Byrne, Alex. The Politics of Promoting Freedom of Information and Expression in International Librarianship: The IFLA/FAIFE Project. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow (Libraries and Librarianship: An International Perspective, no. 4), 2007, 226p. alk. paper, $55 (ISBN 0810860171). LC 2007-22006.
The idea of freedom of information and expression has been the subject of considerable debate in the professional practice of librarianship in the United States and among Western democracies throughout much of the 20th century. Nevertheless, to take these issues to a global stage during an age of substantial political and social upheaval and change is to introduce deeper levels of intricacy, as Alex Byrne reports in his new book. Byrne, presently the university librarian at the University of Technology in Sydney, served as chair of the Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (IFLA/FAIFE) initiative and as president of the International Federation of Library Associations from 2005 to 2007. Using research initially reported in his dissertation submitted to the University of Sydney in 2003, Byrne’s new work endeavors to "trace the development of the FAIFE initiative over its first five years, from the Council resolution which established the new committee in August 1997 to the council’s endorsement of the Glasgow Declaration on Libraries, Information Services and Intellectual Freedom in August 2002."
In Chapter 1, Byrne begins his presentation by outlining its purpose, which associates concern for human rights with an adoption of the principles of intellectual freedom in the inner workings of IFLA as an international organization representing the strategic direction of both libraries as institutions and the professional values of librarianship. Chapters 2 and 3 examine the development respectively of libraries and of IFLA as a "haven for peace in a stormy world." Especially useful are Byrne’s fresh insights into the agency of libraries, and in particular national libraries, in transmitting and preserving culture and in forging the identity of librarianship as an "institution-based" profession actively engaged in access and preservation of culture bound by geography or statecraft. Libraries, "and especially national libraries and similar institutions, can give tangible expression to ‘constitutional patriotism,’" or preservation of and access to what constitutes the formation of national identity. Such commitment to safeguarding collective memory and determining right of entry for a community or nation provides considerable social capital, which is considered in subsequent chapters on the fate of libraries under conditions of national crisis.
Chapter 4 offers a recent history of human rights as an issue in IFLA, tracing indications of interest expressed in organizational viewpoints between the late 1960s and mid-1990s, to 1997 when the organization was positioned to create a committee to render formal examination of free access to information and freedom of expression across political boundaries. According to Byrne, "By placing their votes for the resolution at the IFLA council meeting, the members who supported it signaled a desire for the federation to include action on the fundamental human right of intellectual freedom among its goals as a purposive association." It is also evident that this issue placed IFLA as an organization at an important crossroads, that, by actively engaging free access and free expression as an issue, the association would move beyond its "traditional agency" to ponder fundamental global concerns of freedom and human rights in the aftermath of the Cold War when the world rapidly realigned itself around critical political and moral events.
Chapter 5 follows the progress of IFLA/FAIFE, its chronological development in relation to global issues. Especially challenging to the committee was its endeavor to strike a balance post September 11 between terrorism and free access to information, resulting in such publications as a Statement on Terrorism, the Internet and Free Access to Information (2001), the IFLA Internet Manifesto (2002), and the Glasgow Declaration on Libraries, Information Services and Intellectual Freedom (2002). IFLA/FAIFE, in effect, began to assume a key role in much of the association’s response to significant issues. As Byrne found, "It was especially influential in its work on unrestricted access to information via the Internet…. But it also contributed to the identification of obstacles to information in other circumstances, including those experienced by indigenous peoples and by the disabled."
