The Liberry is for English Only!

[Alex]

Having been unfortunate enough to sit in at several public library board meetings (though never as a person with any responsibility) it doesn't surprise me at all to hear that a really stupid topic was brought to the board by a small group.

I remember back in 1991 a group of about 20 people showed up at our local library board meeting to discuss automation and assured the board that they'd get the county government to pull funding unless we abandoned plans to use barcodes because barcodes were a tool of the devil. Since generally hardly anybody came to the public meetings it felt like the whole world was against us.

The library won't change its policies and if the county government actually altered funding I would expect them to suddenly find themselves without any MLS holders working in their library system.

So I view the story as more of a "wow, people can be really stupid" story than a "free speech and reading is at risk."

While I find a "Hispanic Heritage display" to be stupid (not because it is hispanic, I find all displays of ethnic or national pride to be fundamentally stupid) I am appalled that they cancelled it because of pressure.