The Perfect Unbiased Librarians

I question if there is such specie as unbiased librarians?  Every one of us was brought up with certain values and beliefs.  Things we learned along the way could be educational or brainwashing.  As we grow older, our experiences in our passed years give us more insight about what life should be or ought to be.  We bring all these “tools” and “baggages” in life with us into the profession as we become librarians.  One of our new objectives is now setting aside many of our beliefs and values and become neutral to our users.  Is it possible to do?  I think it is doable but it’s not going to be all easy.  There will be time when conflicts and ambiguities occur while dealing with our users.  Pro-life medical librarians help Pro-choice patrons with pro-abortion issues and vise versa.  Christian public librarians help patrons with witchcraft and black magic studies.  Muslim law librarians help gay patrons with gay marriage rights issues.  Here is the best one.  Any librarian helps patrons who are seeking information on pro-censorship materials.  It is not too hard to put aside our personal beliefs for a short moment, but if we spend too little time and give too little information to our “controversial” users, are we then denying their rights to information access?  How much information we provide to them is enough information in order to be considered unbiased?  It’s not easy to find the balance.  I think we all should do our best.  Should any librarian feel strongly about certain issue and truly cannot help the patron, then he or she has an obligation to find another librarian who can assist this patron.  We all have our beliefs and values.  We all have obligations to our patrons.  We must understand that providing the information to the patron does not equivalent to our condolence of what the patron is going to do with the information.  Everyone is given free choices to make decisions in their lives and that include our patrons.  Gun makers are not responsible for murderers’ heinous acts.  Car makers and wineries are not responsible for drunk driving.  Why are the librarians so concerned with the information we provide to our patrons?  Unless the information we provide can cause immediate harm to the patron and the persons around us, I say let go and be all the librarian you can be.   

PS. I just want to clarify that when I said “Unless the information we provide can cause immediate harm to the patron and the persons around us.”  I mean for example if someone comes into the library with a gun and says that he wishes to kill the director of the library and wants to know where his office is.  I believe I have a duty not to provide him such information (I probably would lie to him) because he has made his intention known to cause harm to the director.  I didn’t mean to censor any information that  the patron might use to do harm to others.  I meant in a clear cut, in your face kind of the situation.  Thanks.