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American
Library Association Freedom to Read Statement
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The XYZ Public Library subscribes to the American Library Association
Freedom to Read Statement which follows:
American Library Association Freedom to Read Statement
| 1. |
It is in the public
interest for publishers and librarians to make available the
widest diversity of views and expressions, including those which
are unorthodox or unpopular with the majority. |
| 2. |
Publishers, librarians,
and booksellers do not need to endorse every idea or presentation
contained in the books they make available. It would conflict
with the public interest for them to establish their own political,
moral, or aesthetic views as a standard for determining what
books should be published or circulated. |
| 3. |
It is contrary to the
public interest for publishers or librarians to determine the
acceptability of a book on the basis of the personal history
or political affiliations of the author. |
| 4. |
There is no place in
our society for efforts to coerce the taste of others, to confine
adults to the reading matter deemed suitable for adolescents,
or to inhibit the efforts of writers to achieve artistic expression.
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| 5. |
It is not in the public
interest to force a reader to accept with any book the prejudgment
of a label characterizing the book or the author as subversive
or dangerous. |
| 6. |
It is the responsibility
of publishers and librarians, as guardians of the people’s
freedom to read, to contest encroachments upon that freedom
by individuals or groups seeking to impose their own standards
or tastes upon the community at large. |
| 7. |
It is the responsibility
of publishers and librarians to give full meaning to the freedom
to read by providing books that enrich the quality and diversity
of thought and expression. By the exercise of this affirmative
responsibility, they can demonstrate that the answer to a bad
book is a good one, the answer to a bad idea is a good one.
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