Intellectual Freedom

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The Texas Library Association holds that the freedom to read is a corollary of the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press. Freedom of choice in selecting materials is a necessary safeguard to the freedom to read, and shall be protected against extra-legal, irresponsible attempts by self-appointed censors to abridge it. The Association believes that citizens shall have the right of free inquiry and the equally important right of forming their own opinions, and that it is of the utmost importance to the continued existence of democracy that freedom of the press in all forms of public communication be defended and preserved. The Texas Library Association subscribes in full to the principles set forth in the LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS of the American Library Association, Freedom to Read Statement, and interpretative statements adopted thereto. 

Intellectual Freedom Issues

USA Patriot Act

• http://www.fincen.gov/pa_main.html
• http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/ifissues/usapatriotact.htm

Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)

• http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cipa.html
• http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslissues/cipaandschoollib/cipaschoollibraries.htm

Banned Books

• American Civil Liberties Union of Texas
• Banned Books Online: Special exhibit of books that have been the objects of censorship
• Banned Book Week  (American Library Association)
• Censored Children's Books (California State Univ., Long Beach)
• Most Frequently Banned Books in the 1990s (Banned in the USA)
• X-Rated Children's Book Newsletter

Resources

TLA Intellectual Freedom Committee

ALA Intellectual Freedom website: http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/index.cfm