The American Library Association's (ALA's) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) strives to educate librarians and the public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries, and it will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2017. Libraries are a forum for information and ideas (under the First Amendment), and librarians are…

Building a personal learning network (PLN) for intellectual freedom has long been an important role of a school librarian; however, in the steadily increasing onslaught of digital information that librarians face today, and in the future, the task has become mission-critical. Personal learning, it stands to reason, requires an appropriate dialogue…

The controversy involving the challenge and possible banning of books has existed since the first person set pen to paper. These challenges have historically been based upon political and religious differences, but as time has passed, have become increasingly more to do with sex, race and culture. With these issues facing libraries, the role of…

Libraries throughout the world are increasingly involved in the production of scholarly publications. Much of this has been thanks to the growth of open access (OA) publishing in all its forms, from peer-reviewed "gold" journals to "green" self-archiving, and electronic theses and dissertation (ETD) repositories. As a result, more and more of the…

Outlines the history of censorship and intellectual and expressive freedom in American libraries; discusses the two main types of ethical theory, utilitarianism and deontology; and maintains that libraries have a special role to play in promoting unconditional intellectual freedom. (Author/LRW)

Reports on the American Library Association's 2002 annual conference in Atlanta. Topics include incoming president Mitch Freedman's initiative to improve librarian salaries; author presentations; new technology, especially Amazon.com, and the library's role; ALA politics; intellectual freedom issues; salaries and recruiting; interoperability; and…

An explicit, nondiscriminatory code of conduct that is based on due process standards, and the enforcement of relevant laws can constitutionally address offensive behavior problems in libraries. (AEF)

Asserts that there is a tension between the idea that society is composed of free, rational beings and the view that one group should set themselves up as arbiters for what others should read. Discusses parental rights and the role of parents in determining what books are suitable for children. (CFR)

This paper is a biographical essay on Vartan Gregorian, appointed president of Carnegie Corporation in 1997. The focus of the research is on Vartan Gregorian's accomplishments as an educator, as provost of the University of Pennsylvania, as director and president of the New York Public Library, and, most recently, as the president of Brown…