It's not cheating cuz I'm not faculty ...
For those of you poor souls who've decided to work on topic #5 of the CE at SJSU and you don't read Library Juice, here's something juicy to throw into your paper.
How Far Should the Library Aid the Peace Movement and Similar Propaganda?
By George F. Bowerman, Librarian, The Public Library of the District of
Columbia
An address at the American Library Association National Conference
in Berkeley, California, 1915
From part of the speech:
The librarian is constantly confronted with demands for the purchase of books and magazines, the offer of free copies of books, magazines and pamphlets issued on one side or the other of controverted questions, cults and isms. The main guiding principle should be that of interested neutrality. The library seeks complete enlightenment on the part of the constituency and to that end affords the fullest possible representation to both sides, to all sides of every controverted question. The library should encourage a broad and liberal spirit of free inquiry; its purpose is not to restrain but foster comprehensive curiosity. The offers of literature or the requests for its purchase may have propaganda in mind; the proponents very probably intend to use the machinery of the library, expensive to the public but cheap for their use for the dissemination of their own views. The library in lending itself to such use is not playing into the hands of the propagandist, but is rather availing itself of offers and requests to afford the inquiring and curious public, interested in subjects of current discussion, with material for the study of the questions at issue. Care should of course be taken when material representing one side only is offered, to procure the best material on the other side, together with the writings of capable neutral critics, if such exist. Even though the subjects of discussion may sometimes seem relatively unimportant or even at times rather foolish to the matter-of-fact librarian, the library cannot best meet the needs of the public unless it furnishes such material. The library wishes to be fair and escape the criticism of being narrow-minded or biased. Some subjects which provoke only a smile or faint interest among sophisticated persons like librarians, may be of surpassing interest to certain readers of character and standing in the community.
If you quote the speech and you pass, don't forget to send a thank-you to Rory Litwin for making the text more accessible.