Cycles of Bias: Soft Censorship in Libraries
Abstract
Library professionals, often without knowing, can indirectly reduce access to information, a phenomenon known as soft censorship. This research-in-progress conceptualizes key aspects of soft censorship and identifies conditions conducive to soft censorship in libraries. The individual and systematic biases that form the cycles that facilitate soft censorship become evident through this conceptualization, including content warnings, neutrality, subject headings, hiring, and publishing. In future work, we will analyze other areas where soft censorship has the potential to proliferate, including acquisitions, weeding, and reference, to obtain a fuller picture of soft censorship.
Adelaide Tracey
École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information, Université de Montréal
Originally from Ithaca, New York, Adelaide Tracey chose to pursue a master’s in information science at Université de Montréal to become a force of advocacy against censorship in wake of the post-pandemic book banning efforts throughout the United States. Since the start of her program in fall 2023 at l’École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information (EBSI), she has served as co-leader of the Groupe étudiant de la Special Libraries Association to connect information science students to professionals in specialized libraries, a domain less frequently discussed in the master’s program. As an intern with the Concordia University library, she worked with Dr. Rachel Harris to further Open Access initiatives and develop a French language Open Educational Resource guide. Her research takes an introspective approach to information science, looking at how practices and systems within the profession implicitly restrict access to information.