students more well rounded. Their parent form for reconsideration is great and really makes the parent think about what specifically they had a problem with and forces them to actually read the book to make a sound argument. (4) I liked that the librarian provides the forms for disgruntled parents and that gives the parents an opportunity to see what a professional thinks before they jump to too many conclusions. The frequently asked questions page I think would be very helpful for parents who are concerned and would hopefully help to smooth things over with at least some of the parents. (5)//

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Blue Valley, Kansas** <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Selection of Learning Resources [] <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Administrative Guidelines Policy 4610: Challenges to and Reconsideration of Learning Resources [] <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Challenges to and Reconsideration of Learning Resources [] > **Emotional development** > **Ability level** > **Learning style** > **Social development** > **Absence of vulgar language, sexual explicitness, or violent imagery that is gratuitously employed**
 * 1) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Appropriateness of the resource for the age of the students with whom the resource is intended to be used considering the following:**
 * 1) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Professional reviews and curriculum rationales will be available in the school library media center.**
 * 2) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**The committee for review of a controversial item includes 2 teachers, 2 parents, 2 students (high school level) and the librarian**
 * 3) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**If the source is removed it does have the potential to be reinstated and if it is not removed it can not be challenged for 2 years. (5 yrs at Fayetteville)**
 * 4) <span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Students along with their parents have the right to request an alternate selection if a novel assigned is not considered acceptable by the family for the student to read.**

<span style="color: #a6310c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">//I liked that they put down what guidelines they consider when deciding what grade levels the resource is appropriate for. It shows that they really think about the intended audience and how children will perceive it. (1) Having the reviews and curriculum rationales available would help some parents understand why this book is being used, some parents will be more understanding if they can really see the point behind using this book. (2) It's good that parents make up the review committee so they feel like their interests are represented. I also liked that they used students, sometimes they understand better than us the importance of using a specific book. Their perspective could also help parental understanding. (3) It's good that one incident with the book doesn't define it's entire life at the school. Books can still be removed later or they can be put back. (4) It's good that they have an alternate selection policy. Some parents don't want to remove the book but would just prefer something less controversial for their student. I have no problem with parents like that and I think their requests should be honored. After all their only making a choice for their student, not for the entire school. (5)//