June 29, 2006

College Librarian Cancels 'New York Times' Subscription in Protest

The chief librarian at the University of the Incarnate Word, a Roman Catholic institution in San Antonio, has canceled the library’s subscription to The New York Times to protest its decision to publish an article last week on the Bush administration’s use of an international banking database to track terrorists, a practice that also exposed the financial transactions of thousands of Americans unconnected to terrorist groups.

In an e-mail message to his staff on Wednesday, the university’s dean of library services, Mendell D. Morgan Jr., wrote that the Times article bordered on “treason” because the article disclosed information that would help terrorists and other enemies of the United States, according to today’s Express-News, a newspaper in San Antonio. He said canceling the subscription was a concrete way to protest the decision to publish the article, although he did not say if he would take similar action against the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal, which printed similar articles.

Some members of the library staff complained that Mr. Morgan was doing the opposite of what librarians should do, by censoring materials based on his personal views.

For its part, the university issued a statement saying that Mr. Morgan had the authority to spike the subscription. The university also said that it “is supportive of the First Amendment, a free press, and of the presentation of diverse points of view.”

Comments

1. A better reason to cancel a NY Times subscription is because of its annoying adverstisement pitched at selling to college students online access to its archives, as though most students wouldn’t be able to get it for free in one of the databases at their college library.

   — Stephen Francoeur    Jun 29, 03:41 PM    #

2. I can certainly understand why Mr. Morgan felt the way he did. The New York Times is profiteering from war in a shamelessly greedy, arrogant way that does real damage to the Country. Cancelling one’s personal subscription in response sounds very reasonable. Were I the head of the Library, however, I would have hesitated to cancel the Library’s subscription. Ellie Seiferth

   — ellie seiferth    Jun 29, 08:40 PM    #

3. It is rather sad that a librarian, of all people, would be arrogant enough to cancel a newspaper subscription for something HE believes to be incorrect in one article! This country is beginning to scare me with the number of self appointed protectors of the USA. When people finally wake up and realize how much big government has invaded every aspect of their lives, it will be too late. We will have new personalized tracking numbers attached to us by then. We will be no more enlightened than those we incorrectly assume are mislead in other countries run by tyrants.

   — Sandra D    Jun 30, 06:05 AM    #

4. Dean Morgan egregiously abused his authority in cancelling the library’s subscription to the NY Times because of the content of one of its articles. He also violated the profession’s ALA Code of Ethics by denying access to an important news source to library patrons. As a librarian, I am appalled and embarrassed that Dean Morgan shows so little regard for his profession and his patrons. Labeling the article as treasonous is a transparent attempt to justify the unjustifiable. I hope that he will be persuaded by his administration or by students and faculty of the rashness of his action, and reinstate the subscription.

   — Pat Tully    Jun 30, 08:30 AM    #

5. The Connecticut librarians who refused to disclose private library records were praised for protecting the rights of their patrons. I believe Mr. Morgan should likewise be praised for protecting the country and making a strong statement.

   — Donna Savino    Jun 30, 09:03 AM    #

6. If a library cancelled journals and newspapers every time a thin skinned librarian or patron disagreed with its content, we wouldn’t have any content to offer our users and patrons. I find his actions unethical and actually quite stupid.

   — Bill Drew    Jun 30, 11:00 AM    #

7. We had to cancel our subscription because we could no longer afford it (we provide online access and access to the Archive). Naturally, our cancellation did not get national news coverage…

   — Walt Lessun    Jun 30, 11:03 AM    #

8. A university library exists to provide research tools for the students and faculty. Any such library worth its name will have books and periodicals representing numerous disciplines and viewpoints. It seems to me that Dean Morgan’s actions strike at the very heart of the entire concept of freedom of inquiry. Rather than allowing the students and faculty at his institution the right to read, research, debate and make up their own minds, he is denying access to a major publication on the basis of his own political leanings. Following this theory, each academic library would contain only the material found poltically acceptable by its Director and none would be true to our professional standards or goals.

   — Bill Walker    Jun 30, 11:13 AM    #

9. I agree with many of the comments posted here. I know that in an age of e-journals (and newspapers) having the ‘print’ copy is not as important as it once was—but what disturbs me is the lack of regard to the long-term viability of this library’s collection. Was the online subscription/archive also canceled? Will the library be able to recover lost years worth of data when a new director decides to re-instate the NYT? Has all access to the NYT really been removed from campus (can’t students/teachers still read current issues online)? To me, this seems more like a publicity stunt by the library director to MAKE HIS OWN political statement—without much concern for his library or its users.

   — Megan F., MA, MLIS    Jun 30, 11:20 AM    #

10. Cheers to the real librarians at that college who stood up and protested Morgan’s arrogant and outrageous act of censorship.

    — Garet Nelson    Jun 30, 11:40 AM    #

11. It’s interesting that Mr. Morgan states, “”Since no one elected the New York Times to determine national security policy, the only action I know to register protest for their irresponsible action (treason?) is to withdraw support of their operations by canceling our subscription as many others are doing.” Notice Mr. Morgan says “I know” not “we know.” Who elected Mr. Morgan sole arbiter of what folks should read?? I’m a library director and officially have responsibility for what makes it into our collection. I take that responsibility VERY seriously and what Mr. Morgan has done is overstep here. Heaven knows there are perspectives expressed in our collection I don’t agree with and probably would think as strongly (and negatively) about as Mr. Morgan does the NYT … the irony is I may well be the one who chose them for the collection. This is such a clear illustration of censorship based on one person’s view … he didn’t even give the professional courtesy to his staff of discussing this with them before making the final decision. The university administration says they support the First Amendment and ” ... the presentation of diverse points of view” yet it is standing behind this decision to cancel the NYT from the university library’s holdings??? This is an incredibly irresponsible decision and if the university is to maintain any integrity it needs to reverse this decision (and enroll Mr. Morgan in a Censorship 101 course or send him to the next ALA Law for Librarians workshop). Mr. Morgan’s role is not to “protect” any of us.

    — Eric A. Kidwell    Jun 30, 11:43 AM    #

12. Another ethics class case at my public university: librarian sent a message to a newspaper by denying all the students in a school access to what is regarded by many as the newspaper of record in the United States. Maybe the students should not do the case – they all would be biased against the librarian and there would be no debate

    — Lee Richardson    Jun 30, 01:06 PM    #

13. Amazing that this man is able to embarrass himself, his library, his university, his religion, his profession and his country all at the same time!

    — paul wiener    Jun 30, 02:00 PM    #

14. It’s nothing more than a silly publicity stunt: his university still subscribes to the NYT through Proquest and Lexis-Nexis (among others).

    If he were trying to make a (silly, but) principled stance, he’d cancel his library’s subscription to Lexis-Nexis.

    I dare him.

    — JAW    Jun 30, 04:11 PM    #

15. Pity the man’s professional ethics got left behind in his zeal to to ram his personal political beliefs onto an entire campus.

    — Susan Lee    Jul 3, 08:44 PM    #

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