Intellectual Freedom And Youth Course

When reflecting on the Intellectual Freedom and Youth course at San Jose State University, I feel this class has taught me skills needed to be confident advocate for teens and their freedom to read. Through the lectures and research, I have come to understand the importance of the rights of teens concerning the use of the library, and have learned three very important lessons. The first lesson is the importance of understanding your library’s policies concerning youth and to be prepared to defend materials added to the youth collection in order to protect a teen’s freedom to read. As Kimberly Horne, a English teacher at St. Andrews, experienced when having books in her curriculum challenged, it is important to have a rationale behind your choices and the support of superiors. Horne stated that she “learned in real time that you have to believe in what your teach down to the last comma; every bit of text you ask a student to read has to have sound pedagogical reasoning behind it” (Horne,n.d.). While the aggravation and stress KImberly Horne suffered with the book challenges was difficult, her well thought out reasonings made it easier to defend and ultimately keep the material.

They both stressed the importance of listening to the patron. The motives and opinions of the person or group challenging an item in the library are often born out of concern and deserve respect even if we do not agree with them. Just in other aspects of life, communication is key when dealing with any issue. This does not mean that you need to bend to this persons demands, just be opened to the patrons words and