Science plays an important, if not central role, in the profession's mission of enhancing human well-being. The benefits that flow from science do not emerge in a vacuum, but rather are contingent upon the existence of a specific value-based milieu. Included among these values are an academic discourse that: 1) supports the free expression of…

Applying a content warning to metadata and archival descriptions is a practice that libraries increasingly embrace, even though the American Library Association considers content labeling to be censorship under the Library Bill of Rights. The language used in a content warning, such as "offensive" or "harmful," carries…

In European universities, teaching ethics has acquired special relevance with the Bologna Process and changes in curriculum. In Spain, the White Book of the Degree in Information and Documentation incorporates ethics as a specific competence, through the combination of ethical, social, and legal content, as a transversal competence. In this…

In this paper, the authors address learning analytics and the ways academic libraries are beginning to participate in wider institutional learning analytics initiatives. Since there are moral issues associated with learning analytics, the authors consider how data mining practices run counter to ethical principles in the American Library…

In this article, the author states that school librarians can contribute to an atmosphere that supports intellectual freedom by drawing attention to the subtle messages about community values--messages that are communicated by virtue of what is included or excluded from curricular and co-curricular offerings. The author address issues with…

This paper discusses the value and importance of examples in Kantian terms, and how students can cultivate their moral disposition through the use of examples in education. It is argued that students should not just copy or imitate examples automatically, nor appraise them unreflectively and uncritically. They should instead be enabled to think…

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) is leading the charge to return "higher" to higher education. We are challenging the status quo to restore academic freedom, academic rigor, and real accountability to higher education. And, we are doing so with an ever-widening network of supporters and partners.

Building a personal learning network (PLN) for intellectual freedom has long been an important role of a school librarian; however, in the steadily increasing onslaught of digital information that librarians face today, and in the future, the task has become mission-critical. Personal learning, it stands to reason, requires an appropriate dialogue…

The author has been thinking about the kind of freedoms embodied in the idea of the library and the plight of the book that cannot find its reader. What can librarians do to help readers and books find one another in a world where money is going toward temporary access to corporate-controlled intellectual property? How can one liberate knowledge…

This article operates under the assumption that social studies teachers must teach for democracy, as democracy is not something that occurs or maintains without citizens who have the capacities and demeanors for democratic renewal and growth. In an effort to argue for a democratic ethos towards schooling in general, and for social studies teachers…

The growing use of social media by students and staff has led many schools to consider developing acceptable use policies. There is tremendous opportunity for improving education through the use of social media. There is also potential risk because social media can be used to access age inappropriate information and to engage in aggressive online…

Considering social justice to be founded on human rights, which, in turn, are grounded in freedom of thought, expression, and assembly, this essay reviews efforts by art educators to engage with public space as a form of social justice pedagogy. Public space, whether actual or virtual, is understood to be inherently devoted to contestation in the…

The very existence of pluralism and democratic societies is based on a commitment to certain values, since they do not keep their members in line by sheer force. Theoretically this means that antidemocratic values choices of large numbers of people would lead to the end of such societies. Thus a problem encountered by these societies is how to…

One's commitment to intellectual freedom is manifested not just in the creation of a strong and clear selection policy or the celebration of Banned Books Week but by his or her willingness to examine his or her practices openly with others. In this article, the author proposes four questions to explore in one's teaching and in professional…

Describes a college-level course that uses classic texts, such as Plato's "The Republic" and Thomas More's "Utopia," to consider concepts related to the "good society." Expands this initial approach to include consideration of a postmodernist perspective. This perspective encourages consideration of texts and ideas…