Policies - Policy Manual
CRESTON PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ORGANIZATION AND POLICY MANUAL
3.4 Library Materials
Statement on Intellectual Freedom
Every person in Canada has the fundamental right, as embodied in the (Canadian Charter of Rights), to have access to all expressions of knowledge, creativity and intellectual activity, and to express his thoughts publicly. This right to intellectual freedom is essential to the health and development of Canadian society.
Libraries have a basic responsibility for the development and maintenance of intellectual freedom.
It is the responsibility of libraries to guarantee and facilitate access to all expressions of knowledge and intellectual activity including those which some elements of society may consider to be unconventional, unpopular or unacceptable. To this end, libraries shall acquire and make available the widest variety of materials.
It is the responsibility of libraries to guarantee the right of free expression by making available all the library's public facilities and services to all individuals and groups.
Libraries should resist all efforts to limit the exercise of these responsibilities while recognizing the right of criticism by individuals and groups.
Both employees and employers in libraries have a duty in addition to their institutional responsibilities, to uphold these principles.
CANADIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
a. - It is the overall goal of the library to provide a selection of material in whatever form which conforms to the interests and the needs of the community and which fulfills policy objectives.
b. - As interest and needs of the community emerge so will the collection evolve until the subject coverage of the collection is sufficiently broad to meet basic educational, informational and recreational needs and is sufficiently specific to meet individual needs.
c. - It is the Board's intention to provide a highly selective collection which serves to introduce and define the subject and to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere. In general purchase of highly technical and specialized materials which fulfill academic or research needs, as well as very ephemeral or trivial materials, is beyond the scope of the library's collection. However, every effort will be made to supply materials required by library patrons within the limits defined by this policy.
d. - The ultimate responsibility for materials selection rests with the Board which delegates the task of selection to the Chief Librarian.
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