This aid aims to aid the reader to stand up for intellectual freedom and to combat censorship threats. The fourth edition provides up-to-date text of official policies of the American Library Association and gives librarians practical help in applying these basic principles to library service. The "Intellectual Freedom Manual" tells how the American Library Association can help resist censorship of library materials, how to handle complaints, how to write effectively to a legislator. The Manual also provides guidance in complex tasks such as developing a materials selection program or a new section on developing a confidentiality report. All but two policies and interpretations have been thoroughly revised. Background articles, which present both history of a policy and recommended tactics for applying it, have been substantially updated. There are new sections on "The Universal Right to Free Expression", "Confidentiality of Personally Identifiable Information about Library Users", and "The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (The Buckley Amendment) and School Libraries". Improved organisation makes the new edition more accessible.
Each interpretation now precedes its background article. Article numbers link interpretations to the corresponding background articles, and a new index covers key concepts, issues, names, places, and legal cases.