Public Librarians' Views on Collection Development and Censorship

ABSTRACT

This study was a survey of public librarians in Ohio who were responsible for collection development. The survey asked about collection development practices and intellectual freedom; the response rate was 43%. The majority of respondents had a master of library science, were female, were older than 45, and worked in a library for over ten years. Respondents were asked about pressure in collection development decisions, agreement with intellectual freedom statements, collection of hypothetical controversial items, and correspondence between personal beliefs and professional intellectual freedom statements. This survey indicates that, in general, librarians' actions reflect their belief in intellectual freedom.

KEYWORDS:

• Censorship
• collection development
• intellectual freedom
• public libraries
• qualitative research