Professional Values Statement Revised

Dawn Scheidel Bish

11/7/2011

Professional Values Statement Revised Introduction

Bish

Hark, the footsteps of the night Fade in silence long. Quiet chirps my reading light Like a crickets song. Books inviting us to read On the bookshelves stand. Piers for bridges that will lead Into fairyland. Rainer Maria Rilke, Vigils III, from Sacrifice to the Lares (Funke, 2008) p 1.

While preparing to develop this paper, I had the opportunity to peruse my original professional values statement which was written in April of 2009. I was struck by my naivet about what it entailed to be a good librarian. From the start, I remember thinking that a love of books and reading is what makes a good librarian. And since I loved to read and love books, I would make a great librarian. While a love of books sure makes being a librarian a pleasure, it takes much more than that to be a great librarian. The above quote is how I started my original professional values statement. I love this quote but librarianship goes so far beyond a joy of reading. In this paper, I will try to outline what I deem as important in order to be a good librarian and what my current professional values are as I embark upon the completion of my masters in Library and Information Studies. There are five areas or concentrations that I will be addressing. These will be: Ethical foundations of library studies Management/leadership as it pertains to libraries and librarians Meeting the information needs of the patron Collection development principles Information technology as it pertains to libraries currently and in the future

During my tenure in this program I have developed a broad understanding of libraries and librarianship in general and more specific ideals that I hope will guide me in my career as a librarian. I have had the opportunity to be a reference intern at Jackson Library for the past three semesters as well as being an intern at Smith Library at High Point University. I have enjoyed both these opportunities and have learned a great deal from some of the best mentors of the field. I believe that I will continue to search for a

Professional Values Statement Revised

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position in a library, be it public or university, where I can use my reference, information literacy and teaching skills to serve patrons in accessing their information needs. This paper will attempt to address my current professional values. I have tried to neatly compartmentalize each into clear areas but as you will see, it is difficult to separate what I have learned and what my professional values are into the above outlined limits. Where appropriate, I will not repeat the information but point the reader in the appropriate direction as to my values.

Ethical Foundations of Library Studies To me, ethical foundations include a number of variables including but not limited to collection development as it pertains to censorship, technological advances as it pertains to first amendment rights and protecting children from inappropriate material, and providing information to the patron regardless of your biases. To me, this covers several areas pertinent to the tenets of this paper including collection development, technology, reference and ethics. The ALA Code of Ethics starts out with the following rights: I. We provide the highest level of service to all library users through appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests. We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources. We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted. (ALA Code of Ethics)

II. III.

These are only a portion of the ALA Code of Ethics. For the entire code please see appendix A. I choose to start my section on Ethical Foundations of Library Studies because the code concisely states what is important in order to be an ethical librarian. A librarian is faced with a daunting task of providing information to the public on a daily basis. The librarian must put aside all her biases and mores to provide appropriate information to all types of patrons. Ethics and Censorship One of the most difficult problems I feel facing me as a librarian is to provide information for all regardless of personal beliefs. I have done a number of papers on censorship during my tenure as a student both in foundations class and ethics and information. I believe that this will continue to be an issue that I will be faced with as I continue on to becoming a librarian. I believe that it is very important for one to put aside personal

Professional Values Statement Revised

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beliefs and biases and to provide the patron with the information that he/she asks for and not what I, as a person, think the person should know. When in training as a reference intern, one of the librarians asked what to do if a student asked for information on how to build a bomb. Taken at face value, I would have been hard pressed to provide a student with this information given the tension of these times we live in. However, the librarian went on to point out a few important factors, one of which is: what if he is doing a project for his chemistry class? Hmm, puts it into a different perspective. While this may be an exaggerated example, it rings home the value that we as librarians should be providing accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests (ALA Code of Ethics). I was very interested in censorship when I first started in the program. My action research project for LIS 600, Comparisons of Elementary School Collections, compared the collections of three distinctly different schools in regards to their inclusion of the current list of banned books. The thesis of the paper was that the private school would have less of the banned books than would the public school or the magnet school. The conclusion was that it may not necessarily be the type of school but the attitudes of the librarian that drove the collection. Another paper that was completed in LIS 600, entitled Controversial Literature in Elementary Schools , explored the reasons behind censorship including lifestyle choices, religious beliefs and racism. My fellow students and I used the ALA Bill of Rights (appendix B) as the document in which guides librarians in appropriate book selection and material content in the library. This includes materials and information presenting all points of view. The conclusion that we came to (maybe a little naively) was that librarians, teachers, patrons and parents should embrace diversity. I understand how difficult that is in practice, however, as librarians, we should encourage patrons to appreciate other points of view.

