Librarians: Our New Superheroes!

More than 70 community members attended a film screening and discussion of “The Librarians,” a different kind of super hero movie, on September 22 at the Redwood City Downtown Library. “The Librarians”chronicles how book bans are spreading, and librarians are being harassed, fired and even threatened with criminalization for defending the right to read.  The film is a rallying cry for intellectual freedom.

A question and answer session followed the film, moderated by Library Director Derek Wolfgram, who shared that he has denied requests to remove books, and instead has encouraged the community to suggest books to add various viewpoints to the collection.

From the film:  "If you can control the library, you control the community. If you can control the flow of information, you can control the ideas. You've got everything." 

It might start with school libraries but where does it end?

For more information on anti-censorship efforts: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/fight-censorship