(IFLA/FAIFE/IFEX) – The following is a 4 October 2001 IFLA/FAIFE media release, followed by an IFLA statement on libraries and intellectual freedom: IFLA Statement on Terrorism, the Internet and Free Access to Information The recent terrorist attacks on New York and Washington shocked and appalled librarians and information professionals around the world. The loss of […]
(IFLA/FAIFE/IFEX) – The following is a 4 October 2001 IFLA/FAIFE media release, followed by an IFLA statement on libraries and intellectual freedom:
IFLA Statement on Terrorism, the Internet and Free Access to Information
The recent terrorist attacks on New York and Washington shocked and appalled librarians and information professionals around the world. The loss of life and destruction of facilities, including 80 libraries, horrify us. IFLA joins with our library colleagues and the people of the world in mourning the innocent victims and extend our deepest sympathy and support to the families and friends of victims, the survivors and others who have suffered.
Calls to restrict the core human rights to freedom of expression and free access to information are reported in the wake of these tragic events. It has been suggested that some of the suspected hijackers may have communicated with each other by using Internet services at public libraries. Terrorists are alleged to have used the World Wide Web to help plan their outrages. Such implications are being used to justify restrictions on free speech and freedom of information and increased surveillance.
But we have not heard the other side of the story. Use of Internet news sites doubled during the week after the attacks. Families and friends used email to check on the safety of their loved ones – across cities and across the world. Website operators responded to the thirst for news by bolstering their servers and increasing the frequency of updates. The result was that people throughout the world used websites and streaming audio and video feeds to get up to the minute information on the events and their aftermath.
This demonstrates the force of the ideal of free access to information and freedom of expression. It may be misused but it strengthens the peoples of the world.
The campaign against terrorism is to be won. A vital strategy is to safeguard the best access to information. Barriers to the free flow of information should be removed, especially those that promote inequality, poverty and despair.
The Chair of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee, Mr. Alex Byrne, said:
“We should build respect and understanding between the diverse cultures of the world. We should help construct communities where people of different backgrounds can live together as neighbors. Freedom is something for which we must fight, not by limiting it but by strengthening it.”
The commitment to intellectual freedom is a core responsibility for the library and information profession worldwide. Libraries have a responsibility to guarantee and facilitate access to expressions of knowledge and intellectual activity. To this end, libraries provide access without fear or favour. That openness is a safeguard of our freedoms. It cannot be limited without endangering those freedoms.
IFLA proclaims that the libraries and information profession of the world will respond to these tragic events by redoubling our efforts to see free access to information and freedom of expression worldwide.
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom
Statement prepared by IFLA/FAIFE and approved by The Executive Board of IFLA 25 March 1999, The Hague, Netherlands.
Alarabia, Balgarski, Bangla, Bosanski, Cesky, Chaltibhasa, Dansk, Deutsch, Español, Farsi, Français, Hangul, Hrvatski, Íslenska, Italiano, Kartuli, Lietuviskai, Magyar, Nederlands, Nihongo, Norsk, Polski, Português, Russkij, Shqip, Srpski, Suomeksi, Svenska, Tagalog, Tamil, Türkçe, Viet, Zhongwen (simplified), Zhongwen (traditional)
IFLA (The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) supports, defends and promotes intellectual freedom as defined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
IFLA declares that human beings have a fundamental right to access expressions of knowledge, creative thought and intellectual activity, and to express their views publicly.
IFLA believes that the right to know and freedom of expression are two aspects of the same principle. The right to know is a requirement for freedom of thought and conscience; freedom of thought and freedom of expression are necessary conditions for freedom of access to information.
IFLA asserts that a commitment to intellectual freedom is a core responsibility for the library and information profession.
IFLA therefore calls upon libraries and library staff to adhere to the principles of intellectual freedom, uninhibited access to information and freedom of expression and to recognize the privacy of library users.
IFLA urges its members actively to promote the acceptance and realization of these principles. In doing so, IFLA affirms that:
* Libraries provide access to information, ideas and works of imagination. They serve as gateways to knowledge, thought and culture.
* Libraries provide essential support for lifelong learning, independent decision-making and cultural development for both individuals and groups.
* Libraries contribute to the development and maintenance of intellectual freedom and help to safeguard basic democratic values and universal civil rights.
* Libraries have a responsibility both to guarantee and to facilitate access to expressions of knowledge and intellectual activity. To this end, libraries shall acquire, preserve and make available the widest variety of materials, reflecting the plurality and diversity of society.
* Libraries shall ensure that the selection and availability of library materials and services is governed by professional considerations and not by political, moral and religious views.
* Libraries shall acquire, organize and disseminate information freely and oppose any form of censorship.
* Libraries shall make materials, facilities and services equally accessible to all users. There shall be no discrimination due to race, creed, gender, age or for any other reason.
* Library users shall have the right to personal privacy and anonymity. Librarians and other library staff shall not disclose the identity of users or the materials they use to a third party.
* Libraries funded from public sources and to which the public have access shall uphold the principles of intellectual freedom.
* Librarians and other employees in such libraries have a duty to uphold those principles.
* Librarians and other professional libraries staff shall fulfill their responsibilities both to their employer and to their users. In cases of conflict between those responsibilities, the duty towards the user shall take precedence.
