It's gratifying to see SFU librarians adding their collective voice to the national outcry against recent legal challenges that threaten to curtail academic freedom.

The SFU Library, in solidarity with various provincial, regional and national advocacy groups, has publicly condemned the legal action brought against a university librarian who criticized an academic publisher on his personal blog.
 
A statement on the SFU Library site "affirms...provincial, regional and national advocacy groups deploring current or threatened legal challenges to academic librarians' ability to carry out their duties and responsibilities."
 
Freedom of expression lies at the core of academic freedom. 

Moreover, as stated by the Canadian Library Association, “[t]he impartial evaluation of information quality is one of the key contributions of professional librarians.”
 
SFU policies, I am pleased to say, explicitly recognize and protect the academic freedom of our librarians:
 
"Librarians have a duty to promote and maintain intellectual freedom. They have a responsibility to protect academic freedom and are entitled to full protection of their own academic freedom. This includes the right to express their academic judgment in the development of the Library collection within the context of Article 1.3.2 and to make the collection accessible to all users in accordance with the University Library policies, even if the materials concerned are considered controversial."
 
I therefore encourage the entire SFU community to stand shoulder to shoulder with our librarians in condemning those who use the courts to try to prevent librarians from discharging their duties and exercising their rights.

By seeking to stifle academic freedom in this manner, they threaten the rights not only of our librarians, but of us all.