If there was any question regarding the power that librarians wield in the censorship arena, the recent decision by the Marshalltown Public Library, by refusing to subscribe to the requested Epoch Times newspaper and National Rifleman magazine, should prove the significance of their underestimated influence.

The arrogance shown by the library representative declaring they were “beating a dead horse” by further discussing the matter, reveals volumes about the ideology that has penetrated the MPL. It should go without saying that patrons have the right to read what appeals to them, whether it be left or right, right or wrong, politically.

Keep in mind that in 2022, Emily Drabinski, then president-elect of the American Library Association, tweeted, “I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary.” The rejection of these publications mirrors the ideology of the newest library leadership at the national level.

Librarians should not be in the business of protecting their patrons from that with which they disagree. Libraries aren’t required to endorse anything espoused within their walls. If librarians eliminated every book or publication containing ideas or information they considered wrongthink, no doubt the library would be a much smaller place.

This is purely and simply a power struggle that the library refuses to lose. And that attitude should be alarming.

It is startling that a library in central Iowa would purposely censure these well-known and highly read periodicals, even as “problem patrons” volunteer to fund them. In other words, patrons, sit down and be quiet. We’ll decide what is right for you to read.

According to the T-R, legitimate reasons to carry these publications have been respectfully presented at numerous meetings, while most recently the library merely responded with the snide remark quoted above.

This is a disturbing indictment regarding the leadership of a publicly-funded entity. The obvious censorship shown by the MPL should be of serious concern to all of the good people in the Marshalltown community who believe in freedom, whether they agree with these particular publications or not.