Abstract

Libricide, although often deemed an extreme instance of censorship, is altogether different. Censorship involves the suppression of particular books due to alleged inappropriate content; libricide refers to the intentional destruction of entire libraries. Understanding the differing motives recognizes that the library is more than the books it contains, and is instead an institution rooted in its history of selection and use by the local community. Over time, the library reflects the users’ identity, a reminder that any aggressor would wish to eliminate when the goal is pacification by erasure of a population’s memory and history. Prerequisites for an act of libricide—the spread of the access-for public library, the rise of an international movement for heritage preservation, and belief in the library as a site of collective memory—identify the first true act of libricide, the 1914 destruction of the Louvain Library.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

2024

Notes/Citation Information

James M. Donovan, More than Censorship: The Harm of Libricide, 8(1) LIBRARIES: CULTURE, HISTORY, AND SOCIETY 1-21 (2024).

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.