Collection Development and Intellectual Freedom

All librarians have the responsibility to uphold intellectual freedom--the right of people to access and use information.  This right is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.  

It has been said that a good library will have something to offend everyone, and this is true.  People sometimes get upset by material that the library owns.  Often this is because the material deals with sexuality in a way that makes the person uncomfortable, but there are many other reasons.  For example, someone may object to the political or religious opinions expressed by a book.  Someone may feel that a magazine article promotes a social practice, such as drug abuse, abortion or violence.  The Internet, which is a medium completely uncontrolled for content, brings many kinds of information into a library, which the library would never have purchased itself.  Some of this information is extremely valuable; some is also offensive to many or even most people in the community.

The problem is that everyone's standards differ.  So who will decide what should be eliminated?  The library may look to state obscenity laws and laws regarding materials harmful to minors for some guidance, but such statutes are often vague and open to considerable interpretation.  In general librarians have believed that it is best to allow adults to choose for themselves, and for parents to make decisions as they see fit for their children.  Thus, while libraries generally do not buy materials in clear violation of obscenity laws (the exception is some university libraries which acquire these materials as cultural artifacts), they have a wide range of materials, some of which may be offensive to some community members. 

For many years it has been one of the primary ethical tenets of the library profession to protect people's right to read and view information.  Many library collection development policies refer to the American Library Association's (ALA) Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement, as well as other ALA statements on intellectual freedom.  Before going further, please read these statements.  (You will need to click on the back arrow when you are done to return to this document.)

In recent years the use of the ALA statements on intellectual freedom have become somewhat controversial, but they represent the best thinking of librarians on these issues over the last half century.  Whether you choose to mention the statements in your collection development policy or not is up to you and your governing body, but your collection development policy should state that the library will uphold its users' right to access and use a variety of information and materials, including information or materials that might be controversial to other people.