young people’s political awareness and literacy (ahead of receiving the right to vote at 16) with discussion of human rights and the issues involved.
Librarians foster curiosity, research and reading by encour- aging young people to question books, explore current affairs, consider people’s right to access information, and engage with issues such as human rights, political literacy and democracy. This happens every day through library interactions, lessons, book clubs, assemblies, and the articles we write for school magazines and blogs. As educators, our role is to inspire students to read, research, discuss different perspectives and develop the confi- dence to form their own informed opinions. We want them to be able to notice when they are only being given one side of an argument, and to have the motivation and knowledge to find the other sides so they can make a considered conclusion. But there are reasons to be concerned. Fears include: covert censorship...
l Via books not being commissioned; l authors not being invited to give talks;
l books not being selected for purchase because librarians are afraid they will lose their job if they are found to be in stock;
l above all that young people will not be able to access what they need in order to survive and thrive;
l libraries are about inclusion and empowering our users socially, culturally, economically and politically. Being prevented from working to those values causes deep stress.
Access to a library and its information service is a British value, its purpose needs to be stated clearly and promoted at all levels; in each library and at a national level by our professional associ- ations and the central government.
The DfE has published a statement in support of intellec- tual freedom for higher education, this needs to be expanded to include the education system as a whole in the UK. Clear guidelines and a process need to be available for requests to reconsider an item of library stock and these should be distributed to school leadership teams via the National Governance Association guided by the DfE statement on intel- lectual freedom.
We are building a unity of vision on this subject between libraries, a range of organisations, publishers and authors. This needs to continue and include the voices of young people too. In school settings it is important to have wider conversations and raising the issue in a line management meeting is important
August-September 2026
so that the school leadership team are made aware that these issues are affecting other schools. They should also be informed as to the different types of challenge they may experience, ranging from an individual to an organised group, within or without their own community. Make them aware that they can adopt a policy and process to safeguard their provision and employees. This would be the best way to protect their vision for education and to make their community feel included in it. If their vision for education includes intellectual freedom and they wish to protect this, then the staff handbook should include this and a copy of the policy and process for reconsideration of an item so that all who are employed have clarity about the library and their joint purpose with it. Talk to heads of subject departments about this topic to make them aware and garner support. Give a talk at the heads-of-depart- ment meeting to explain what is involved and propose that there be a policy and process for dealing with concerns when raised. One needs to be clear that experience shows appeasement never succeeds. A policy needs to highlight the school’s belief, values, references to its own equal opportunities policy, in addition to referencing relevant legislation. A process needs to be outlined for an examination of the concern, people should be respected and feel heard.
Ultimately no one person or group has the right to decide what should or should not be available to others in the community. Boundaries can be put in place. Make it clear that concerns raised by those outside the school community will not be accepted. That concerns about an item of stock may not be re-considered again within five years. Having a process in place that is clear about its understanding of the legislation and how the school values intellec- tual freedom provides an important foundation to guide what can be difficult and potentially emotional conversations. We are here to protect the rights of children.
A message for students Give an assembly about the topic, begin with historical examples, tap in to subject interests in the audience and make the connec- tion between the roles of librarians and archivists throughout history to protect people’s records, stories and voices and the dangers when only one voice is allowed airtime and page space. See Burning the Books: a history of knowledge under attack by Richard Ovenden for inspiration.
Creating a display which promotes banned books makes one’s values visible, it communicates to prospective parents that in choosing this school, you are signing up to these values and aspirations for your children. IP
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 41
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
