On Censorship

July 31, 2023
LaRue (The New Inquisition), a librarian and former president of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, serves up an uneven exploration of the motivations, methods, and results of censorship in regional libraries. Most censorship attempts, he argues, stem from parents’ quixotic wish to protect children from “the darker or more complicated sides of adult life” and from “current demographic majorities seeking to suppress writings based on the experiences” of LGBTQ individuals and people of color. Illuminating the challenges librarians face, LaRue notes that public libraries’ obligation “to serve the whole community” can lead to conflict, as when he purchased for his Colorado library a children’s book “about a man who leaves his wife and child to live with another man” for a mother in a similar situation, who wished to read it with her young son, only for another patron to take offense and rip the book apart. Such stories offer revealing on-the-ground insights into how censorship plays out in individual libraries, but the book’s second half loses steam as it offers conventional takes on the importance of public libraries refusing to privilege particular faiths in its selections and the perils of trying to bar problematic books from shelves (“The constitution does not guarantee the right not to be offended”). The results are hit or miss.

September 15, 2023
This inspirational defense of intellectual freedom and critical analysis of cancel culture should be required reading for every aspiring and active information specialist. Part of the Speaker's Corner, a series of book-length essays on current topics, the book offers a nuanced and engaging overview of recent censorship trends in the United States followed by components and conditions that can result in cancel culture. Author LaRue certainly has the chops to address these issues, having over 25 years of experience as a public library director plus spending 201618 as the executive director of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. Drawing heavily on his own experience (LaRue figures he's dealt with roughly 1,000 library-censorship attempts), he analyzes types of complaints, types of complainers, case studies, outcomes, and lessons learned, identifying effective strategies and helpful resources (board-approved policies, written responses, legislation, allies). He offers insightful profiles of typical adherents of cancel-culture campaigns along with evaluations of their motives, tactics, and backers. LaRue's practical advice will be welcomed by information practitioners who work faceto-face with the public, and his thoughtful observations make this an excellent choice for professional-reading groups. This is a worthy addition to the intellectual-freedom canon.

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