Information Access and Accessibility Part of the foundations of librarianship is access to information. This includes removing physical barriers to information as well as other barriers to information. For my fun project in Ethics and Information, Mary Williams and I choose to develop a fable. We took the fable of the Three Little Pigs and modified the story to demonstrate the different types of librarians. You can view the video here. Yes, this was done as a tongue in cheek project but the fundamentals of access are still there. As a librarian, I am charged with providing the means to information. That takes on a variety of types including providing material for those with language barriers, those with visual impairments and also those with physical disabilities.

Professional Values Statement Revised

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One thing that I remember from my LIS 650 class (Management) was the fact that most libraries are short on space and attempt to put as many books as possible in a small amount of space. This makes it difficult for a person in a wheelchair to navigate the stacks to find books without the assistance of a staff member. This may not prevent the person from obtaining the information but does create a barrier for the person. As a librarian, I must be aware of such barriers and find solutions to said barriers. Another component of information access does have to do with physical as well as mental barriers. Prior to becoming a graduate student, I worked with children with autism and their parents. One of the obstacles that a person with autism has is difficulty with new things and situations. Also, their need for routine and sameness and difficulty understanding language makes it difficult to engage in the community. It is a simple and inexpensive project to change your library to be Autism Friendly. This would increase your patronage to include a large number of people in the community. As part of my one of my assignments for LIS 650, (management) Assignment 2, Ideal Vision, I was asked to develop my ideal library. I proceeded to include my ideal library would encourage and enable persons with autism to function and thrive at a community library. One last thing that I would like to address in this section is that it is okay to have fun and still be a great library. To demonstrate this, the following video was developed by a group of LIS 600 students for the fun project. We wanted to reinforce the idea of how important libraries are and how information becomes knowledge (and have some fun in the process). My then seven year old son would walk around the house stating: data becomes information and information becomes knowledge and knowledge becomes wisdom. The video can be viewed here. Intellectual Freedom According to the American Library Association, Intellectual Freedom is:
the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas." (Office of Intellectual Freedom)

Intellectual freedom, to me means that everyone has the right of free access to information and that each individual has the right to the expression of his or her beliefs. To me, this must be a defining principle of being a librarian. It is up to me, as a librarian to encourage the community to allow the exchange of information and the exchange of all ideas, no matter the ideology.

5 Privacy

Professional Values Statement Revised

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I never gave much thought to privacy pertaining to the library until I started matriculating at UNCG. I took for granted that my reading habits were not open to interpretation by anyone but myself. I was wrong on that front apparently. I do believe that no one has the right to infringe on a patrons privacy in regards to his preferred reading material or website perusal and that this is protected information under the First Amendment right to free speech. Copyright As an academic librarian, I will be charged with enabling professors and students in utilizing material in the appropriate way including the lawful use of information. This not only includes plagiarism issues but also the appropriate use of information as it pertains to copyright issues. I am aware of the current copyright laws and can access the information on interpretation of those laws as it pertains to librarianship use.

