SEGREGATING PROPAGANDA IN AMERICAN LIBRARIES - ULVELING,RALPH CONFRONTS THE INTELLECTUAL-FREEDOM-COMMITTEE

At the 1951 annual conference of the American Library Association, Det roit Public Library director and former ALA president Ralph A. Ulvelin g challenged the ALA's newly adopted Statement on Labeling with a prop osal to segregate library materials containing propaganda into the ref erence collection and to make them available only to ''researchers.'' His proposal forced the Intellectual Freedom Committee to confront the lack of consensus on intellectual freedom issues within the associati on. The necessity to respond with one voice to the issues raised by Ul veling preoccupied the committee for almost a year. The confrontation also caused the committee to make an educational effort, aimed at libr arians, its top priority.