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Libraries: First Amendment Battlefields

Libraries strive to provide access to accurate information about myriad subjects to many diverse communities. Controversy is almost inevitable.

Disputes sometimes arise when individuals or groups with opposing views feel that libraries are not serving their needs. They may disagree with information that the library disseminates.

More heated confrontations may occur when public libraries provide information about controversial subjects, allow access to potentially objectionable information, or permit polarizing groups to use their facilities to meet.
Libraries: First Amendment Battlefields
“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

- William Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
A Marketplace of Ideas:
First Amendment Bastions
First Amendment Battlefields
The First Amendment