Free Information and Freedom of Expression

Lederer, Haylee

OJALA, M. (2015). Free Information and Freedom of Expression. Online Searcher, 39(2), 4.

Review: The author briefly goes over the concepts of 'free' and 'freedom,' characterizing them as two very different things when it comes to the library. Libraries are not free, they cost money. But they offer freedom - freedom to learn, research, acknowledge, and grow. She also ties this is with ideas of selection and censorship, and how all those relation to the library field.

Evaluation: Two things about this article stood out to me. One, the author made it out like people take advantage of the fact that the library seems 'free,' even when it's not. I really don't think that's true and I don't think she's giving library patrons enough credit. We all grew up hearing 'nothing is free' and all that. As library users, we know that someone is paying money for us to be able to access the library services. Here in San Jose, we've voted a number of times to increase the public library budgets, essentially giving the government an order to use our tax money on the library. So we know that's we are the ones essentially providing these services. People aren't naive.

But, I have to say that I really liked how she touched on the differences between 'free' and 'freedom'. While libraries aren't free, they don't give communities a sense of freedom. And I really believe that's why libraries are as sacred as they are. Humans like to be in contact with information and each other, and libraries help form and foster that connection. They gives us the freedom to connect to whoever and whatever we wish. And you can't really put a price on that.