Label images from Gaylord Library Supplies
Ethical Scenerio: A library has a large demand for "Christian fiction" and constantly has patrons asking "where are the Christian fiction titles?" so that they can browse. Librarians decide that pulling the books out of the regular fiction section is too much, but they do begin to add lables to the spines to help readers easily locate items of interest. Later, a patron complains about the lables displaying a particular religion and the library removes them all. In your opinion, did the library take the right course of action?
According to the ALA, they did:
" . . . some public libraries label Christian fiction with a cross as a symbol. This practice, especially when other religious fiction is not designated, communicates a message of preference for Christianity, a violation of the separation of church and state that is prohibited by the establishment clause of First Amendment as well as the Library Bill of Rights."
The topic of labeling Christian fiction was recently discussed on the MySpace group Librarians ARE Cool.
On the other hand, the ALA allows for the practice of labeling materials based on ethnic concerns, such as having a Native American collection in the library:
"When there is a large population of a specific ethnic or language group in an area, it often creates a large demand for items relevant to their experience in the library. To meet that demand and make it simpler for the users to locate those resources, libraries sometimes choose to create a special collection and/or area devoted to those resources. As long as these collections represent diverse points of view within the parameters of the collection and are designed to help patron find resources relevant to their experience and not to restrict them to a certain section of the library, this practice would be acceptable."
Do you agree with the differentiation made here? Is labeling books to place them within a religious context different from labeling them to place them within an ethnic context?
More Multicultural Library Labels:
Cultural Designs from Gaylord Library Supply
Demco (search term "multicultural")
Group of labels from Brodart that include religious items
Vernon Library Supply includes lables for Christmas, Halloween, Hanukkah as well as the more generic "inspirational" label.
Resources:
ALA's Questions and Answers on Labels and Rating Systems
ALA's LABELS AND RATING SYSTEMS: An Interpretation of the LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS
