<div dir="ltr"><div>Matt,</div><div><br></div>Your argument about the language use in the Code of Ethics runs rather shallow, I'm afraid. Given that a cishet black male patron who misuses library policy, or is even perceived as misusing library policy, to the degree that library staff considers it "safe" to involve local law enforcement will be handled differently than if a cishet white male patron misuses library policy to an equal degree, "all library users" aren't experiencing the world outside of the library with any sort of equity, therefore "the inherent dignity and rights of every person" have been violated before the cishet black male person has even sets foot inside the library. In other words: the shift in tone is necessary. One cannot use easy language or soft tones to rid our public spaces of the sort of behavior that creates toxic environments for entire communities of people who've been, both in recent and distant history, robbed of their "inherent dignity"--inside as well as outside of library spaces. It is important, then, that the American Library Association places within their Code of Ethics a statement which vows to assert the necessary social uplift of our public library spaces, so that staff (such as myself, queer and black) and patrons (such as I once was, still queer and still black) may claim more fully "the inherent dignity and rights of every person" and actually stand equal to "all library users".<div><br></div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font size="4" face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" color="#0000ff"><i><b>Anthony Isom (they/them/theirs)</b></i></font><div><font face="arial narrow, sans-serif">Youth Services Librarian Assistant</font></div><div><font face="arial narrow, sans-serif">Adrian District Library</font></div><div><font face="arial narrow, sans-serif">143 East Maumee Street</font></div><div><font face="arial narrow, sans-serif">Adrian MI 49221</font></div><div><font face="arial narrow, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:aisom@adrian.lib.mi.us" target="_blank">aisom@adrian.lib.mi.us</a></font></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Aug 5, 2021 at 8:03 AM mweston <a href="http://dowagiacdl.org">dowagiacdl.org</a> via Michlib-l <<a href="mailto:michlib-l@mcls.org">michlib-l@mcls.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt">I'd like to support Karyn Ruley's concerns about ALA's most recent addition to their Code of Ethics. Reading through the first eight principles, and into the first sentence of the
ninth, there is a sense of the universal and of the common humanity we share with ourselves and our patrons. "...all library users", "...each library user's rights", and
</span><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">"...the inherent dignity and rights of every person",
changes dramatically in tone with "dismantle systemic and individual biases" and "advance racial and social justice".</span></span><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;text-align:left;background-color:rgb(254,254,254);display:inline"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">Absolutely this is worthy of discussion, and this is the place
for it.</span></span></div>
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Matt Weston, <span style="font-size:12pt">Library Director</span></p>
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Dowagiac District Library</p>
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211 Commercial St.</p>
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Dowagiac, MI 49047-1728</p>
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269-782-3826</p>
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