Catherine,
Thank you for your support, which I can only hope mirrors the majority
of the videolib community.
If it were unclear to anyone, I was addressing a real-life situation
in which I was recognizing a need for my institution to:
1) comply with the law, and
2) adhere to our budget.
I neither provide illegal content (e.g., child pornography) upon
request, nor do I purchase every item that is ever requested, regardless of
cost; if these things make me a "censor" or at odds with "Freedom to View,"
then I expect I am in overwhelmingly good company among librarians.
To be clear, when I say that such a decision is "local and
context-driven," I mean simply that each institution and its needs are
ultimately unique. No institution can provide everything, so each selector
needs to exercise her best judgement in weighing the importance of any
particular content relative to cost for her own institution.
If it matters, the scenario I mentioned was at a public university and
the request was for a XXX-rated film.
Again, the requester also AGREED with my decision and rationale.
I think this community is at its best when we can have open and
respectful dialogue grounded in support of one another's actual
professional work.
Best,
Darby
Darby Orcutt
Assistant Head, Collection Management Department
Chair, Humanities & Social Sciences Subject Team
North Carolina State University Libraries
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC 27695-7111
919/ 513-0364
dcorc...@ncsu.edu
On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 1:04 PM, Doug Poswencyk <doug8...@gmail.com> wrote:
> But it is. Besides, we don't even know what the film is!
>
> On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 12:26 PM, Catherine Lee <catherinelee...@gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> Hello All,
>>
>> I have been a lurker on this list for quite a while. I feel compelled to
>> make a response now...to offer support for Darby and to express my
>> appreciation for the thoughtful comments of Gisele and Darby in response to
>> a legitimately challenging question by Maureen. "Good librarianship" also
>> means being cognizant of the morals, politics, and overall climate of your
>> institution and broader community.
>>
>> When I read the initial posting, I wondered what my response would be if
>> I were faced with that situation. I'm not at a UC Berkeley, NC State, or
>> UNT. I'm at a community college. Such a purchase--especially with state
>> funds--would come under public scrutiny. Since I am not faced with this
>> scenario, I don't have to make the decision...but I would hope that the
>> decision I ended up making would not be met with accusations from my peers
>> and colleagues of censorship or of being puritanical.
>>
>> Catherine Lee
>> Cape Fear Community College
>> Wilmington, NC
>>
>> VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of
>> issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic
>> control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in
>> libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as
>> an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of
>> communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video
>> producers and distributors.
>>
>>
>
> VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of
> issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic
> control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in
> libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as
> an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of
> communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video
> producers and distributors.
>
>
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues
relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control,
preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and
related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective
working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication
between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and
distributors.
