Please see the invitation below from the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship:

I wanted to invite you and anyone you may think may be interested to our upcoming panel discussion “Questions or Conformity: Reading Rights for the Right to Learn” on libraries and intellectual freedom in Toronto.

The Issue:

Over the last couple of years there has been a lot of discussion in the library community in North America as to how the traditional liberal values of librarianship (in particular neutrality in collections and services) impact current concerns regarding social justice and equity. Can being in support to openness to a wide variety of perspectives negatively affect marginalized communities and actually encourage harmful ideologies? Should library collections and services exclusively encourage citizens to adopt, for example, a social justice or anti-racist lens for viewing current topics of controversy?

The Discussion:

Our library panel is drawn from across the country (British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan) and from both public and academic libraries. We will argue in defense of traditional liberal professional values and how they are deeply supportive of both intellectual freedom and a free and democratic culture while exploring more deeply some of the critiques of the traditional position held by libraries in our communities. Moderated by journalist Anthony Furey.

Where: Beeton Hall, Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario

Date: Wednesday November 30th, 2022.

Time: 7pm start

What: Panel Discussion with a Q&A Session to follow.

Cost: Free (no registration required)

Sponsored by the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship.

 

Contact for event and media inquiries: robert.thomas@uregina.ca 306-581-3659