"The Books Will Still Be in the Library": Narrow Definitions of Censorship in the Discourse of Challengers

One of the many areas of conflict between challengers and professional librarians centers on the definition of censorship. Challengers often employ a definition that maintains that banning materials is the only true form of censorship, while the codified definition of censorship within librarianship is concerned with impediments to access. Through analysis of arguments in the West Bend (WI) challenge case, this article explores three themes in challengers’ narrow definitions of censorship found in their discourse. First, challengers argue that moving books within the library is not considered to be censorship. Second, they maintain that labeling books for content is also not a form of censorship. Finally, challengers focus on “common sense” actions and the power of the majority in their arguments to impede access to controversial materials

Supporting intellectual freedom: Symbolic capital and practical philosophy in librarianship

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Indoctrination and common sense interpretation of texts: The Tucson Unified School District book banning

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Intellectual Freedom and the Agnostic-Postmodernist View of Reading Effects

One of the more confusing aspects of contemporary librarianship is its support for collecting “all sides” in its institutions while, at the same time, arguing for the positive nature of reading for all. This article focuses two positions toward knowledge effects. One, the postmodernist view, is agnostic toward the effects of gaining new knowledge while the other, the traditional–modernist view, holds that the effects of new knowledge can be known and are inevitable. It is the postmodernist position that undergirds contemporary librarianship’s support for intellectual freedom.published or submitted for publicatio

Opposing censorship in difficult times

What does it mean to support intellectual freedom under the new administration? How do we uphold our values when many will disagree with the information provided in our institutions? In this short essay I offer a summary of my research on book challengers to better understand why people attempt to censor information. I then argue that, to move forward, librarians and other information professionals must recommit to supporting the principles of intellectual freedom, the code of ethics, and the values of librarianship; review policies; and know their communities—local, state, and national.Ope

How one part-time library staff member can provide interlibrary loan service

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Society, institutions, and common sense: Themes in the discourse of book challengers in 21st century United States

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Analysis of QTL for high grain protein content in Canadian durum wheat

Non-Peer ReviewedDurum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum) varieties with high grain protein concentration (GPC) produce pasta products with greater cooking firmness and increased tolerance to overcooking. However, the large environmental effect on expression of GPC and the negative correlation between GPC and grain yield slow breeding progress of durum wheat varieties with elevated GPC. Identification of molecular markers associated with high GPC would aid durum wheat breeders to select for this important trait earlier. The objectives of this study were to identify molecular markers associated with quantitative trait loci (QTL) for elevated GPC in durum wheat. A preliminary genetic map was constructed by screening polymorphic microsatellite markers on a set of 95 double haploid lines derived from the cross Strongfield (high GPC) X DT695 (low GPC). QTL analysis using single marker regression was performed on GPC data collected at Swift Current and Regina in 2002 and Swift Current, Regina and Saskatoon in 2003. To date, we have identified two QTL for GPC flanked by Xgwm448 and Xgwm558 on chromosome 2AS, and on chromosome 2BL at wmc332. No QTL for high GPC could be detected on chromosome 6BS, the location of a high GPC gene isolated previously from durum, wheat suggesting that Strongfield contains novel QTL for high GPC not previously reported in the literature. The molecular markers flanking the QTL identified in this study can be used by durum wheat breeders to enhance selection of high GPC in durum wheat

Introduction

It is a sad fact that far fewer people survive to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary (seventy years) than they do a diamond anniversary (sixty years). No doubt that is the main reason why the former is much less well-known than the latter. Thankfully, the marriage of the doctoral program in library and information science to what is now the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois has lasted long enough to achieve platinum status—due to the longevity of both parties, as well as their compatibility. Of course, to wait to celebrate the marriage at the three-quarters-of-a-century mark might have proved even more impactful, but then the opportunity would have been lost to use the platinum anniversary to signal the recent change (2016) of name of the school—now, the School of Information Sciences—as well as the changing complexion of the doctoral program that the change of name partially represents. The school's adoption of the information sciences rubric is reflected in the great diversity of doctoral studies now undertaken in it. The information sciences spectrum, as Marcia Bates (2015) illustrates, is one of great width, stretching—to cite just a handful of disciplines and subdisciplines—from library science, museum studies, bibliography, archival science, and the sociology of information, to records management, information management, information science, data curation, data analytics, information systems, and informatics. Nowadays, the research interests of the school's doctoral students map fairly closely onto this spectrum, effectively spanning the information sciences—hence the title of this issue of Library Trends.</p