Sonia Bebbington, CL/CEO, Sarah Macintyre, Division Manager, Client Services, and Alexandra Yarrow, Program Manager, Board and Strategic Services presented the Board with a high-level summary of the challenges to intellectual freedom received by OPL in 2024 (held on file with the Chief Librarian/Chief Executive Officer).
Trustee Slack left the meeting at 5:23 pm and returned at 5:27 pm.
The presentation included:
- A summary of the foundations of intellectual freedom at OPL;
- A chart highlighting the numbers of formal challenges (requests for reconsideration, or R4Rs) in the last decade;
- An overview of the 11 formal R4Rs received in 2024;
- An update regarding the review of missing collection items and previous decisions about challenges;
- A summary of recent and upcoming initiatives to support intellectual freedom (staff training, upcoming programs); and,
- A reminder of relevant Canadian resources.
The Chair opened the floor to questions from trustees regarding the report.
Trustee King inquired whether OPL employs strategies to balance intellectual freedom with community concerns, particularly regarding children’s materials. Sonia Bebbington, Chief Librarian and CEO commented that the OPL understands the importance of engaging in respectful conversation with clients, whose concerns about material are often founded in deeply-held personal beliefs or experience. She added that staff undertake a very thorough and thoughtful analysis of any item challenged. In closing, she added that there are a number of ways in which OPL strives to ensure its spaces are welcoming and comfortable for children and families.
With respect to specific strategies to support families with young children, Ms. Yarrow indicated that when a child gets a library card, the parent must sign for that card, providing an opportunity for a conversation with staff about the importance of a library visit as a family activity and about the importance of parental responsibility, including talking to their children about what they are reading. Ms. Yarrow said that parents wishing for greater control may, for example, request a library account type that restricts their child’s access to the Internet at the library. She added that staff are, as always, key supports: when a parent or caregiver is struggling to explain challenging topics to children, employees can share reading lists, speak from their own expertise, or recommend other tools such as Media Smarts for additional resources.
Trustee King thanked staff for the thorough report and response, which demonstrates an appropriate balance in place between upholding intellectual freedom and responding thoughtful community feedback. He said the library's commitment to ensuring that traditionally marginalized perspectives are represented while maintaining its commitment to intellectual freedom is particularly noteworthy.
Trustee King also noted his appreciation of the comprehensive tracking and reporting of challenges, which helps inform future operational and policy decisions, and provides local context for the broader social trends being observed in Canada and the United States. He inquired how OPL challenge rates compare to similarly sized public library systems in Canada, and Ms. Yarrow noted in reply that OPL’s rates have been relatively consistent with others, such as Toronto Public Library, though their 2024 numbers have not yet been released. Nationally, the Centre for Free Expression Challenges Database listed 95 challenges to library services overall in 2024, but reporting by individual libraries remains very inconsistent. She also provided data from the American Library Association (ALA) which noted 414 attempts to censor over 1,000 unique titles in the United States in 2024, lower than 2023 numbers. In closing, Ms. Yarrow noted that North American public libraries continue to report incidences of what is called “soft censorship,” “silent bans,” or protests and other organized activity, in addition to formal challenges.
Trustee Crawford noted she had the opportunity to attend the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Super Conference in 2025 and attended a talk by James Turk, Director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, which was very well attended. She noted that Mr. Turk underlined the importance of supportive library boards, particularly when staff deal with difficult challenges. Mr. Turk also spoke about organized campaigns in several provinces to challenge books with LGBTQIA2S+ content, as well as the unique challenges of school libraries whose staff often do not have the resources to navigate challenges by parents. She thanked staff for the recent staff training offered at OPL, and noted in closing that she is very proud to be a trustee on a public library board that has a very strong commitment to intellectual freedom.
Ms. Bebbington thanked the trustee for her comments, and added that OPL’s position on intellectual freedom is important, upholding it requires the ongoing support of the Board, and staff appreciate the Board’s support.
Vice-Chair Fisher inquired whether the employee training mentioned in the presentation was mandatory, and what kind of feedback had been received. Ms. Yarrow indicated the eLearning module (Part 1) is designed in collaboration with the Library’s Senior Management Team that consists of a video that employees watch, and then engage in follow-up with their supervisor or manager; this module is mandatory for all employees. The in-person session (Part 2) is compulsory for employees in specific roles, and is delivered by a team of two facilitators as a full day session. She said over 300 employees attended the in-person sessions; an anonymous feedback form is emailed to individuals after the training is complete, and employees may also share feedback with their supervisor via a verbal debrief. Feedback forms are reviewed by the Employee Experience Team under Anna Basile, Deputy CEO and Division Manager, Corporate Services, and the feedback is actioned accordingly and shared with the facilitators.
Trustee Smith inquired regarding the number of individual titles that the 11 requests for reconsideration represent, and Ms. Macintyre replied that the 11 requests were for 11 unique titles. Trustee Smith further inquired whether staff could share the list of titles, and Ms. Macintyre and Ms. Yarrow confirmed that the list is provided as Document 1 of the report before the Board this evening.
Trustee Smith subsequently inquired regarding the practices for client suggestions to purchase, specifically whether there was ambiguity in the applicable policies that could allow for decisions that might be ideologically slanted one way or another. He also asked that a copy of the applicable policy be made available to him. Ms. Macintyre indicated that OPL’s Suggestion to Purchase Form is located on the OPL website, and links to the applicable policy, the Board-approved Content Services Framework. The materials selection criteria in the Framework are consistently applied by staff when reviewing suggestions to purchase. In closing, Ms. Macintyre offered to meet with the trustee if he wished to discuss additional elements of the Framework, to which Trustee Smith agreed.
There being no further discussion, the report was RECEIVED as presented.
MOTION OPL 20250211/5
That the Ottawa Public Library Board receive this report for information.
Results: Received