The text of Libraries: An American Value is published in the Intellectual Freedom Manual, ninth edition (2015), part I, chapter 2, and on the ALA website.
Libraries: An American Value is intended to inform the public about a library’s role in the community, particularly in the face of accelerating change and uncertainty. It was the first major intellectual freedom policy adopted by the ALA in nearly twenty years, and it was the first one available for distribution and discussion via the Internet and e-mail.
In 1997 ALA President-Elect Ann K. Symons asked her organizing committee to explore writing a new basic policy for the ALA. The first step was to determine the purpose of the policy and its relation to existing policies, such as the Library Bill of Rights, The Freedom to Read statement, and the Code of Ethics. The committee, chaired by June Pinnell-Stephens, met with ALA members at the 1998 Midwinter Meeting, where discussion centered on the need to reaffirm intellectual freedom principles and the democratic mandates on which they are based in the face of the changing legal, technical, and political environment. The participants agreed that a new document should contain the library’s implicit contract with the community and that the primary difference between Libraries: An American Value and the Library Bill of Rights should be the targeted audience: the first, directed to the public, explaining the role of the library in a democracy, and the second, directed to both libraries and the public, addressing the library’s obligations to the individual. The other documents clearly differed from the proposed new policy, with The Freedom to Read statement describing the underlying value of reading to the individual and society, and the Code of Ethics addressing appropriate professional behavior.
A drafting committee met in Chicago in February 1998 to write the first draft of the policy. This was circulated to ALA members for comment and was the subject of a hearing at the 1998 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. In September 1998 a final draft was released. Between e-mail messages and speakers at the hearing, the committee received more than two hundred comments and suggestions, ranging from complete agreement to total rewrites. By the time the document came to the ALA Council for adoption, every ALA division and fifty-six state chapters and school media associations had endorsed it. It was adopted by the ALA Council on February 3, 1999.
At the 2004 Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, the Committee on Diversity placed a resolution on the ALA Council agenda (CD #32.1) to amend Libraries: An American Value by adding a statement concerning the recruiting of library workers. With the addition, the second statement in the policy would read (additions are in bold): “We value our nation’s diversity and strive to reflect that diversity by recruiting library workers of diverse backgrounds, and by providing a full spectrum of resources and services to the communities we serve.” This was meant to ensure the imperative inclusion of library workforce diversity in any and all statements or reports related to the association’s core values. The council referred the resolution to the IFC.
As a part of the 2004–5 review of intellectual freedom policies, the IFC reconsidered Libraries: An American Value, including the referred resolution. The committee recommended no changes in the policy. In his report to the ALA Council at the 2005 Midwinter Meeting (CD #19), IFC chair Kenton L. Oliver stated:
As directed by Council, the IFC reviewed Libraries: An American Value and reaffirmed the policy is a contract between the public and the profession. The Committee conveyed its decision to the Committee on Diversity at this Midwinter, and both committees are in agreement that the suggested revision to Libraries: An American Value would be unsuitable.
During its discussions, the IFC found a reference in the ALA Policy Manual which addresses the goal of this association to promote the recruitment of a racially and ethnically diverse group of high caliber persons to librarianship (ALA Policy Manual, 1.3.E.8.). In light of this ALA policy, and being appreciative of the Committee on Diversity’s concerns, the IFC will address diversity recruitment in other policies, as appropriate.
During its 2013–2014 review of ALA intellectual freedom policy statements, the IFC reviewed Libraries: An American Value and recommended no changes.