Promoting Intellectual Freedom Globally through Libraries: the Role of IFLA

Libraries have a vital role in the articulation and defence of the fundamental right of intellectual freedom, which is en-shrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Free and open libraries present a diversity of views, from both the present and the past. IFLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, has long promoted the improvement of access to and availability of information through its professional programs aimed at con-tinually raising standards of service. But IFLA members have come to see that the international library community needs to address the dimension of principle, the right of all to access the information needed to live and prosper and the inseparable right to express ideas and opinions. In response to that recognition, IFLA established the Committee on Fre