Your Freedom To Read

The Intellectual Freedom Committee of the American Library Association first published the Library Bill of Rights in 1939, with its most recent revision in 2019. Its words still guide libraries and publishers today as we work to ensure free and uncensored access to information. The American Library Association also celebrates Banned Books Week each fall to bring awareness to issues regarding your rights and responsibilities as a reader and user of libraries. This year, Lee’s Summit North is celebrating Banned Books Week across the first two weeks of October. Swing by the library to view information about censorship, book challenges, and your rights and responsibilities as a reader.

Below, read the full text of The Library Bill of Rights. You can find the full text at this link, and for further reading and understanding check out the ALA’s Freedom to Read Statement and the Banned Books Week information site.

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.
I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.
VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.
VII. All people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about, and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information.

Adopted June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; January 29, 2019.
Inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996.