12 Facts About Forrest Spaulding

Forrest Brisbin Spaulding was an American librarian.

Forrest Spaulding was named in the American Libraries article, "100 of the most important leaders we had in the 20th century" for his contribution to intellectual freedom in writing the Library Bill of Rights.

Forrest Spaulding was a humanitarian who is remembered not only for his contributions to librarianship, but for the positive influence he had on the communities in which he lived and worked.

Forrest Spaulding is noted as saying that his 'efforts to report the news from that country gave him a bitter object lesson in censorship.

Forrest Spaulding believed in library outreach and frequently organized traveling libraries, often for military groups.

Forrest Spaulding created what became known as "the waterfront university" in the basement of the Des Moines Library for unemployed men and others that were struggling during the Depression.

Forrest Spaulding was an early adopter of new technology regarding library outreach and he put library programs on the air via WHO radio in 1928.

At the heart of Forrest Spaulding's convictions regarding human rights and concerns about the threat of censorship was a belief in the power of the written word and an understanding that all people needed to have free and equal access to information.

In 1938, as concerns regarding censorship mounted, Forrest Spaulding wrote a library bill of rights.

Forrest Spaulding presented it before the Des Moines Public Library board and it was passed by the board as a proclamation that they would not give in to pressures to censor items from their collection.

Forrest Spaulding said 'we should fear the tendency of small minds in these days of stress.

In putting his convictions into writing and bringing them before the ALA for endorsement, Forrest Spaulding took a stand regarding his convictions in an age when it was, in many ways, personally and politically risky to do so.