[Michlib-l] First Amendment Audit

Sat Jan 15 12:07:16 EST 2022

This discussion kind of reminds me of the days/early months after 9/11/2001 when we weren’t sure how to handle “Arab” looking people coming in to use our internet stations and asking for materials of a “suspicious” nature. In the end, we relied on the library bill of rights and provided the information and computer access and hoped for the best.
In the present moment, I fall back on library policies, reasonable accommodation, and polite service to all and yes, hope for the best.

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Donna Winter
Assistant Branch Librarian
Livonia Public Library
(734) 466-2675
dwinter at livoniapubliclibrary.org
www.livoniapubliclibrary.org<http://www.livoniapubliclibrary.org>

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From: Michlib-l <michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org> on behalf of AD Jeffrey Babbitt via Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2022 11:31:29 AM
To: Jessica Holman <jdholman.npl at gmail.com>
Cc: michlib-l at mcls.org <michlib-l at mcls.org>
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] First Amendment Audit

Perhaps it is because I'm coming from a privileged position, not being a member of any visible marginalized community, but I think some good points have been made on both sides of the debate in this thread.

I don't see a conflict between holding all patrons to reasonable behavioral boundaries and holding ourselves to reasonable expectations of professionalism. (I have no problem excusing librarians for what might be called "lapses in professionalism" when confronted with belligerent, politically driven "auditor" behavior, especially if it resonates with personal trauma. No one carries the weight of their profession or their community entirely on their shoulders, and there is always space to pick up the pieces later.)

I don't see a conflict between librarians being cognizant of both our rights and our responsibilities to the public, nor between the public's rights and the limitations thereof.

I don't see a conflict between finding value in the founding documents of the country and recognizing the flaws (some of them unforgiveable) of those documents, the people who composed them, and the ways they've been implemented.

This whole discussion has moved me to bulk up the parts of our collection on the U.S. Constitution and constitutional law, which I've discovered is shockingly dismal, and to do sort of a First Amendment Audit of my own, along with the Diversity Audit I had been looking toward.

Like I said, it may be my privileged position as a white male of middle-class WASP extraction that colors my glasses a little rosy, or perhaps it's my aversion to conflict. This discussion has educated me on some important issues and given me several useful resources, and I am grateful for it.

Jeffrey Babbitt, MLIS
Director
Dorr Township Library
1804 Sunset Dr.
Dorr, MI 49323
616-681-9678 (o)
269-598-6929 (m)

________________________________
From: "Jessica Holman via Michlib-l" <michlib-l at mcls.org>
To: "Turbok, Joseph" <jturbok at sccl.lib.mi.us>
Cc: michlib-l at mcls.org
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2022 3:14:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] First Amendment Audit

Well said, Joseph!

If we were to remove the whole "First Amendment Auditor" thing from this conversation, would we tolerate the behavior some of us have seen?

In my case, I would be telling you about a drunk man who repeatedly called the library, swore at my assistant, harassed the city billing clerk, and followed the clerk to her car and loudly recited her license plate and details about her car. Cut out the "First Amendment Audit" part, and maybe the Negaunee City Police would have arrested him for being drunk and disorderly, instead of just watching him stalk the clerk. Leave that part out, and maybe I wouldn't have yelled at the police chief in the department head meeting that followed, about how our force refuses to protect city employees.

Leave the "First Amendment Audit" part out of this conversation, and we might not have librarians who privately emailed me after I shared our experience, to say that they've also had similar patron interactions.

Leave out the "First Amendment Audit" and maybe other librarians wouldn't tell me that the clerk should have just smiled and humored the guy.

So, why give these "auditors" more leniency than we give other belligerent patrons?

Jessica Holman
Library Director
Negaunee Public Library

On Fri, Jan 14, 2022 at 2:56 PM Turbok, Joseph via Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>> wrote:

Any actual tax paying patron from our community who seriously wants to know about Library business is welcome to come and ask within respectful boundaries. An outsider whose main purpose is become YouTube famous and scam people out of money online will still be treated respectfully but with probably less patience if things become confrontational. This is not a question of giving people a chance. It should be pretty obvious pretty quickly what kind of person you are actually dealing with. This gas lighting narrative where Librarians are abusing the public trust or citizens’ rights because we don’t want to be treated like garbage is bizarre.

From: Betty Adams [mailto:badams at inksterlibrary.org<mailto:badams at inksterlibrary.org>]
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2022 1:10 PM
To: Turbok, Joseph
Cc: michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] First Amendment Audit

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Thoughts you can choose to digest or ignore:

Being a public institution, consent is not needed to be filmed. Being a public servant, consent is not needed to be filmed while serving the public. Being a public servant, these audits should be taken seriously, as they are (at the core) being done by concerned patrons. If you are part of a consortium, they may be your patrons even if they are not from your city or generally considered community, as you are part of a collective. These should not be something to be feared, nor fought. The money we use is paid by taxes of citizens, and it is their right to inquire about policies, how the library is governed, the collection, and if the staff is aware of the rights of citizens in their libraries. Use this as an opportunity to listen to those who (it appears) you may have a difference of opinion from, rather than an attack on the library or you/your staff. Yes, these citizens sometimes try to "catch" you being scared or intimidated, or ignorant to their rights, because when these first started years ago, many facilities were. Get ahead of the auditors and take time to understand their purpose, review if your collection needs around constitutional/governmental materials and train staff on the rights of patrons/citizens in a public space. Heck, you could even have a program on citizen rights in public and private spaces and can show the auditors that you are aware of their concerns and are addressing them.