Although it can be said that IFLA/FAIFE fulfilled its charge broadly, chapters 6 and 7 delve deeper into the potential conflict between broad statements and taking action as a manifestation of institutional commitment and professional practice. In chapter 6, Byrne summarizes many critical incidents handled by FAIFE, including book burnings in Ekaterinburg, Russia, a case in the United Kingdom involving photographs from a book by Robert Mapplethorpe, threats to libraries of Kosovo and East Timor as nations in crisis, the contested nature of attendance at IFLA’s 2000 conference in Jerusalem, the imprisonment of Dickinson College librarian Song Yongyi by the Chinese government, and librarians "as a target of social disintegration" in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Byrne also devotes a section of this chapter to Internet-related issues, particularly in the wake of the USA PATRIOT Act, for which the IFLA/FAIFE issued a statement in 2003. As Byrne found in his review of the documents of these and other cases, "FAIFE’s experience over its first half decade of existence has countered the suggestion that library-related abrogation of intellectual freedom may be uncommon. A quite extensive list of incidents and issues has been generated through the work of IFLA/FAIFE. Their number and geographic distribution appear to be limited only by the capacity of the program to monitor, investigate, and respond."
In chapter 7, Byrne extends his discussion of individual cases by considering their meaning in relation to the concept of the right to information. According to the author, "IFLA/FAIFE’s focus on the supremacy of the right to information places its mission at the libertarian end of the spectrum, where the rights of individuals should prevail unless they need to be imposed ‘to prevent harm to others’." The limitations imposed on libraries, librarians, and individuals include censorship, privacy, and protection of others from "defamatory speech," as well as restricted access to information in the national interest. While the arguments presented here are succinct, if anything there is a shortcoming to Byrne’s discussion as he gives little reflection on the role that culture—and, in particular, local culture—has on questions of free access and free expression. Byrne only really touches upon this dimension of resistance to free access and free expression in a discussion of censorship and sexually explicit materials, where he observes similarity in underlying tensions regardless of tactic or technique used by those seeking to squelch free access and free expression. "The reasons for control are many, extending from protection of the vulnerable to defense of a regime," Byrne concludes. "The countervailing arguments in favor of diversity, pluralism, and the contention of ideas are based in a shared belief in the primacy of the fundamental rights to know and to enjoy intellectual freedom." Here one might wish for an expanded discussion of the ethos of nation-states or conflict between cultures as context for understanding limitations to intellectual freedom.
The final chapters provide readers with thoughtful reflections and conclusions on the meaning of incorporating human rights in IFLA. Chapter 8 relates the experience of IFLA to other international organizations in policy formation and geopolitical influence. Such organizations, ultimately, face constraints because of the "shared sense of purpose" of a profession, "which demands a degree of consensus and can be threatened by disharmony." Ultimately, IFLA and FAIFE situated human rights within its organizations the way that many international organizations, associations, and societies have done. Yet one must also raise an issue facing all international associations, to what extent are these ideas adopted globally, or do they represent a hegemonic shift on the part of Western countries to impose libertarian thought elsewhere in the world?
To some degree, this question is addressed in chapter 9, which is devoted to a discussion of professional powers and geopolitical boundaries. The possibility of applying broad concepts hammered out in an international committee poses an important challenge to the transnational definition of the role and function of a profession, especially one that is so closely associated with institutions as librarianship is. This is especially important when considering the knitting that binds members of a profession as found in core values and codes of ethics. "If the statements and codes are to be more than just pious expressions," Byrne concludes, "if they are to be adopted into a consistent habitus, then the professional bodies need to be able to demonstrate how they can be applied in practice."
The Politics of Promoting Freedom of Information and Expression in International Librarianship gives a firsthand view of IFLA at its most controversial turn in the development of FAIFE, as well as subsequent efforts to both form policy and respond to specific violations of free access and free expression. Arguably there are limitations to research presented by those so closely involved as the author. Byrne attempts to temper this through his use of action research to frame his study. This may prove to be a somewhat controversial use of the methodology, as it is unclear whether or not the author actually set out to document his work with FAIFE and IFLA in such a manner that is typically found using an action research frame. Nevertheless, his observations are useful and policy analysis insightful. He has opened up what hopefully will be a stream of research not only on IFLA/FAIFE but also on the policy and political dimensions of professional practice.—William C. Welburn, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.