While book challenges dominate headlines, thousands of titles are being removed quietly by library professionals. The debate is no longer just about external censorship, but also internal gatekeeping.
Removing "all books published before 2008" is dystopian science fiction. It's Fahrenheit 451 level insanity. It's Orwellian. It's as scary as "thank Uni"... I guess we're in a brave new world... They would know that if they had actually read any of those books before throwing them out.
While I am against censorship and agree that public libraries should be neutral, the rules are a bit more nuanced for school libraries. School libraries need to ensure the materials are age appropriate. Both certain ideas and sexually explicit materials have no place in school libraries. Now, we may argue about the "certain ideas" are, of course.
Thanks for this! Our local leaders and librarians have been turning our libraries into centers of social justice activism. It’s not clear to me that my library is actively banning books, but what they do is purchase many copies of the books they want us to read, recommend them, and place them in prominent places. They are not subtle about it. They have special areas dedicated to books that advocate for Black, Indigenous, Trans, and Queer “resistance” and “liberation”, arguing that they have a responsibility to “center historically marginalized communities”.
Libraries should be places to think freely, not places that tell us what to think. They should embrace our common humanity, not highlight our immutable characteristics, but they are doing the opposite. It’s part of a movement to “decolonize” libraries.
I also wrote about this recently, so if you’re interested, it’s on my Substack. We may be an extreme example of what the decolonized library looks like, but it seems to be a trend. Next time you see a bond measure to “improve” your libraries, look and listen carefully to what they are telling you.
Thing is any decision is influential whether the decider is aware or not... Therein lies a part of a bigger problem - the active participation of a community in there own propaghandi! Moreover language and effectively community algorithms making process but that's a higher level..... Yet same pattern I'm pointing at - community design is community in so much as community is accommodated and participates. It meant to be a shared program - so what does shared mean? What mechanisms, etc. Jah know!?
Beyond unfortunate for a civil and open society to have any external or internal book censorship in a library, and I have been reading more and more regarding this type of " subjective " winnowing the good from the bad. What would have been the reasoning of that particular school board for removing all books published before 2008 ?
Thank you for this important article. I would like to share a short video of a recent investigation into a major public library https://youtu.be/Ebrd24PsbGk to illustrate some of what you have written about.
We're becoming a low-trust nation and with that comes the hypocrisy and corruption endemic to a system of in-group/out-group double standards. It's an alarmingly small percentage of the population that has shown even a modicum of commitment to any objective principles.
Removing "all books published before 2008" is dystopian science fiction. It's Fahrenheit 451 level insanity. It's Orwellian. It's as scary as "thank Uni"... I guess we're in a brave new world... They would know that if they had actually read any of those books before throwing them out.
Oh well... who is John Galt, anyway?
Zev
"The good news is that more librarians are speaking up about the insider threat to intellectual freedom."
Really hope so.
While I am against censorship and agree that public libraries should be neutral, the rules are a bit more nuanced for school libraries. School libraries need to ensure the materials are age appropriate. Both certain ideas and sexually explicit materials have no place in school libraries. Now, we may argue about the "certain ideas" are, of course.
Thanks for this! Our local leaders and librarians have been turning our libraries into centers of social justice activism. It’s not clear to me that my library is actively banning books, but what they do is purchase many copies of the books they want us to read, recommend them, and place them in prominent places. They are not subtle about it. They have special areas dedicated to books that advocate for Black, Indigenous, Trans, and Queer “resistance” and “liberation”, arguing that they have a responsibility to “center historically marginalized communities”.
Libraries should be places to think freely, not places that tell us what to think. They should embrace our common humanity, not highlight our immutable characteristics, but they are doing the opposite. It’s part of a movement to “decolonize” libraries.
I also wrote about this recently, so if you’re interested, it’s on my Substack. We may be an extreme example of what the decolonized library looks like, but it seems to be a trend. Next time you see a bond measure to “improve” your libraries, look and listen carefully to what they are telling you.
Thing is any decision is influential whether the decider is aware or not... Therein lies a part of a bigger problem - the active participation of a community in there own propaghandi! Moreover language and effectively community algorithms making process but that's a higher level..... Yet same pattern I'm pointing at - community design is community in so much as community is accommodated and participates. It meant to be a shared program - so what does shared mean? What mechanisms, etc. Jah know!?
Beyond unfortunate for a civil and open society to have any external or internal book censorship in a library, and I have been reading more and more regarding this type of " subjective " winnowing the good from the bad. What would have been the reasoning of that particular school board for removing all books published before 2008 ?
Thank you for this important article. I would like to share a short video of a recent investigation into a major public library https://youtu.be/Ebrd24PsbGk to illustrate some of what you have written about.
One of the worst examples: https://ourduty.group/2024/11/13/dei-is-the-syringe-gender-ideology-is-the-serum/
Subtraction, yes but addition too.
https://ourduty.group/canada/books-that-indoctrinate-young-children/
We're becoming a low-trust nation and with that comes the hypocrisy and corruption endemic to a system of in-group/out-group double standards. It's an alarmingly small percentage of the population that has shown even a modicum of commitment to any objective principles.