SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY

Mission Statement

Respond to the information needs of San Diego's diverse communities.

Ensure equal access to local, national, and global resources.

Anticipate and address the educational, cultural, business, and recreational interests of the public.

Develop and provide welcoming environments.

The San Diego Public Library endorses and supports the Freedom to Read and Freedom to View statements adopted by the Council of the American Library Association.

FREEDOM TO READ

1. It is in the public interest for publishers and librarians to make available the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those which are unorthodox or unpopular with the majority.
2. Publishers, librarians and booksellers do not need to endorse every idea or presentation contained in the books they make available. It would conflict with the public interest for them to establish their own political, moral or aesthetic views as a standard for determining what books should be published or circulated.
3. It is contrary to the public interest for publishers to determine the acceptability of a book on the basis of the personal history or political affiliations of the author.
4. There is no place in our society for efforts to coerce the taste of others, to confine adults to the reading matter deemed suitable for adolescents, or to inhibit the efforts of writers to achieve artistic expression.
5. It is not in the public interest to force a reader to accept with any book the prejudgment of a label characterizing the book or author as subversive or dangerous.
6. It is the responsibility of publishers and librarians, as guardians of the people's freedom to read, to contest encroachments upon that freedom to read by individuals or groups seeking to impose their own standards or taste upon the community at large.
7. It is the responsibility of publishers and librarians to give full meaning to the freedom to read by providing books that enrich the quality and diversity of thought and expression. By the exercise of this affirmative responsibility, they can demonstrate that the answer to a bad book is a good one, the answer to a bad idea is a good one.

FREEDOM TO VIEW

1. It is in the public interest to provide the broadest possible access to films and other audiovisual materials because they have proven to be among the most effective means for the communication of ideas. Liberty of circulation is essential to insure the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression.
2. It is in the public interest to provide for our audiences films and other audiovisual materials which represent a diversity of views and expressions. Selection of a work does not constitute or imply agreement with or approval of the content.
3. It is our professional responsibility to resist the constraint of labeling or prejudging a film on the basis of the moral, religious or political beliefs of the producer or filmmaker or on the basis of controversial content.
4. It is our professional responsibility to contest vigorously, by all lawful means, every encroachment upon the public's freedom to view.

The San Diego Public Library endorses and supports the Library Bill of Rights adopted by the Council of the American Library Association.

LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS

1. The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.
2. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
3. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
4. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
5. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
6. A person's right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.
7. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

Adopted June 18, 1948; amended February 2, 1961, and January 23, 1980, by the ALA Council.

 

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