Sticky Standards: AASL requires permission to use 21st-C standards sparking backlash

The American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) decision to require permission—and potentially a fee—to commercially use its Standards for the 21st-Century Learner has generated ire among its members.

“At first I was annoyed, but now getting mad,” posted librarian Beth Frise on Twitter. “And these were written by our (volunteer) colleagues.”

Led by Christopher Harris, author of the blog Infomancy and a SLJ columnist, a movement to “free” the standards is gaining traction. Some are worried they can’t use pieces of the document in their lessons or school workshops. Harris himself, along with coauthor Brian Mayer, was blocked from using the standards in his book Libraries Got Game: Aligned Learning through Modern Board Games due out this fall from the American Library Association’s own imprint, ALA Editions. “My attempted use was a commercial use—it wouldn’t be free under Creative Commons either—it is just silly that a book published by ALA Editions can’t get permission,” wrote Harris by email.

But Julie Walker, AASL executive director, believes there’s nothing to be resolved—just clarified. She says she doesn’t want to restrict the use of the standards, just make sure they’re used properly. “Our goal is for educators all over the world to adopt them for teaching and learning,” she says, adding that the standards are freely available on the Web site, unless one is planning to use them commercially. And that’s where AASL has drawn the line. Critics say it’s for a financial reason. “Do the math,” writes David Loertscher, in a post republished on Joyce Valenza’s blog NeverEndingSearch. “With the prospect of a sale of the standards and the accompanying documents being at least 100,000 [uses] over the next decade times $40.00, you can see the kind of return that AASL will reap from the free contribution of intellectual content from its volunteer members.”

But Walker thinks members may have misinterpreted its policy and says AASL will go back to clarify use. “Do you need [a license] if you’re making a presentation? No,” she says. “But a presentation for a commercial publisher? Yes. One is education training, and the other is a book of lesson plans and it’s no longer educational or fair use.”