Page 57 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

056 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol. 7, 2015

2 Freedom and equality in the library rights system and their foundation of
unity

Just like the general rights system, the system of library rights also uses the two core social values,
which are freedom and equality, to explain their rights. For example, UNESCO (1994) advocate
at the beginning of The public library manifesto 1994: “Freedom, prosperity and the development
of society and individuals are fundamental human values…The public library is the local centre
of information, making all kinds of knowledge and information readily available to its users. The
services of the public library are provided on the basis of equality of access for all, regardless
of age, race, sex, religion, nationality, language or social status. Specific services and materials
must be provided for those users who cannot, for whatever reason, use the regular services and
materials, for example linguistic minorities, people with disabilities or people in hospital or
prison.” The Manifesto laid the cornerstone of the library rights fundamentally. As mentioned,
freedom and equality which reflect the natural attribute of human rights and have a strong color
of morality are the important content of human rights (L. Wang, 2009). The library is a concrete
social organization with its own unique characteristics. Freedom and equality in the system of
library rights must have the inevitable social attributes and characteristics of the library itself.

2.1 Freedom in the system of library rights

Freedom is one of the core content of the library rights. Generally speaking, library freedom refers
to intellectual freedom, which means that the user is not subject to any restrictions on the freedom
of access to information. At the same time, it may include a series of acts with government support
to ensure the user use the library resource freely, such as collecting and providing information
freely (G. X. Li, 2002).
Freedom is the foundation of library rights, and the prerequisite of the development of the
whole rights system. Realization of library rights must be based on the condition that the users
obtain information without any constraints. Just as human rights are the basic premise of people’s
sovereignty, this right is also quoted by IFLA as the core value of the first clause, which reflects
the important role of freedom in the system of library rights. This claim is generally understood to
be free from state intervention, which means that the library should guarantee the library rights of
the reader and library free from intervention of public power as its characteristic and target. In this
way, we can ensure that the library has enough space to develop without state intervention and the
user use the library freely without any constraint. The equality cannot be realized and the library
rights will become mere talk without freedom.
Freedom is an important content of the construction and development of the library rights, and
a prerequisite for the development of the library (Chang & Yan, 2012). For the development of the