|
« AAUP Homepage
|
AAUP Endorses Library Statements
At its November meeting, the Council of the AAUP endorsed "Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights," a statement written by the Association of College and Research Libraries as a supplement to the American Library Association’s (ALA) 1948 Library Bill of Rights and formally adopted by the ALA. The statement outlines ways in which academic libraries should protect intellectual freedom and develop "collections or services that dispassionately meet the education and research needs of a college or university community."
The Council also endorsed "The Freedom to Read," a revision of a joint statement of the ALA and the Association of American Publishers affirming the right of Americans to read freely. The statement says that the right to read is increasingly threatened both by outright censorship and the removal of books from schools and libraries and by the more insidious efforts of suppression brought through "pressure toward conformity," which leads to voluntary self-censorship by those who fear the consequences of speaking out.
|