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| Help us Protect the Intellectual Freedom of Collections and Programming in New York’s Schools and Public Libraries.Take action by sending the email below to Senator and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins about the need to pass a very important bill in support of Patton access and intellectual freedom. As a constituent and library patron who believes that intellectual freedom must remain the foundational principle of our collections and programming in New York’s school and public libraries, I am writing to encourage you to pass S.7677-A (May).
If passed, S.7677-A (May) and its assembly companion A.7843-B (Kelles) would require all public libraries in New York to adopt policies that ensure their staff are able to develop collections, programs, and services that reflect the interests of all people in the communities they serve. Passage of this legislation would safeguard free access to materials and programming without exclusion due to the origin, background, or beliefs of their creators, as well as make sure that all members of a library’s community are represented.
Libraries are institutions of lifelong learning created to serve our collective interest in guaranteeing access to art, culture, and education for all people. Advancing this bill would build on the Senate’s passage of Senator May’s school library focused Freedom to Read Act (S.6350-B) and ensure that both school and public libraries can continue serving this mission.
I thank you for your record of leadership on this issue, as well as for your longstanding support for libraries in general, and ask that you to work pass S.7677-A (May) before the end of session. |
