A public library which provides free and open access to information and differing points of view, is an essential component of an open society. To be an open society people need to feel safe expressing different viewpoints. A public library should be a place where someone regardless of race, age, wealth or beliefs can have open access to information and feel safe doing so. The main role of a public library in an open society …showed first 75 words of 1886 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1886 total…Aslib Proceedings 53:5 (2001): 167-178. Thompson, Anthony. Censorship in public libraries in the United Kingdom during the Twentieth Century. Essex, Bowker Publishing Company, 1975. Thompson, James. Library Power: A new philosophy of librarianship. London, Clive Bingley, 1974. American Library Association, Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q & A http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/basics/intellectual.htm Thornton, Stephen . "Karl Popper" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/popper/ Democracy Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy