Overheard a librarian in Seattle talk about removing 200 books and I had to sit down

I was at the downtown library last week waiting for my hold, and I caught two librarians talking. One said they pulled over 200 titles from the children's section because of a new state law, but not for the reasons people think. She explained it was about outdated medical info and harmful stereotypes, not political stuff. That made me realize how often we assume censorship is one thing when it is actually something more careful. Has anyone else seen libraries quietly managing their collections in ways that don't make the news?

2 comments

2 Comments

allen.cole18d ago

That "not political stuff" part caught my eye. Removing 200 books based on outdated medical info and stereotypes is itself a political act, just a different kind than the usual culture war stuff.

maxmurphy18d ago

So what's the line between updating a collection and filtering out viewpoints someone decided are harmful?

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