Management/leadership as it pertains to libraries and librarians

I have a confession to make. I dont want to be a manager or a director of a library. The idea of being responsible for everything and everyone makes me want to run screaming in terror. That being said, I do understand that just by the fact that I will have four little letters after my name, MLIS, makes me a leader in the eyes of others. And that I can handle. That being said, I do have a mission statement that will drive my leadership style while working as a librarian and in my life. That mission statement is that I will ensure that others that I work with and for understand and develop the importance of being critical thinkers and to listen and take all points of view into account when making decisions and taking action. The rationale for this can be seen in this quote from John Stewart Mill: For even this doctrine acknowledges that mankind ought to have a rational assurance that all objections have been satisfactorily answered; and how are they to be answered if that which requires to be answered is not spoken? or how can the answer be known to be satisfactory, if the objectors have no opportunity of showing that it is unsatisfactory? (Mill, 1859).

It is important to see all sides of the issue in order to make a critical decision and I feel that I will be in a good position to instill this value in others as an employee, a manager and a leader. Without all the facts, one cannot make an informed decision or make a proper and well thought out action plan. I believe that part of being a leader is to demonstrate and model for others the importance that we are all critical thinkers and

Professional Values Statement Revised

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that we take all points of view into account when making decision, deciding courses of action and in working with others. The above quote reflects my values in how I want to be a leader. In other words, as a leader, I will encourage those around me to discuss, review and analyze information from all perspectives in order to make a fair and decent assessment of a situation and develop an appropriate outcome to the state of affairs. At the beginning of my management class, we were asked to write down five questions we would like to have answered during the term. Two of my top issues had to deal with conflict resolution and keeping personal feelings separate from issues in the work place. Both of these issues for me go hand in hand as I have a difficult time with conflict and become too emotional when dealing with conflict in the workplace. However, management class taught me several things. The first thing that management class taught me was that conflict is an integral part of making decisions and being effective. Conflict helps to form groups and ensure decision making. One of the books that we read called First Break All the Rules, states that in order for a team to be effective, one must go through the stages of team building which is forming, storming, norming and performing. These steps are essential in order for a team to perform. Without following these steps (which include conflict or storming) a team will lack efficacy and the ability to make decisions. What that means to me as a leader is that I must encourage my team to go through these steps, including conflict in order to be a good team and make appropriate decisions. The situation that concerns me the most about management is the issue of reprimanding an employee. This is where my emotions show through. I learned in management class that it is important to set clear cut, manageable levels of acceptable behavior and not to stray from these acceptable levels. If both you and the employee are aware of these levels of behavior then it is easy to determine when the job is being done correctly, when the job is not being done correctly and how to address poor performance with the employee. By setting clear cut guidelines, the employee knows what is expected of him or her. Management class reinforced some issues that I was already aware of but had not been able formulate succinctly. One of topics is the importance of customer service. This is especially important in the academic library setting. Each patron, be it a student, coworker or professor is a patron, deserves respect and consideration. A good librarian should listen intently to each question before an answer is formulated. This is so important in answering the question completely to the satisfaction of the patron. Answering the question without fully understanding the question is a waste of time of the patron.

Professional Values Statement Revised

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If I was given free rein to develop whatever library program that I could think of, I would concentrate most of my resources on developing a library that was conducive to creating a safe, comfortable learning environment for those people with autism. Children and adults with autism tend to be isolated from their community due to their disability. In My Ideals Visions outlines the way to set up a program for children and adults with autism in the library. As I have noted in my Leadership and Management Treatise, I believe that in order to be an effective management, I must demonstrated the ability to communicate my wants and needs, be able to listen to others and all points of view, portray a calm demeanor and to provide an environment that everyone feels comfortable expressing their individual points of view.

