Toward Ideology and Autonomy: The American Library Association's Response to Threats to Intellectual Freedom, 1939-1969

This study traces the response of the American Library Association (ALA) to threats to its position on intellectual freedom in the years from the adoption of the Library's Bill of Rights in 1939 to the incorporation of the Freedom to Read Foundation in 1969. It explores the relationship of ALA's response to events threatening intellectual freedom to the development of the assumption of intellectual freedom as a basic tenet of librarianship as a profession. The study's purpose is to identify events which posed threats to intellectual freedom; to trace ALA's response to those threats; to gauge, by members' response to ALA actions, the degree to which the actions were accepted as articulating a professional ideology; add to analyze the extent to which, by 1969, intellectual freedom had become an integral part of the ideology of professional librarianship. Primary sources include the ALA Archives at the University of Illinois, the David K. Berninghausen Papers at the University of Minnesota, the A.L.A. Bulletin, Wilson Library Bulletin, Library Journal, and the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom. Official statements on intellectual freedom were identified and these sources were examined for discussions of the external events or trends that precipitated statements, for discussions of the development of intellectual freedom statements, and for evidence of intellectual freedom as an accepted professional ideology. Secondary sources include general and library histories of the period, studies of censorship or intellectual freedom generally, and studies of professions. Data from primary unpublished sources have been corroborated whenever possible. Published primary sources have been used both to establish official action taken by the ALA IFC and Council and to judge membership response to that action. Both accuracy of fact and preponderance of opinion have been evaluated. A timeline graphically juxtaposes external events with ALA responses. The study reveals that by responding to threats to its position on intellectual freedom, ALA helped to protect the autonomy of librarians and to define the social role of the library and thereby helped to define librarianship as a profession.