Intellectual Freedom in School Libraries

I tell my students that my goal as their library teacher is to provide them with the skills necessary to access all forms of information on their own. I do support the curriculum and often touch base with faculty members to assure the needs of our students are being met. I think in society, censorship is part of life. I have friends who work for large corporations and are told not to spend much time on the Internet shopping, etc., because it does not look good from an employer standpoint. Clearly that means they are being censored/watched. In education, this opportunity is not afforded because there are filters, etc., that stop things before they in fact can become a problem. Years ago the idea of censorship was more of a trust issue, however now it can be enforced on computers in various ways. Liability issues also add to the censorship issue: schools have to be very cautious about what they make available to students and everyone has to be on the same page (no pun intended). I see school library censorship as a good thing - there are "rules" everywhere and I do not think it interferes with learning. An effective school library should address the needs of the specific school and the curriculum. Of course that old budget makes a lot of the decisions of what materials are needed and what will remain on a wish list.
In closing, I truly believe it is more important for a Media Specialist to know the difference between material that is inappropriate and material that is not. However I feel strongly that censorship is necessary. We cannot expect kids to be able to make adult decision without our guidance. Knowledge and information is power, but all children need guidance, advice, and yes, rules!