By Anita Brooks Kirkland
Over the past couple of years I have been kept very busy responding to the crisis in book challenges sweeping across Canada. My focus is always on explaining professional ethics and standards related to collection development, and defending students’ freedom of expression rights.
One challenge that I have received more than once during this time is to the most basic of selection criteria, that collectively resources in the school library should represent diverse points of view about controversial topics.
“Well”, the challenger says, believing that books featuring LGBTQ+ characters are controversial, “If you have books with gay characters then you have to have just as many books with alternative points of view!” Of course typical collections include hundreds of books representing more “traditional” families, so the challenge truly defies logic.
But how do we explain that this so-called controversy is contrived? I know that we all get that squiggly, uncomfortable sensation when confronted with this kind of misguided logic, but if you’re like me, the quick answer doesn’t always make it from the deep recesses of my mind to cross my lips simply and logically.
Representing diverse points of view is an important aspect of selection, but there are a few important things to keep in mind to clarify our thinking, and help to explain professional practices.
The Mandate of the School Library Collection
It is very important to understand that different kinds of libraries have different mandates, and collections vary accordingly. Public libraries serve the broad interests of the whole community, and therefore have more varied collections. University libraries maintain huge collections because their mandate is in part to support researchers, who need to understand the progression of knowledge over time in their area of expertise.
The school library supports an inquiry approach to learning, providing current, quality, professionally-selected resources to inform deeper inquiry into topics in the curriculum and also inquiry driven by personal interest. Within that context, resources may represent different perspectives. But it is very important to understand that that does not mean that all points of view should be represented. As selectors, we are looking for quality resources that are well-researched, with information that can be verified. Our collections may have resources that suggest different approaches to dealing with issues, but that does not mean that school library collections should include resources that deny the basic facts.
The school library collection also supports literacy development and reading engagement. Again, the collection must provide a wide range of choices within this context to serve the reading interests and abilities of all students.
Selection Guidelines and Criteria
Good guidelines include selection and de-selection criteria related to the curriculum and learning. This is the basic mandate of the collection. They also include criteria related to protecting freedom of expression, as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Good selection guidelines help us to ensure that the collection represents the diversity of Canadian society, including ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
The Canadian School Libraries Collection Diversity Toolkit includes a poster ready for you to download and print with a model of selection criteria that includes both of these main areas. It relates selection criteria to Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada.
Rich and diverse library collections are developed within the context of the rights and freedoms guaranteed to all Canadians in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter protects the rights of everyone, including children.
Understanding the Concept of a Balanced Collection
A balanced collection – what does that mean? Does it mean that for every resource that is considered by some to be “in favour” of a “controversial” topic be balanced by a resource that denies science or that does not support Charter rights? Should resources on animal adaptation (in every elementary science curriculum) be “balanced” by creationist theories? Should resources on the Holocaust be “balanced” by resources denying the Holocaust? Certainly not! The theory of evolution is accepted as sound science, and is supported by the curriculum. The existence of the Holocaust is not in dispute, except from extremists whose viewpoints may be based on hate. Should resources about gender identity or sexual orientation be “balanced” by resources representing these identities as personal choices? Certainly not, as that would contravene our mandate to protect Charter rights.
A balanced collection is one that is created according to the mandate for school library collections and that serves the needs of the entire learning community. Well-written guidelines defend universal principles of protecting intellectual freedom, and put collection diversity within the context of the rights and freedoms of all Canadians, as expressed in the Charter.
Topics such as evolution spur many debates, many of which might indeed be controversial. But resources selected to represent these controversies are still selected for their quality, which includes the authority of the author and the quality of the research that has informed their writing.
I remember two teachers at one of the schools in my district requesting that the library include books at the primary level that represented a creationist view of the world, where people co-existed with dinosaurs. They wanted these books included in the non-fiction, science collection. These teachers were filtering their selection of resources through their own belief systems, rather than through sound selection criteria. The science curriculum clearly supports the theory of evolution. The “science” of these resources was bogus. The purpose of the books was religious rather than scientific. They did, in no way, support the curriculum or the mandate of the library. In my role as the consultant for K-12 libraries in the district, the school sought my assistance in handling this situation. I supported the school in denying the request.
Supporting Inquiry Into Diverse Points of View
As a teacher and a teacher-librarian I consistently advised my students that they could have any point of view that they wanted, provided they were able to back it up with real evidence from reliable sources. And so we have the basic foundations for teaching information literacy and skills for inquiry and research.
A good example would be exploring issues around climate change. Denying that climate change exists is not a supportable point of view, given current scientific knowledge. Exploring the implications of climate change, on the other hand, means exploring depths of differing perspectives and associated controversies. Resource collections should support student inquiry by providing insight into these differing perspectives.
One way that school library collections present differing viewpoints for controversial topics is through online subscription research databases such as Canadian Points of View or Opposing Viewpoints. Both of these resources are from quality publishers. For each topic they give an overview, present both sides of the controversy, and link to professionally-selected resources from good sources to support each viewpoint.
In the end, part of the mandate of the collection is to offer opportunities for young researchers to explore varying perspectives from a wide range of resources. That collection includes resources representing varying points of view, some of which might indeed be controversial. But those resources are selected according to sound criteria, not influenced by personal bias on the part of the selector, or by external pressure to “balance” the collection with “alternative” points of view. It’s about information literacy and developing students’ critical literacy skills after all, not indoctrination.
Anita Brooks Kirkland is the chair of Canadian School Libraries (CSL), and co-edits its online publication, CSL Journal. She is a past president of both the Ontario School Library Association (OSLA) and the Ontario Library Association (OLA). Anita draws on her extensive experience as an instructor in teacher-librarianship for the University of Toronto, and as the library consultant for a large school district in Ontario, Canada.