100 signatures reached
To: Paris–Bourbon County Public Library Board of Trustees and all City, County, and State Officials
Support the Paris-Bourbon County Public Library
The Paris–Bourbon County Public Library faces a rapidly growing number of challenges to its collection and services from a very vocal, very small group of individuals who seek to impose their own religious or moral beliefs on others in the community.
I urge you to consider the following in regard to public library opposition:
• I support the Paris–Bourbon County Public Library and its mission to provide materials and programs that serve the needs and interests of all in my community.
• I trust my library professionals to preserve and protect intellectual freedom and diversity of expression in accordance with the library’s policies for collection development and circulation.
• I believe the library is responsible for making available a wide range of information and programming that reflect its entire community, while library users are responsible for what they and their families choose to use.
• And I oppose any legislation that would ban books; censor library materials, programs, or services; infringe on the privacy of library users; or make library board members, administration, staff, or users criminally liable for information access or use.
Why is this important?
Confrontational mega-challenge campaigns divert library professionals and administration from the work of creating a vibrant, fresh collection. These campaigns are designed to use financial and human resources in order to call for defunding public libraries. Often the ultimate goal of these campaigns is to remove a community's public library completely.
Censorship campaigns destroy the First Amendment rights of readers, create an anxious and uncertain atmosphere for the vast majority of library users, and ultimately damage communities.