Outdated and Irrelevant? Rethinking the Library Bill of Rights

Abstract

Adopted in 1948, the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights represents an effort to codify a set of basic principles upon which all library services should ideally be founded. Since its inception, through a number of reassessments and revisions, it has evolved into an open challenge to librarians across the country to battle relentlessly against censorship, and to protect and promote our First Amendment rights. But a recent national survey indicates that it is a challenge we are failing to meet, a battle many of us seem no longer interested in fighting.