Should Members of Book Award Committees Be Allowed to Blog?
Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 1/31/2007
This was a big question many people were discussing during the American Library Association’s midwinter meeting in Seattle last week: Should members of the Newbery, Caldecott, and other children’s book award committees be allowed to blog?
The answer is yes.
The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has clarified its conflict of interest and confidentiality policy, stating that “members of award committees who run or participate in social networking web sites or software, including blogs, wikis, electronic discussion lists, and the like, should not engage in any discussion about their ALSC award committee work, or about the status of eligible books in relationship to these awards during their term of committee service,” says a final draft of the updated policy.
Basically, the same rule that applied before now extends to the electronic world. Members of award committees are even allowed to review books, although they often are advised not to review titles eligible for the committee they sit on. “It’s left up to the judgment of the committee member,” says ALSC President Kathleen Horning.
The updated policy would have helped Elizabeth Bird, a children’s librarian at New York Public Library, who served on the 2007 Newbery award committee. Back in October, ALSC asked Bird, who writes about and reviews children’s books on her blog, A Fuse8 Production, to remove all reviews of Newbery award contenders. Bird, who works in the central children’s room at the Donnell branch, obliged.
Interpreting confidentiality
About a dozen ALSC members contacted the organization raising concerns that bloggers, like Bird—who were on award committees and blogging about books—were breaking the confidentiality rule, says Horning, explaining why Bird was asked to take down her reviews. “We were in the process of working things out,” Horning explains.
Under the updated ALSC policy—which is being made public tomorrow—Bird and others like her can blog away. In fact, “[c]ommittee members are urged to discuss books under consideration with others throughout the year to obtain a variety of critical opinions,” says the draft. “However, it is important to remember that, in these discussions, committee members may express their own opinions, and may not quote the opinions of other committee members or indicate in any way which books are under consideration.”
That’s why Nina Lindsay, a librarian at Oakland (CA) Public Library and chair of the 2008 Newbery committee, won’t be continuing her blog, Nina’s Newbery, this year. One ALSC member, who mistakenly thought Lindsay chaired last year’s committee, contacted Horning to tell her that she was “upset” because she thought Lindsay’s blog was revealing confidential information, Horning says.
Is it a “generational thing?”
Indeed, the rapid speed at which a blog posting can reach thousands of people, has made some people nervous. Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief of the Horn Book, who has his own blog, Read Roger, says the whole controversy is a generational problem. “It’s the dragon-lady generation—the people who are 50 and over,” says Sutton. “The people who didn’t grow up with this technology look at it and feel threatened. If we didn’t have a blog and Web site at Horn, I’d feel threatened, too.”
Sutton, who’s currently on the 2008 Caldecott committee, threatened to resign after he was told to refrain from blogging about books that were eligible for an award committee. “I said if they do this, I’d quit the Caldecott committee, and that I would not put up with this gag.”
Horning agrees that blogging is more informal “so people who grew up with instant messaging and blogging feel more comfortable with the tone,” says Horning, who is 50. “People of my generation [feel] there is a tone of professionalism in reviews. But blogs are less formal and more conversational, and people see it as a lack of professionalism. Maintaining confidentiality on an award committee is an aspect of professionalism.”
ALSC awards include the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award, Theodor Seuss Geisel Beginning Reader Award, Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, Mildred L. Batchelder Award, and the Pura Belpré Medal.Let us know what you think; Talk Back below.
