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- Description
- Table of Contents
- About the authors
Providing valuable context, this volume presents a range of essays about the history and development of ALA's official documents on intellectual freedom.
Collecting several key documents and policy statements, this supplement to the tenth edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual traces a history of ALA's commitment to fighting censorship. Beginning with an introductory essay that chronicles ALA policy making on intellectual freedom, this important resource includes sections discussing such foundational issues as
- library advocacy on social and political issues, from post-World War I disarmament, to Vietnam-era protests, to the call to revisit the field’s rhetoric concerning neutrality;
- the evolution of the Library Bill of Rights, such as the 1978 revision that eliminated its use of sex-linked pronouns and ALA Council actions rescinding the 2018 interpretation on meeting rooms;
- protecting the freedom to read;
- diverse collections and equity, diversity, and inclusion, new to this edition;
- ALA’s complicated history on race, including a 1936 statement opposing discrimination, inaction amidst litigation to desegregate libraries in the 1950s and 1960s, and protests over Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law;
- ALA's Code of Ethics;
- how to respond to challenges and concerns about library resources;
- internet filtering, minors and online activity, and education and information literacy;
- programs and displays;
- policy on governmental intimidation;
- copyright; and
- privacy and confidentiality, including the retention of library usage records.
Examination copies are available for instructors who are interested in adopting this title for course use.
Introduction and User’s Guide
Part I: Intellectual Freedom and Libraries
1 ALA and Intellectual Freedom: A History of Policy Making
Part II: Essays on the History of Core
Intellectual Freedom Documents
2 Library Bill of Rights
3 Code of Ethics of the American Library Association
4 The Freedom to Read
5 Libraries: An American Value
Part III: Essays on the History of Interpretations, Guidelines, and Other Statements
6 Interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights and Code of Ethics of the American Library Association
7 Access to Digital Resources and Services
8 Access to Library Resources and Services for Minors
9 Access to Library Resources and Services Regardless of Sex, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, or Sexual Orientation
10 Access to Resources and Services in the School Library
11 Challenged Resources
12 Copyright
13 Creating Policy for Your Library—User Behavior and Library Use
14 Diverse Collections
15 Economic Barriers to Information Access
16 Education and Information Literacy
17 Equity, Diversity, Inclusion
18 Evaluating Library Collections
19 Expurgation of Library Resources
20 Guidelines for Library Policies
21 How to Respond to Challenges and Concerns about Library Resources
22 Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries
23 Internet Filtering
24 Labeling Systems
25 Library-Initiated Programs and Displays as a Resource
26 Meeting Rooms
27 Minors and Online Activity
28 Policy on Governmental Intimidation
29 Politics in American Libraries
30 Prisoners’ Right to Read
31 Privacy
32 Rating Systems
33 Religion in American Libraries
34 Resolution on the Retention of Library Usage Records
35 Resolution on Workplace Speech
36 Resolution to Protect Library Confidentiality in Self-Serve Hold Practices
37 Restricted Access to Library Materials
38 Services to People with Disabilities
39 The Universal Right to Free Expression
40 User-Generated Content in Library Discovery Systems
41 User-Initiated Exhibits, Displays, and Bulletin Boards
42 Visual and Performing Arts in Libraries
Subject Index to Essays
Index