Columbia College Chicago Library endorses and upholds the American Library Association’s (ALA) Library Bill of Rights, the 1953 Freedom to Read Statement, and Statement on Book Censorship. We resist all censorship efforts, including the banning of books; these acts are in conflict with the Columbia College Chicago mission "to educate students who will communicate creatively and shape the public’s perceptions of issues and events and who will author the culture of their times."
The Freedom to Read Statement asserts that this freedom "is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack…we, as individuals devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read."
In holding to the principles outlined in the ALA Book Censorship Statement, we too "are committed to defending the constitutional rights of all individuals, of all ages, to use the resources and services of libraries. We champion and defend the freedom to speak, the freedom to publish, and the freedom to read, as promised by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States."
"Library Bill of Rights," American Library Association, June 30, 2006. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill (Accessed February 2, 2024) Document ID: 669fd6a3-8939-3e54-7577-996a0a3f8952.
"ALA Statement on Book Censorship," American Library Association, November 29, 2021. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/statement-regarding-censorship (Accessed January 31, 2024) Document ID: 934d7bbb-ffb4-41e3-bcc1-43e6b032b1ce.
"The Freedom to Read Statement," American Library Association, July 26, 2006. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/freedomreadstatement (Accessed February 2, 2024) Document ID: aaac95d4-2988-0024-6573-10a5ce6b21b2.
CCC Collection Development Policy. https://library.colum.edu/about/policies/collection-development-policy
Updated: February 2, 2024
