I first heard about Bloggers Unite in a post by another MySpace user.  Anyone with a computer and internet access has the ability to voice their thoughts and feelings through a blog.  Bloggers Unite however, helps those millions of individual voices to be heard as one strong voice, by having bloggers all write about the same issues at the same time.  This blog's theme is human rights.  Selecting my topic was easy, since I have been learning about intellectual freedom in my library science studies.

Intellectual freedom is a very important human right.  As an American it is easy to take many rights for granted, but everyone should be aware of their rights and consider whether they are fully receiving them.  In the United States, our intellectual freedom has been protected through our constitutional right to free speech and our democratic government.  So, we have the right to express ourselves and to access information.  To make a truly informed decision, voters must have access not to just one perspective on certain subjects, but to all perspectives on all subjects.  It is a basic human right for everyone to have access to information unhindered by censorship.  Intellectual freedom is also included in the United Nations's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Equal access to this information however, would not be possible without public libraries.  Public libraries are a means of preserving, organizing, and disseminating information.  Public libraries worldwide provide communities with literature, films, music, electronic data, internet access, and educational courses, to promote not only information access, but also information literacy.  Librarians and their professional organizations, including the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, as well as regional organizations such as the American Library Association continue to uphold the human right of intellectual freedom, fighting censorship and working to increase information access.