A Library Censorship ?
No experienced person, aware of the abuses that may take place under a censor, will lightly advocate that books should be brought under his ban. But the Public Libraries Committee of Westminster draw attention to a difficulty which cannot easily be removed without some system of restriction. They point out that their shelves are open freely to readers of all ages who may be exposed to the influence of fiction written by authors with the loosest standards of propriety in treating moral issues. They add that since the stage and the screen are subject to control, there is good reason for the establishment of a " British Board of Novel Censors." Presumably they mean for the public libraries, and the public libraries only, and they are not intending to diminish the freedom of the Press by setting up a body capable of banning books and depriving authors of the right to be heard in court. But since the libraries can in any case stock only a limited number of books, and not all books, and rightly feel a responsibility in regard to the kind of literature which they lend to the public, there is every reason why they should refuse to be purveyors of pornographic fiction.
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