Collection Development Issues

I have learned that collection development in not just ordering books that a patron may want to read. A lot of things are involved. As stated above in the section Ethics and Foundations, it is really important to put aside our biases to prevent ourselves from censoring what goes into the collection and ensure that materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation (Library Bill of Rights) and that materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval (Library Bill of Rights). It is also important when developing a collection to complete a needs assessment for your particular library. While in LIS 650, our group had the opportunity to complete a needs assessment for River Mills Academy, a charter school that was just then developing their library. The needs assessment can be found here. That was an interesting project as there was no librarian in residence at the time and no one at the school could decide on what was the most important materials needed to start the library. However, they were further along in that process after the completion of our needs assessment. I had the opportunity to develop an Annotated Bibliography for the Child Development Services Agency in the Charlotte area. The CDSA had a small resource center for parents and professionals but wanted to expand their resources so that they could be a more prominent resource. Since I had worked with the developmental disabilities population, I was eager to take this task on. However, the major issue I was faced with was what to include and what not to include. For example, autism has been on the forefront of the media especially since Jenny McCarthy announced that she cured her

Professional Values Statement Revised

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sons autism with alternative medicines. Now, who is to say she did or she didnt but do I encourage parents with information that may not be accurate. To counter this, I researched all books and only recommended books that were vetted by leading professionals in the field such as the CDC or Autism Society. In LIS 615, I had the opportunity to choose a topic and develop a Wiki on what resources a library would need to serve a particular population. Serving Persons with Autism in the Library is the paper I completed. I found finding sources for librarians on how to serve person with autism to be difficult to find. However, in the time of dwindling money for social programs, libraries are going to be the place parents are going to go to find information when receiving a diagnosis. One thing that an academic librarian should be cognizant of is the currency and authority of the information that is provided to the patron. A librarian must continuously evaluate the current information that is presented to the patron with the objective being that the patron is provided with the most up to date information available from an authority in the field. This is especially important with subjects that tend to change quickly such as political science and computer technology. Another issue an academic librarian is faced with is accreditation. A library must be accredited by whatever governing body oversees that particular agency. For example, High Point University is governed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and must become accredited by that agency every ten years. This is a college wide accreditation but includes participation by the library. This is of particular importance because the association sets standards that the library has to meet including providing appropriate teaching and research support as well as ensuring that all students are taught information literacy (The Principles of Accrediation: Foundations for quality enhancement, 2009). This will mean, that as an academic librarian, I must advocate for those teaching programs that are the domain of the library, such as information literacy, despite opposition from some faculty. Another important topic in collection management is return on investment. In order for a Chemistry department of a college to be accredited by the American Chemical Society, a college or university must subscribe to all ACS publications. This can cost upwards of $10.000. Now, this isnt a large amount for a larger institution but what about the smaller college that may only have a handful of chemistry majors? This appears to be a major layout for a small amount of students. A good academic librarian must work with the publisher to come up with alternate solutions, which may include pay per view services or other such services.

Professional Values Statement Revised Meeting the information needs of the patron

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To me, this section is the be all and end all in library studies. I have taken several references classes during my tenure at UNCG. I really enjoy the process of finding and vetting information and would love to develop this love into a career as a reference and information literacy instructor. I have completed papers, including Autism: An Annotated Bibliography and Business Resources. We, as librarians are in the information business. Librarians are there to assist patrons with finding the information they need. This could be very simple such as wheres the bathroom or as complex as where can I find primary sources for Aztecs. What is the most important thing to remember when providing information is to ask questions and to complete a reference interview. The more you can find out about what the patron is looking for, the better answer the patron is going to receive. While at the reference desk one evening prior to the beginning of the start of school a student came up to me with a question: S: Do you have Ethernet access in the library or can you tell me where the nearest Kinkos is? M: No we dont have Ethernet in the library. Let me look up where the nearest Kinkos is. M: the nearest Kinkos is at _______ but let me ask you, what are you trying to do? S: Well, I am trying to print out my syllabus for class and I cant get on the wireless internet in my dorm or here. M: Oh, well, you can use one of these computers to print out the syllabus. S: Thanks! So, if I hadnt been doing a reference interview, the student would be going to Kinkos the night before classes to print off his syllabus. Do you know the Chinese proverb: Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime? This is such an important concept when working with students and meeting the information needs of the individual learner. I believe that it is so important to teach a patron to find the information that he needs, not just provide the answer. When you provide the training necessary to find information, you are empowering the person with necessary information literacy techniques that he can use throughout his life. When at the reference desk, I try to demonstrate how I get to the information that the student is asking for instead of just providing the answer. By doing that, I believe I am helping the student learn how to find information. Another important factor in assisting the student/patron in finding information is in evaluating the information that is found. While Google and Wikipedia have their places

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Professional Values Statement Revised

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in research, they are hardly reliable sources of information. It is important to teach students/patrons how to evaluate a website or document for reliability, bias and authoritativeness. This instruction only improves a students ability to research and develop a viable thesis.

