Global Issues

This report provides an update for the International Relations Committee (IRC) and the Intellectual Freedom Committee (IRC) on the issue of the "independent library" movement in Cuba.

It includes:

ALA and its 66,000 members remain committed to intellectual freedom, as it has throughout its more than 125 year history. It is a fundamental value that is near and dear to the hearts of all librarians, library workers, and library supporters.

ALA Policy 53.7 Intellectual Freedom- Destruction of Libraries:

The American Library Association deplores the destruction of libraries, library collections and property, and the disruption of the educational process by that act, whether it be done by individuals or groups of individuals and whether it be in the name of honest dissent, the desire to control or limit thought or ideas, or for any other purpose.

The founder members of the International Committee of the Blue Shield: the International Council on Archives (ICA); the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS); the International Council of Museums; and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), were all represented at the meeting of experts called by UNESCO on April 17, 2003 to discuss the damage to Iraqi cultural heritage caused by the war.

The official communication issued at the end of the meeting follows: