Adopted at 1975 Midwinter Meeting

WHEREAS one of the highest stated priorities of the 91´«Ã½ is intellectual freedom, and

WHEREAS the Association has explicitly recognized that a free press and free flow of information are essential to both an informed profession and citizenry, and

WHEREAS the Director of the Association's Washington Office on June 20, 1974, directly interfered with an American Libraries reporter's legitimate news-gathering activity, and

WHEREAS the Executive Director of the Association on June 24, 1974, ordered that the reporter be summarily dismissed for pursuing his investigation concerning NCLIS' obligation to conduct open meetings and permit public access to its files,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Action Council of the 91´«Ã½'s Social Responsibilities Round Table censures the Director of 91´«Ã½'s Washington Office and the 91´«Ã½ Executive Director for first discrediting and then summarily terminating American Libraries Washington correspondent, acts which undermined the pursuit of relevant and potentially vital information, constituted prior censorship of the magazine itself, denied the Association's membership access to data necessary for making informed judgments on professional policies and events, violated the Association's declared policy regarding intellectual freedom, and represented a dangerous, "chilling" precedent with respect to full and honest reportage in the very organ of an Association committed to candor and diversity.