"Academe"'s readers know the importance of academic freedom and the history of the (American Association of University Professors) AAUP's defense and promotion of academic freedom for faculty. Librarians have an analogous set of interlocking policies concerning their ethics and related issues. The author has always been proud that the American Library Association (ALA) formulated its Library Bill of Rights one year before the AAUP and the Association of American Colleges (now the Association of American Colleges and Universities) issued their joint "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure." The principles of the "1940 Statement" have been endorsed by more than two hundred professional and academic associations, including the American Library Association. The ALA has excellent policies against what it calls "compulsory affirmations of allegiance as a condition of employment"; it also has statements on the freedom to read and view and statements against the abridgment of the intellectual rights of children and against censorship. However, the ALA's leadership has taken a maximally cautious approach over the years to the connection between librarians' professional responsibilities and rights and the means of protecting the professional enactment of them. The author explores the issue of academic freedom for librarians and urges the ALA to defend intellectual freedom for librarians as the AAUP does for faculty members.