I personally would interact with an auditor, to know how the library is perceived by those who have concerns over their rights in a time when rights are being reduced by governing bodies. Why not request to sit and have a conversation with them rather than shy away? They want to be heard, same as everyone else with concerns, so, why not listen? By being negative toward them (even if it's only in internal emails), you are being negative toward an entire demographic that your library may be excluding (or ridiculing), based on perception alone, which is counterintuitive to an institution that wishes to have full community support and usage.

Now, I would like to say, nothing is ever absolute, and those who had a negative experience with a hostile audit, is not the norm (as showcased in this thread and across the internet). Do not assume your auditor will be hostile, just as you wouldn't assume the intention of any other patron entering your facility.

Just some thoughts from someone who's watched MANY audit videos, from across the country, and someone who can recognize that they have a right to do what they do. (If being filmed is an issue for you, as it is with me, politely request not to have your face included. Use honey, not vinegar.)

Public school audits is a great question, personally, I haven't seen any done.

Betty

On Fri, Jan 14, 2022 at 10:05 AM Turbok, Joseph via Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>> wrote:

I am not that familiar with Youtube flagging but can these videos possibly be flagged by the people within them for either harassment or lack of consent to be filmed?

From: Michlib-l [mailto:michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l-bounces at mcls.org>] On Behalf Of Christopher Nadeau via Michlib-l
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2022 9:02 AM
To: Bill Wines; Sherry Martin
Cc: SF Director Account; michlib-l
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] First Amendment Audit

EMAIL ORIGIN EXTERNAL: Use proper judgment and caution when opening attachments, clicking links, or responding to this email.

Matt,

They request that book because if library staff tries to argue with them or kick them out, the “auditor” can point out that we are ignorant of the Constitution yet have the book on our shelves. Having suffered through some of the YouTube messages, they seem to take a special delight in mentioning this. Also, they audit us done under the guise of “educating” us about individuals rights.

From: Bill Wines <bwines at commercelibrary.info<mailto:bwines at commercelibrary.info>>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2022 11:51 AM
To: Sherry Martin <MartinS at gpschools.org<mailto:MartinS at gpschools.org>>
Cc: SF Director Account <frudir at llcoop.org<mailto:frudir at llcoop.org>>; michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>>
Subject: Re: [Michlib-l] First Amendment Audit

"Members only" videos and a PayPal link.  I wonder how much this jamoke makes from this scam?

On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 9:54 AM Sherry Martin via Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>> wrote:

I Googled  "FRICN MEDIA" (I'm assuming this stands for Freaking Media) and found their YouTube channel. This isn't a professional organization. It's a couple of Michigan citizens checking up on various government agencies.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYl7s-1p4ba4dgcAZidNFGw

On their About tab:

DescriptionWarning. Im controversial politically, religiously, and I'm also an Auditor. So if you're offended easily or closed minded. This is not the channel for you. Just a heads up. email vividimagetats420 at gmail.com<mailto:vividimagetats420 at gmail.com> paypal.me/jswoodworks<http://paypal.me/jswoodworks> Cash app $FRICNMEDIA

The world we live in!

Sherry Martin

On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 9:40 AM SF Director Account via Michlib-l <michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>> wrote:

Good morning,

I have never heard of this. Why is the U.S. Constitution for Dummies a book they would ask about? Is there a process or procedure for how libraries should act or react to this group? You mention being respectful but anything else?

Any assistance in this for me to inform my staff would very helpful.

Matt Lubbers-Moore

________________________________

From: "Perri Saunders via Michlib-l" <michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>>
To: "michlib-l" <michlib-l at mcls.org<mailto:michlib-l at mcls.org>>
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2022 1:28:09 PM
Subject: [Michlib-l] First Amendment Audit

Just had our first First Amendment Audit.  It went very well, actually.

I spotted them before they came in so we could gather ourselves for a minute - make sure no patron names were on screens, and the reserve shelf had no names showing, etc.

Two people (man and woman) came in with cameras.  I welcomed them from the circ desk as I would anyone else (maybe a little more enthusiastically).  The man asked if we had the U.S. Constitution for Dummies and we talked about that a little.

I offered to show them around, but they just wanted to walk around and film.  We only had one patron in here at the time, so when the man started that way, I just told him that he was welcome to film anywhere in the public areas as long as he didn't interfere with other patrons' enjoyment of the library.

We were respectful and, in turn, they were respectful, so it went just fine.  They were here for about 15 minutes.  I won't lie - it felt like longer.

I know that this man, FRICN MEDIA, has lots of 1st Amendment Audit videos on YouTube,  many of which turned confrontational.  We were welcoming, forthcoming, and really boring.  Score!

Like Kate Andrade said, "It's not if, it's when".  We might as well be prepared.

Have a great day!

Perri

--

Perri Saunders, Director

White Pigeon Township Library

102 N. Kalamazoo St., P.O. Box 399

White Pigeon, MI 49099

269-483-7409

p.saunders at woodlands.lib.mi.us<mailto:p.saunders at woodlands.lib.mi.us>

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Fruitport District Library
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Sherry Martin, MLIS

Media Specialist at Brownell and Pierce Middle Schools

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Grosse Pointe Public School System

www.gpschools.org<http://www.gpschools.org/>

Phone: 313-432-4117

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Bill Wines

Circulation & Technical Services Manager

Commerce Township Community Library

180 E. Commerce Rd.
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Ph. 248.669.8108 ext.102

Fax 248.325.5047

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Leanna Hicks Public Library of Inkster, MI

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