{"id":5478,"date":"2025-07-25T12:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/?p=5478"},"modified":"2025-07-03T15:14:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T21:14:55","slug":"our-freedom-to-read-and-why-its-important-pt-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/2025\/07\/25\/our-freedom-to-read-and-why-its-important-pt-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Freedom to Read and Why It&#8217;s Important &#8211; Patrons"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"675\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Freedom-to-Read-Challenged-Books-Facebook-Cover-4-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5511\" style=\"width:778px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Freedom-to-Read-Challenged-Books-Facebook-Cover-4-1.jpg 675w, https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Freedom-to-Read-Challenged-Books-Facebook-Cover-4-1-300x140.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What do library patrons need to know about freedom to read?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe freedom to choose what we read does not, however, include the freedom to choose for others.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite> Canadian School Libraries Association<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Freedom to read gives everyone the right to think for themselves. It respects individual dignity and self-rule. This freedom allows people to form their own ideas and opinions by questioning the world around them. Every person has the right to access information from all points of view, in all formats, without restriction, and have their privacy respected when doing so. Protection of this freedom assures every person\u2019s right to form their own ideas and opinions (Censorship Q&amp;A, American Library Association, n.d.).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Libraries have a responsibility to facilitate access to materials, programming, and spaces that support, defend, and promote the full range of knowledge, imagination, ideas, and opinion. Only the courts can abridge the rights of Canadian citizens to free expression and their freedom to read (Canadian Federation of Library Associations, 2019).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Parents\/Guardians of minors have a responsibility to monitor and guide their own children\u2019s library selections and the programs they attend. It\u2019s the role of libraries to provide resources and programming to meet the needs and interests of many kinds of patrons and families, not to censor what materials every child\/teen has access to.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do you have library policies\/procedures about Freedom of Expression? Share this and\/or your collections policy with patrons and (calmly) discuss how the policy protects everyone\u2019s freedom to read what they like (including theirs).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Libraries of all kinds are currently facing a reactionary book-banning movement from a small, but loud minority. This movement seeks to restrict the right to access information from all points of view, in all formats, of all individuals. If patrons would like to show support for their local libraries and their staff, they can fill out a <a href=\"https:\/\/prl.ab.ca\/about-us\/advocacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cBecause of the Library\u201d webform by scrolling to the bottom of this page.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If patrons are looking for other ways they can support libraries in the fight against censorship, there are a whole host of ideas listed in this <a href=\"https:\/\/bookriot.com\/56-small-tasks-to-be-proactive-against-book-censorship-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BookRiot article.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Additional Resources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cfla-fcab.ca\/en\/guidelines-and-position-papers\/statement-on-intellectual-freedom-and-libraries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CFLA\u2019s Statement on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.freedomtoread.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Freedom to Read Week <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cfe.torontomu.ca\/databases\/canadian-library-challenges-database\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Centre for Free Expression\u2019s Canadian Library Challenges Database <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cfe.torontomu.ca\/databases\/library-policies-database\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Centre for Free Expression\u2019s Library Policies Database<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.calgarylibrary.ca\/about-the-library\/library-board\/board-policies\/intellectual-freedom-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Calgary Public Library\u2019s Intellectual Freedom Policy <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ala.org\/advocacy\/intfreedom\/censorship\/faq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ALA\u2019s Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q &amp; A <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/libraryfreedom.org\/resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Library Freedom Project\u2019s Intellectual Freedom Talking Points and Messages <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ala.org\/tools\/challengesupport\/respond\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ALA\u2019s How to Respond to Challenges and Concerns about Library Materials <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ala.org\/bbooks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ALA\u2019s Banned and Challenged Books website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/librarianship.ca\/news\/cfla-guidance-notices-of-personal-liability\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CFLA Issues Guidance on Responding to &#8220;Notices of Personal Liability&#8221; &#8211; Librarianship.ca<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ALA&#8217;s <em>Intellectual Freedom Manual (2021), Tenth Edition, edited by Martin Garnar<\/em> (available for borrowing from Parkland&#8217;s Reference Collection)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What do library patrons need to know about freedom to read? \u201cThe freedom to choose what we read does not, however, include the freedom to choose for others.\u201d Canadian School Libraries Association Additional Resources CFLA\u2019s Statement on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries National Freedom to Read Week Centre for Free Expression\u2019s &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,34,86,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-collection-development","category-library-management","category-professional-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5478"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5536,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5478\/revisions\/5536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.prl.ab.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}