Intellectual Freedom and Censorship

            The primary purpose of the school library is to provide access to information for its students through various media that represent a wide range of ideas and information.  Choosing which media to include in a library’s collection is the job of the school librarian.  Librarians must select age appropriate books based on subject, reading ability, and emotional and social development. Librarians need to be educated to handle their professional and legal responsibilities to protect the intellectual freedom and First Amendment rights of students and young adults.  They must be trained to ensure that students have free access to information and that the selection process for materials abides by the law.  It is not the responsibility of the school librarian to substitute their personal judgment for the readers’ or to impose their own beliefs on students.

                                   

The Library Bill of Rights (by the ALA) states that “material should not be excluded because of origin, background, or views of those contributing to their origin”.  It also claims that “libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues…materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval”.  Another right stated in the bill is that “libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment”.  The ALA claims that students have a “measure” of First Amendment rights and that the governments cannot censor materials unless they are “obscene, contain child pornography, or are harmful to minors”.  Censorship is defined by the ALA as “the suppression of ideas and information that certain persons…find objectionable or dangerous”.