RCLS Professional Collection: Intellectual Freedom

Intellectual freedom is a complex concept that democracies and free societies around the world define in different ways but always strive to uphold. And ALA has long recognized the crucial role that libraries play in protecting this right. But what does it mean in practice? How do library workers handle the ethical conundrums that often accompany the commitment to defending it? Rather than merely laying out abstract policies and best practices, this important new collection gathers real-world stories of intellectual freedom in action to illuminate the difficulties, triumphs, and occasional setbacks of advocating for free and equal access to information for all people in a shifting landscape. Offering insight to LIS students and current practitioners on how we can advance the profession of librarianship while fighting censorship and other challenges, these personal narratives explore such formidable situations as presenting drag queen story times in rural America; a Black Lives Matter "die-in" at the undergraduate library of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; combating censorship at a prison library; hosting a moderated talk about threats to modern democracy that included a neo-Nazi spokesman; a provocative exhibition that triggered intimidating phone calls, emails, and a threat to burn down an art library; calls to eliminate non-Indigenous children's literature from the collection of a tribal college library; and preserving patrons' right to privacy in the face of an FBI subpoena. These stories provide a rich platform for debate and introspection by sharing real-world examples that library staff, administrators, board members, and students can consider and discuss.

All librarians and library and information science scholars can benefit from learning more about intellectual freedom. This book relies on research and practical real-world scenarios to conceptualize and contextualize it. Practicing Intellectual Freedom in Libraries is helpful for a wide range of people, from those only starting to learn about intellectual freedom to those more well-versed in the subject. For novices, it offers a solid introduction to intellectual freedom, grounded theoretically and empirically; for more experienced scholars and librarians, it provides a uniquely comprehensive analysis of intellectual freedom. Intellectual freedom is important for librarians because it is a foundation of the profession and is truly central to librarianship in the United States. Situating intellectual freedom within freedom of speech theories, this book explains the legal and theoretical foundations for contemporary understandings of intellectual freedom within library science. Additionally, it depicts the importance of community to implementing intellectual freedom and exemplifies this importance in a discussion of actual library practices. Real-world scenarios provide a timely look at intellectual freedom in context, discussing Internet filtering, collection development and weeding, meeting rooms and exhibit spaces, programming, and fake news and misinformation. Learn to apply intellectual freedom to your librarianship Develop a deeper understanding of the legal and theoretical bases for intellectual freedom in the United States Understand the theoretical and empirical foundations of intellectual freedom Grasp how an institution's community affects the interpretation and application of intellectual freedom