School Librarians Case Study

Issues of censorship in public schools are contests between the exercise of discretion and the exercise of a Constitutional right. The law

For libraries to remain a place for a lively exchange of ideas, librarians should be armed with the right knowledge and strong conviction to preserve people’s rights.

The biggest problem school libraries seem to face is where to draw the line on book content. But school libraries must understand that allowing book banning, they are taking away the opportunity for all students to read , instead of letting the parents decide what their child should be reading. Finlo Rohrer, BBC News Washington, explains that “In the US more and more parents are pressing schools to withdraw books with bad language or sexual content.” Parents that are uncomfortable with books in school libraries have made the effort to completely remove them from the library altogether. But when parents press to remove books that they might find unacceptable, they are actually deciding for the rest of the students as well. Mike Rose argues that “One disturbing aspect if censorship is its power to deny students in one class or an entire school system the right to read particular texts” (Agee, 61). Parents have every right to watch what their child reads and

The intention to posting the paper’s citation on D2L was so that the student could look for the paper on the Ryerson Library website by using the given information. By figuring out how to use the library website and familiarizing themselves with the database system, future research purposes will be easier and more efficient when finding citable papers.

Censorship cases often bring about debates over students’ first amendment rights. Students’ first amendment rights are important to preserve so that students can not be excluded from meaningful works or literature. It is understandable for the government to design educational plans as a way to get its voice into classrooms, but “the truth-promoting function of the First Amendment provides no reason, however, to question the right of students to explore a variety of ideas and perspectives, and to form and express ideas of their own” (Brown, 1994, p. 30). Schools already place a restriction on religious material or material addressing current political controversy (Brown, 1994).

I review the Blue Valley School District Acceptable use policy for student’s K-12. Technology use is important for all students, teacher, parents and school districts in order to provide a safe digital learning environment. Technology gives way to valuable educational experience that all students are entitled to. School districts have the responsibility to provide acceptable use policies for the digital devices, and the Internet provided to students, which is owned by the district. Whenever technologies are brought upon school grounds, or to school activities, even when the technologies are not owned by the school the technologies are still subject to adhere to the acceptable use policies. The intended use of technology in education is to open new learning experiences, benefit the student’s education experience, and create skills for future academic endeavors.

There is also a large percentage of households making an annual income of over fifty thousand. In comparison to the nation’s income levels per household, Dakota County has a smaller percentage of households that make under fifty thousand and an incredibly low number of households that make under fifteen thousand. Due to the abundance of economic capital in the County, there may not be as big of a digital access issue in the county. However, there is still roughly 7% of the county which lives under the poverty line which means that readily available access to technology and the internet in homes may be limited to a small portion of the population which in turn creates an access issue for some residents in the county. The lack of material resources and technology access is a major player in the digital divide

For instance, “Rocklin High School, in Sacramento, California, is considering banning a book from its library due to a graphic scene” (“Banned Books Awareness:”). Many schools have the right to ban or censor the books they provide their students, but that right also infringes on the student's’ ability to learn and earn an education. The students, as well as other readers, would not get to learn about the lessons that Carrie

In the pursuit of education, students strive to learn and develop their understanding of the world that surrounds them. Accordingly, it is the responsibility of the school administration to provide the means to that end. Yet, there is a polarized divide among schools and their interpretation of freedom of speech. This occurrence is experienced primarily at the university level but can be seen at all levels of education. At the epicenter of this dispute is the notion of censorship, specifically whether or not it is feasible to restrict what can and cannot be said by faculty and students alike. Advocates of freedom of speech assert that censorship violates our First Amendment right, a liberty that is inalienable. Proponents also argue that

The American Library Association defines censorship as the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary or educational materials. Censorship can be subtle, almost unseen, as well as blatant and overt, but nonetheless, harmful. The abilities to read, speak, and express ourselves freely are core values. Throughout history many different governments and people have tried to ban books for many different reasons. People attempt to ban books because the material conflicts with their own beliefs. Some people believe that a child’s parent should be the only one able to censor what a child reads. Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents and only parents have the right and responsibility to restrict things from their children. According to the challenges by initiator, institution, type, and year, parents challenge books more often than any other group. The subject is very controversial causing many disagreements. Some people may believe that a book is wonderful, while others believe that it’s corrupting the youth. Books are banned to protect people, mainly children, from difficult ideas and information. Nudity, drugs, religious viewpoint,

In New on the Job: A School Library Media Specialist’s Guide to Success, Ruth Toor and Hilda Weisburg present a one-stop manual for first-year school library that details numerous aspects of what it means to be a successful school library media specialist. The authors, both of whom are veteran former school librarians, outline everything from the job interview to the last day of school, sharing years of wisdom and practical insight into the ins and outs of the profession. Special attention is paid to developing relationships between the various members of the school population and associated individuals, including students, teachers, administrators, school board members, parents, and volunteers. The authors remind school librarians to keep

One would never think that that the digital divide would still be affecting America so greatly. From my unknowing perspective, I just assumed that many if not all Americans has basic tools such as having access to the internet. However, that is not the case, as it was made clear to me after reading your post. I’ve been taking my access to technology for granted as I have been fortunate enough to have had the chance to have the internet and build skills using modern technology. This divide is causing a big problem as more and more schools are trying to integrate using technology in their classes at the expense of possibly leaving the poorer students behind. If teachers assign homework or other assignment that are to be done using the internet

What would you do if you went to your child's school and saw that they were looking at inappropriate material on the internet? Would you react the same way if they were in a public library? Who decides what is okay for your children to view? Who decides where they can view it? What can you do about them being able to view these things? Are there any laws that can prevent this from happening? What are some schools and libraries doing to help prevent children form looking at such material? These are all issues that will be discussed in the next few paragraphs, along with my opinions on the matter.

According to Essex (2006), one of the requirements placed on schools is that they remain viewpoint neutral. This means that if the literature was suppressed because it was religious in nature, the suppression violated her First Amendment rights, even in the school setting. In all court cases, the real message has been that schools are responsible for making sure parents and students are aware that the schools are merely sending messages indiscriminately from religious and non-secular sources and that they are not in support of any of them (Essex, 2006). Really the essence of the article is that sound policies must be in place, well documented, and consistently followed for a school to be able to regulate what a student says or distributes and there must be no endorsement of any particular ideas from any group or student.

Although digital technology is wide spread, that does not mean all people have access to technology or the internet. Use and access to technology can differ greatly from place to place and person to person, due to computers age, connection speed, internet access, cost, usage, geographic location, culture, religion and social economic status; this is called the digital divide. When sending homework home, such as research, computer work and assignments this can be a real issue for teachers. To minimise the effect of these issues, teachers must make allowances and determine whether information can be gathered by students from other sources, such as books, be provided to take home or create work base on classroom learning materials.