Information technology as it pertains to libraries currently and in the future

If one was to ask me what one area of knowledge I have learned the most in during my matriculation, I would have to say it would be technology. Prior to starting my MLIS, the most I was comfortable doing on a computer was perhaps using a word processing program or doing a rudimentary search on the web. Boy, have things changed. Would I ever have thought that I would have developed my own website or taught someone how to create a blog in WordPress? I think not. I even have a Nook Color that I am able to use to download books that I borrowed from the public library! The website I developed for LIS 635, called Project Autism: Solving the Puzzle, can be found here. This also documents the various projects that were completed during LIS 635 including developing a kiosk using Power Point and creating a video. During my studies in LIS 635, I developed a number of important skills. One of those skills is in the area of web usability and how to develop and interpret a good, usable website. I am able to evaluate a website for content and ease of use as well as whether it is easy to navigate for the patron. One cannot discount the look of your website, from the colors you choice to the font you use. This is so important when developing a website. By having a large color contrast between font color and background color, using a simple background with little or no pattern and having columns that divide the content up into manageable sections that make text easy to read are very important in developing a user friendly website. I have had the opportunity in a number of my classes to evaluate library websites and I would like to think that I am able to spot a good website and what makes that website good. That would include intuitive pages, ease of navigation from page to page and links that work. One of my biggest pet peeves about some websites is providing too much information. I have tried to navigate some websites that are so encumbered with information that it is difficult to find any information. I believe in the adage of keeping it simple. One of the other important abilities that were reinforced in LIS 635 was teaching pedagogy. I have always taught in one sense or another, however, until I took LIS 635, I was unaware of the terminology used in teaching. This information helped me tremendously when I took Information Literacy and had to design my own teaching

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module, including teaching methodology and reason behind my chosen teaching method. I believe that there is no perfect teaching method but by using a variety of teaching methods, one increases the likelihood that a student will develop the skills being taught. Please see here for my Power Point presentation on Scholarly versus Popular journal articles. With the state of affairs regarding eBooks and the library patron being more computer literate, the librarian must keep up with the latest advances in technology. I have had to become computer literate quickly, not just in using Word and PowerPoint programs but with social media too. With the budget cuts and the state of the economy, libraries have to market themselves on little or no funding for such advertising. Most good libraries will have Facebook and Twitter accounts. This is a great venue to advertise upcoming events using little or no money. I have the opportunity to learn a variety of software, social media and blogs. You can visit my blog at www.mytornadolife.com for information on my studies at UNCG and for a copy of my resume. I recently assisted a professor in teaching students the rudimentary functions of WordPress. With the increase in computer use come unique issues. Children are using computers as early as kindergarten now. With this increase in computer literacy and the age in which a child becomes computer literate come issues pertaining protecting children from inappropriate material. The United States government enacted the Childrens Internet Protection Act to protect children from material deemed inappropriate to minors (including pornography), however this comes with a host of issues not least of which is that those filters that are supposed to protect children often times dont work. In my class on ethics and information I had the opportunity to explore this topic. In the paper Childrens Internet Protection Act and First Amendment Rights, a classmate and I researched CIPA and attempted to address the issue of whether or not CIPA was ethically sound or not. While the authors were not able to answer this conclusively, we did concur that children do need to be protected but that CIPA was not necessarily the answer. Technology is changing the way colleges and universities are performing reference teaching and training. Colleges cannot only rely on having students coming in to the library to ask questions. Now, it is important to have chat reference, email reference and in some cases Skype reference chats. A reference librarian has to be a master at balancing in person chat reference questions, checking email regularly and answering a number of chat questions at one time. It is important for a librarian to stay current with technology as well as evaluate what technology is going to work best in each situation.

