Gateways to Freedom: Libraries and the New Millennium
The Index on Censorship, founded in the conviction that freedom of speech, along with the allied freedoms of conscience and religion, are fundamental human rights that the world community has a duty to guard, reports regularly on censorship in every issue of the magazine. After a brief survey of classic censorship, the author points out that the concentration of ownership in the media has affected the extent to which minorities are heard. For any concept of human rights to be universally accepted and globally enforced, equal respect and mutual comprehension between rival cultures is demanded. Hate speech, political correctness and the dangers of making exceptions to the absolute right to free speech are covered. The author concludes with the role the library has in supporting and disseminating the importance of free expression. Libraries can be places where 1) dialogue takes place; 2) the diversity of cultural lives is displayed; 3) the right to choose is pre-eminent; 4) people can be guided through information which some might find offensive; and 5) freedom of expression is taught and people are encouraged to know their own rights.
© 2000 by K. G. Saur Verlag GmbH & Co KG, Federal Republic of Germany
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Editorial: 50th volume of LIBRI
- Introduction
- Gateways to Freedom: Libraries and the New Millennium
- Collection Management of Gay/Lesbian Materials in the U.K. and Canada
- Media Rating Schemes: Industry Self-Defense/Regulation, Useful for or Useable by Libraries?
- The Efforts of the European Union to Harmonise Copyright and the Impact on Freedom of Information
- The Influence of Attitudes on Public Library Stock Management Practise
- Obscenity on the Internet: a Challenge to Intellectual Freedom in the United States
- Promoting Intellectual Freedom Globally through Libraries: the Role of IFLA
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Editorial: 50th volume of LIBRI
- Introduction
- Gateways to Freedom: Libraries and the New Millennium
- Collection Management of Gay/Lesbian Materials in the U.K. and Canada
- Media Rating Schemes: Industry Self-Defense/Regulation, Useful for or Useable by Libraries?
- The Efforts of the European Union to Harmonise Copyright and the Impact on Freedom of Information
- The Influence of Attitudes on Public Library Stock Management Practise
- Obscenity on the Internet: a Challenge to Intellectual Freedom in the United States
- Promoting Intellectual Freedom Globally through Libraries: the Role of IFLA
