The 20th century saw U.S. libraries move from a stance of screening materials and protecting readers, to one of advocating intellectual freedom—freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, and freedom of access to a broad spectrum of information. With the American Library Association’s adoption of the “Library Bill of Rights” in 1939 and its adoption of the “Freedom to Read” statement in 1953, support for principles of intellectual freedom became a core value of democratic librarianship. Fittingly, the theme of the very first issue of Alki—March 1985—was intellectual freedom; and articles on intellectual freedom and censorship have salted Alki’s contents throughout the journal’s life.
The March 2000 issue of Alki continues that tradition, and considers intellectual freedom principles from many perspectives, in school, public, and academic libraries, with library colleagues sharing their expertise about video ratings, unimpeded access to government information, plagiarism vs. borrowing, and the Internet battles popping up around the state. —The battle-scarred among you say you don’t believe that Internet filters have a funny side? Just check out Angelynn King’s “At the Frog ‘n’ Filter.”
Alki Editor: Carolynne Myall
Alki Editorial Committee: Sue Anderson; Kathleen Ardrey; Karen Diller; Nancy Huling; Cameron Johnson; Eva-Maria Lusk; Carla McLean; Nancy Schutz, intern; V. Louise Saylor, chair; Ginny Rabago, LINK editor
