Intellectual Freedom at the Library
Sonoma County Library is committed to protecting and defending intellectual freedom across our collections, programs, and spaces.
Libraries are facing increasing intellectual freedom challenges on a wide range of issues, not only with physical materials like books and movies, but also with programs, e-content, Internet access, room bookings, and exhibits. Intellectual freedom challenges can limit access to information, suppress civic engagement, and silence voices, especially those of more marginalized communities. These challenges are coming from all sides of the political and social spectrum.
Your public library is a defender of intellectual freedom every day of the year. We support the First Amendment right of every patron to seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. We believe that access to a wide variety of ideas, information, opinions, perspectives, and stories helps create a more informed, empathetic, and curious community.
What Is Intellectual Freedom?
Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause, or movement may be explored (American Library Association).
Here's what we are doing to protect your intellectual freedom:
We've Joined the Book Sanctuary Movement
We are proud to join the Book Sanctuary movement, declaring all of our spaces as Book Sanctuaries. A Book Sanctuary is a physical or digital space that actively protects the freedom to read. Simply put, whether in our libraries or online, we are a safe space for all stories and ideas.
Launched by Chicago Public Library in 2022, the Book Sanctuary initiative brings attention to challenged titles and commits to making these books accessible.
In 2024, the Sonoma County Library Commission passed a resolution declaring the library as a Book Sanctuary. This resolution reaffirms the library’s support of intellectual freedom and opposition to book bans in any form. Join us in celebrating the freedom to read!
We’ve Expanded Our Programming and Outreach
We are committed to protecting intellectual freedom with programming and outreach at Sonoma County Library. Libraries are not neutral, though we strive to be nonpartisan. We are continuously creating programming that is designed to be inclusive, with a focus on racial equity, social justice, and cultural responsiveness. Our programming supports community resiliency by addressing economic, social, and cultural impacts of recent crises. Sonoma County Library engages in targeted outreach to underserved and marginalized communities, ensuring they are aware of and can benefit from library programs. We encourage our communities to learn from one another and we strive to provide programming that offers opportunities to think, question, and participate.
We've Expanded Our Collection
We provide a broad and balanced public library collection covering many subjects, multiple titles on a subject, and a broad range of viewpoints on a subject. We curate a diverse collection that contains content by and about a wide array of people and cultures to authentically reflect a variety of ideas, information, stories, and experiences. While we are limited to purchasing what is available in the marketplace, we are vigilant and assertive in continually seeking out alternative voices. We understand outright censorship need not be in play to silence a viewpoint. Protecting intellectual freedom also means supporting those who are silenced and seeing how our systems tend to favor certain ideas over others.
Given the diverse nature of the library's collection, not all materials will be suitable for all patrons. Patrons should feel free to explore any and all ideas in order to decide which are meaningful to them. Public libraries contain materials that some patrons may find objectionable and may lack materials that some patrons feel are important. Sonoma County Library endorses the principles documented in the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, Freedom to Read, and Freedom to View statements.
We're Raising Awareness and Giving You More Insight
The library strives to ensure transparency in everything we do. We consistently apply the principles of intellectual freedom across all of our collections, programs, policies, and spaces.
Find out more about the basic principles that guide our work around intellectual freedom:
