Services for Librarians

For some years now, I have sat as the German representative on the committee, as well as on the Executive Board of the IFLA/FAIFE, the organization for free access to information and freedom of expression within the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, or IFLA. Together with around 30 other members from all over the world, our work takes place on three levels: training and continuing education in matters related to intellectual freedom, active commitment to the principles of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and intervention in cases where freedom of information in libraries is under threat.

In concrete terms, this can take various forms, for instance running seminars or giving lectures, compiling statements and declarations on fundamental questions of freedom of information in libraries, or publishing press releases in the event of actual incidents.

In fact, commitment to freedom of information is a core duty of all librarians. Every librarian shares part of the responsibility for ensuring free access to information and, within their particular situation and according to their abilities, will make every effort to achieve this.

One might imagine that it would only be librarians in totalitarian systems who would have problems implementing the human right to freedom of information and expression. Why is it not a matter of course that unhindered access to information can be guaranteed in open, democratic societies?

As soon as one starts thinking about unrestricted access to information, questions are bound to arise about the type of information which is to be made accessible, or about the boundaries of free access – for example on political, religious, ethical or security grounds. Even in democratic societies there is no absolute right to freedom of expression and unrestricted access to information, and in certain cases this right is restricted by law. This happens when such access would violate other basic rights, such as the right to personal honour, laws designed to protect minors, or in criminally-relevant cases like incitement to racial hatred or those involving hardcore pornography.

However, these tend to be the more clear-cut cases. There are primarily two things which can really cause problems for librarians: first, the inner contradiction between one's own personal ideals and moral convictions, and one's professional responsibility and actions. Everyone has their own views here – some wish to protect the library's customers from books about war or horror stories, while others may want to withhold highly controversial medical information or keep right- or left-wing extremist literature off limits.

Material from certain religious groups or sects can often evoke great emotional resistance. In many countries, protecting children and young people from inappropriate material is also an important and necessary task of librarians, though in some cases this goes beyond the call of duty. This is the case, for example, when even adults are only able to work at Internet terminals fitted with filter software, thereby denying them access to legal information, as filter software always functions unsatisfactorily.

In its "Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom", the IFLA calls upon libraries to ensure that "the selection and availability of library materials and services is governed by professional considerations and not by political, moral and religious views". Is that in fact at all realistic?

If one bears in mind the problems outlined above, it does indeed appear virtually impossible to make selections purely on the basis of professional considerations. However, there are a great deal of supporting measures available to librarians. Two important ones are thorough professional training and the use of librarian advisory services. In Germany, more and more libraries are drawing up a carefully considered profile of the type of material they wish to have in stock – laid down in writing – which, tailored to the library's particular target group, offers guidelines for selecting material.

How do you respond to the questions which librarians put to you during your seminars?

Generally, these questions can best be answered during a discussion with other librarians. This is why all the seminars and workshops are designed in such a way as to ensure that people get directly into conversation with one another and can share experiences. We always have very lively debates. I tend to help only by referring participants to some of the basic principles which, for example, have been drawn up by the IFLA and which generally aim to question the extent to which strict policies may have unwanted restrictive effects.

To what degree do financial considerations pose an obstacle to freedom of information?

This question opens up a new and highly complex domain. Nowadays, it is above all issues such as appropriate costs for magazine subscriptions, affordable licences for electronic publications and fair play in the area of copyright protection and remuneration which count. A further aspect is the increasing consolidation among multinational media corporations, which means that they are able to dictate contents and prices. There is no doubt that this poses a threat to freedom of information if solutions cannot be found which give sufficient consideration to the interests of everyone involved.

What is the current focus of the FAIFE's work?

Over a period of several years, the FAIFE office in Copenhagen was fortunate enough to have a PhD student working for them who made an important contribution during his international research to studying the topic of libraries and the Internet on a wider scale. One outcome of his work were the guidelines for the IFLA Internet Manifesto, which were drawn up in a joint effort by our staff in various workshops and are just now being translated into German.

At the present time, the FAIFE's work is focused on three areas: testing the boundaries for freedom of information, providing access to information to fight corruption, and ensuring access to HIV/AIDS information in libraries.

Library associations in many countries around the world have now adopted professional codes of ethics, partly on the recommendation of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee. Does such a professional code of ethics exist in Germany?

After a long period in which we unfortunately failed to progress beyond a vague declaration of intent, a working group was formed this year – at the initiative of the spokeswoman of the Federal Union of German Library and Information Associations (BID) – which drew up a professional code of ethics on the basis of similar codes in other countries. The new code was presented to the professional public at the Leipzig Conference in March 2007; now it is the job of the member associations of the BID to make this professional code of ethics known to as many people as possible. As I said at the beginning, every library is responsible for ensuring free access to information. A professional code of ethics helps meet this responsibility and can provide librarians with a solid foundation and useful support.