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Professional Values Statement Revised Conclusion

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The question that was put to me was what did I learn in the last three years of school? and how will that make me a good librarian. One of the first things that I learned is that as a librarian, I must set aside my beliefs and biases in order to be an effective librarian. This means that I must provide the information asked for by the patron and not what information I think the patron needs. This also means that as part of my collection development policies, I will encourage the library to make purchases that cover all perspectives on a subject matter, be it controversial or not. This is important as a librarian is charged with protecting the patrons intellectual freedom, which includes allowing the patron to disseminate all ideas and information. Another thing that I learned in school is that I will be in the position of being a role model and leader, not only to my patrons and those who serve under me, but also to my coworkers. It is important to be forthright in what is expected of those around me as well as what is expected of me and to be honest and frank in my dealings with others. I will uphold the ALA Code of Ethics as well as protect the patrons intellectual freedom. As far as collection development is concerned, it is not just about ordering books but about ensuring that the library I am employed at has a well-rounded, unbiased collection that encompasses the needs of the patrons at that particular library. I will use my skills learned during collection development to develop needs assessments to ascertain from my constituents what is needed in the community that I serve. It is so important to know the needs of your patrons and not assume you know what they need. And, you will not know what is needed unless you ask. In regards to reference matters and information access, it will be important for me to not only provide the needed information to the patron but to at all times attempt to teach the patron how to find the information on their own. Yes, a librarian should always be on hand to assist a patron, but I believe that it is also important to inform the patron as to how to find the information themselves. This will save the patron time in the long run and also empower the patron by developing critical thinking skills. Where would we be without facebook, Google and Twitter? No, I did not grow up with these technologies, but the upcoming patron in an academic setting has and as a librarian, I must meet the patron where they are comfortable. Students these days have grown up with computers, videos games and smart phones. They are used to immediate feedback and using Google for quick, easy answers. As a librarian I must take this into account when teaching and working with patrons. This includes using a variety of pedagogical approaches to teaching including incorporating current technology to maintain student attention and skill acquisition.

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In conclusion, I still love books and reading and am so glad that I have successfully completed my degree in Library and Information Studies. However, I now understand that loving books and reading does not alone make a good librarian, good foundations in information skills will be the key to my success. I look forward to entering the librarian workforce and am buoyed by a sense of anticipation and excitement in putting what I have learned in my studies towards being a great librarian.

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Bibliography
(2009). The Principles of Accrediation: Foundations for quality enhancement. Decatur: Southen Association of Colleges and Schools. ALA Code of Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2011, from American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/proethics/codeofethics/codeethics.cfm Funke, C. (2008). Inkdeath. Chicken House, Scholastic. Library Bill of Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2011, from American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/index.cfm Office of Intellectual Freedom. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2011, from American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/template.cfm?Section=oif

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Professional Values Statement Revised Appendix A ALA Code of Ethics

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I.

II. III.

IV. V.

VI. VII.

VIII.

We provide the highest level of service to all library users through appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests. We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources. We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted. We respect intellectual property rights and advocate balance between the interests of information users and rights holders. We treat co-workers and other colleagues with respect, fairness, and good faith, and advocate conditions of employment that safeguard the rights and welfare of all employees of our institutions. We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions. 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. We strive for excellence in the profession by maintaining and enhancing our own knowledge and skills, by encouraging the professional development of coworkers, and by fostering the aspirations of potential members of the profession.

Adopted at the 1939 Midwinter Meeting by the ALA Council; amended June 30, 1981; June 28, 1995; and January 22, 2008.

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Professional Values Statement Revised Appendix B Library Bill of Rights

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The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services. I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation. II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval. III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment. IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas. V. A persons right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views. VI. Libraries that make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use. Adopted June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; inclusion of age reaffirmed January 23, 1996.