“A public library does not acquire Internet terminals in order to create a public forum for Web publishers to express themselves, any more than it collects books in order to provide a public forum for the authors of books to speak.”

United States v. American Library Association, 539 U.S. 194 (2003) (plurality opinion); the case concerned whether Congress could require libraries receiving Federal subsidies for Internet connectivity to install filtering software.
Judicial opinions

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William H. Rehnquist 32
Chief Justice of the United States 1924–2005

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“[T]he Constitution does not guarantee the right to acquire information at a public library without any risk of embarrassment.”

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ibid.
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“It's a public library. If you don't like the book, magazine, CD-ROM or film, put it down and pick up something else. Libraries provide choice. Our responsibility is to have in our collection a broad range of ideas and information.”

Judith Krug (1940–2009) librarian and freedom of speech proponent

" Oak Lawn Library Vows to Keep Playboy on Shelf http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-06-23/news/0506230234_1_library-board-president-library-officials-magazine" by Jo Napolitano, Chicago Tribune (June 23, 2005)

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“Books read in a public library never have the same flavour as books read in the attic or the kitchen.”

Alberto Manguel (1948) writer

Private Reading, p. 152.
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“Being covered in white paint, you demonstrate behaviour intended to create a public nuisance, which did in fact cause offence to members of the public, and created a breach of the peace and public order.”

Günter Brus (1938) Austrian artist

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“In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.”

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“Law and order represents the largest circle within which is the next circle representing public order and the smallest circle represents security of State. It is then easy to see that an Act may affect law and order but not public order, just as an act may affect public order but not security of the State.”

Mohammad Hidayatullah (1905–1992) 11th Chief Justice of India

He explained the intricate relationship of the concepts of law and order, public order and the security of the State, in a particular case.
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“No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library.”

No. 106 (23 March 1751)
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