Primer Of Intellectual Freedom

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Featuring case studies and questions for further study and inquiry in each major chapter, this book introduces the key concept of intellectual freedom to those about to enter the profession, providing a concise overview of principles, ongoing and current debates, and best practices. Enshrined in the mission statement of ALA, intellectual freedom is one of the core values of the information professions. The importance of ensuring information access to all, and the historical, social, and legal foundations of this commitment, are powerfully explored in this essential primer. Designed to function as both an introductory text for LIS students as well as a complementary resource for current professionals, this book provides a cohesive, holistic perspective on intellectual freedom. Extending beyond censorship to encompass such timely and urgent topics as hate speech and social justice, from this book readers will gain an understanding of the historical and legal roots of intellectual freedom, with an in-depth examination of John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" and Article 19 of the U.N Declaration of Human Rights, and its central concepts and principles; the intersection of intellectual freedom, freedom of expression, and social justice; professional values, codes of ethics, ALA's Library Bill of Rights, and Freedom to Read/View Statements; pro- and anti- censorship arguments and their use in impeding and facilitating access to information; book banning and internet filtering; privacy and its relationship to information services; U.S. case law and precedents; the basics of U.S. copyright law, including fair use, and how it differs from international copyright law; and emerging global issues and their impact on future intellectual freedom.

Enshrined in the mission statement of ALA, intellectual freedom is one of the core values of the information professions. The importance of ensuring information access to all, and the historical, social, and legal foundations of this commitment, are powerfully explored in this essential primer. Designed to function as both an introductory text for LIS students as well as a complementary resource for current professionals, this book provides a cohesive, holistic perspective on intellectual freedom. Extending beyond censorship to encompass such timely and urgent topics as hate speech and social justice, from this book readers will gain an understanding of the historical and legal roots of intellectual freedom, with an in-depth examination of John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty” and Article 19 of the U.N Declaration of Human Rights, and its central concepts and principles; the intersection of intellectual freedom, freedom of expression, and social justice; professional values, codes of ethics, ALA’s Library Bill of Rights, and Freedom to Read/View Statements; pro- and anti- censorship arguments and their use in impeding and facilitating access to information; book banning and internet filtering; privacy and its relationship to information services; U.S. case law and precedents; the basics of U.S. copyright law, including fair use, and how it differs from international copyright law; and emerging global issues and their impact on future intellectual freedom.

William Terry Couch (1901–1988) began his four-decade publishing career building the University of North Carolina Press into one of the nation’s leading university presses. His editorial attacks on the social ills of the South earned him a reputation as a southern liberal. By the 1940s, his disaffection with New Deal politics turned him toward the right, resulting in his 1950 firing as director of the University of Chicago Press. As a conservative, Couch sought books and articles that would sway general readers from what he saw as an intellectual torpor that accepted the growing role of government in American life. The liberals who controlled the presses found him dogmatic and irascible. When he tried to turn Collier’s Encyclopedia into a journal of conservative opinion, he was fired as editor in chief in 1959. He ended his career as publisher for the libertarian William Volker Fund, which collapsed in the 1960s under charges of Nazism. Couch was committed to publishing as a social cause and strove to disturb American complacency. This is the first book-length biography of Couch—a publisher who brought academic scholarship to the reading public to effect social, political and economic change.