Democracy, Debate and Discussion
Libraries and the public
This past week comments by Canadian librarian Richard Beaudry regarding the conflicts around intellectual freedom in Canadian library systems were shared in this Maclean’s article.
His commentary covers book bans ranging the political spectrum and after these reflections he wisely cautions:
One person criticizing a book shouldn’t be enough to have it removed—we don’t want to create a precedent for book banning that erodes debate and discussion in our libraries.
Does your library allow debate and discussion? Can you see in the book lists they share, the programs they offer and the book collection they have developed that they encourage dialogue from various viewpoints? Are libraries still a place that supports debate and discussion? And if they are not, how long can we expect policies that prevent book bans to last? Policies usually reflect the local culture and if the culture does not support a variety of viewpoints then one can predict that the policies will flounder, fail then be forgotten. If you value your local library, reach out and share with them what you would like to see, what they are doing well and what you would like to see changed. Have a discussion.
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Perhaps librarians need to reacquaint the public with the idea that "the best way to counter bad speech is more speech," and if there are books in the library they don't like, ask them what are some counter titles they would like to see in the collection as opposed to pulling the books they don't like.
I'm wondering which library systems will purchase this reprinted "hot potato" title that is a bestseller on Amazon: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/celia-farber-hiv-aids-book-cola/?. Doesn't look like any journals have reviewed it and only the County of LA system has it in audiobook thus far.