Two false dogmas of censorship

Abstract

Discusses censorship as a misused term, and a poorly understood concept among librarians. The two false dogmas discussed are that censorship is evil in itself, and that it is a library problem. It is not evil, since society correctly authorizes certain officials to protect it from harmful speech or documents. Evil may result in the improper application of censorship authority, but in time the society will correct this. Society also assigns a “gatekeeper” role to certain occupations, to admit suitable persons or things and to keep out others. Librarians have a gatekeeper role with regard to documents (books, films, recordings, etc.). When a gatekeeper rejects a document, the act is that of a censor. Thus, concludes that librarians, as gatekeepers, are authorized censors of their societies, and censorship is a library responsibility rather than a library problem.

Citation

Marco, G.A. (1995), "Two false dogmas of censorship", New Library World, Vol. 96 No. 7, pp. 15-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074809510099906