When I was a kid I thought that politicians could help change the world and was quickly disillusioned with the way they keep doing the same things over and over. But, you see, sometimes things do change and most often for the better. Things change because ordinary people lend their voices to the cause and make things better.
I have reawakened to my political passions for a couple of reasons. First, as I begin to think about the world from a professional perspective I must choose what morals and ethics will guide me. Second, I see a political landscape that both threatens those ethics and insults my dignity as a human being.
Ethics:
I chose to become a librarian long before I ever thought about codes of ethics and professional conduct. When I did start to think about those things I realized that I was drawn to the field because I saw librarians live the ethics codified in the ALA Code of Ethics in a way that I saw few other professionals do. The other thing I discovered is that I agreed with those ethics and I want to see them defended and strengthened. For those who don't know much about librarian ethics or who want to know more take a look at the ALA's Keystone Intellectual Freedom Documents
which include our code of ethics and statements on the right to read and other important intellectual freedom issues.In essence these ethics state that I will protect intellectual freedom and access to information and that I will treat everyone with respect and dignity. I may have political, social, economic and entertainment oppinions but they should not color my interactions more than absolutely necessary. This does not mean that I shouldn't defend my ethics when they come under fire from political fronts, which leads me to my next point:
Ethics Under Fire:
Over the last eight years (though I do not doubt that we had problems earlier) we have seen an assault on the values that form the basis for our society. I'm not talking about marriage rights or equal opportunity or even abortion because, thought these are important issues, they are nothing compared to the dismantling of the Bill of Rights.
The First Amendment to the Constitution is supposed to ensure that the voices of the people have expression so that we can always gather and say to our government through the press, protests and faith that we don't like what they are doing. Further, the Fourth Amendment states that we shall be protected from search and seizure accept under probable cause. Between these two statements we can see there is a long and glorious tradition in the US of telling the government that it has to allow discent and it must make an effort to protect the free flow of information.
So here is what my fellow American Librarians did to uphold these most basic rights. In 2005 the FBI sent National security letters to four Connecticut librarians asking for information (no warrent here) and imposing a blanket gag order that prevented the librarians from even seeking legal council. After a legal battle for the right to state that they had recieved the letters at some point and that the letters asked for some information the John Does won. Here
you can read the ruling of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals stating that the gag provision was both unconstitutional in that case and in general.This is not the only case in which librarians have been asked to break their ethics or even the law in the name of getting the bad guys, but this case got national media attention and so makes a great example.
Passion:
So here I am, just one person in a sea of 300 million. What can I do? Well, I'm not religious, but the Serenity Prayer comes to mind in this situation. I may not be able to change the world with just my voice but I can stand up for the fundamental principles of justice and personal freedom that this country was founded on. And, even when there are those who question my patriotism for doing so, I can try to make my country live up to its promises and ideals.
I am librarian, hear me roar!
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