Teaching Intellectual Freedom

Attempts to censor library materials and services are on the rise, with new data indicating that it ties most of library censorship to organized campaigns. The American Library Association (ALA), the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, and their ALA affiliates recognize that the education of librarians about intellectual freedom is important in defending First Amendment rights. A dominant response to the need for teaching about intellectual freedom in libraries invokes a critical inquiry into library and information science content and pedagogy used in intellectual freedom teaching and learning as an authentic expression of protecting legal rights to give and receive information. The voices of enrolled students in a new intellectual freedom course at Emporia State University, School of Library and Information Management, are authentic expressions of their new awareness of how policy and law are central to effective education, communication, and efforts to unite and protect the freedom to read and support library workers at a critical time in American history. The Unite Against Book Ban campaign and Law for Librarians and Lawyers for Libraries (L4L) programs are highlighted in their active pursuit to provide excellent educational opportunities and resources, and as examples of pedagogical and curricular resources for intellectual freedom education.