The Origins of the Freedom to Read Foundation: Public Librarians' Campaign to Establish a Legal Defense against Library Censorship

Abstract

This article examines public librarians' experiences with attempted censorship, including their dismay, anger, and disappointment with fellow librarians and their professional organizations, which those under attack found apathetic in safeguarding user rights and protecting their jobs as library professionals. Some of these librarians became the activists who campaigned for the creation of the American Library Association's (ALA) legal defense machinery, along with other primarily young progressive librarians, who pushed forward their own agenda. This study highlights these public librarians' struggles, which made the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) and ALA leading professional organizations in championing intellectual freedom. The study focuses on cases that shaped ALA's policy that led to the establishment of a defense mechanism for librarians in the late 1960s and 1970s. It also examines the extent to which ALA upheld the organization's professional credo and its members' rights.

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