Librarians and Speech

My letter to the editor about the American Library Association's Banned Books Week was printed in the Wall Street Journal today.  Here's what the letter said:

Mitchell Muncy thinks that the American Library Association is overreacting to attempts by "law-abiding parents" to ban books in their local libraries (Taste, September 25).  I think it's more accurate to suggest that we don't face a serious threat to our free speech rights today because of the vigilance among librarians in resisting such pressure.

A small example:  When I spoke at a local library last year about my novels, the librarian subsequently informed me that a resident had called to demand I be "disinvited," because one of my books included "a reference to male genitalia."  Egad!  Amusing?  Sure.  Harmless?  I don't think so.  Such people hide behind "free speech," but their real agenda is to dictate to their neighbors what they may choose to read and hear.

Fortunately, our librarians are a buffer against those would try to substitute their values and standards for our own.  For that, we owe them thanks.

So to you librarians out there -- Thanks!