Opinion | National security law: Hong Kong’s librarians must stand firm to protect intellectual freedom
- As the authorities increasingly give in to the urge to censor books, librarians should remain guided by their commitment to uphold the freedom of enquiry
- Films and artworks that depict ways to evade the censors offer inspiration. Censorship must be resisted, peacefully but firmly
Librarianship can be said to run in my blood. My mum, born in Seattle, was hired in 1961 to be a school librarian at Diocesan Girls’ School.
I also recall my fortnightly forays across the harbour with mum up the steep slope of Ice House Street, to the welcoming air conditioning of the modern, well-stocked United States Information Service library, where I checked out numerous books, especially mysteries, which intrigued me as a boy.
At 17, I moved to California to attend university, and later graduate school. I was impressed by the depth and breadth of the collections in the library at the University of Michigan, and later switched from international relations to train as a librarian in Michigan's well-regarded library school. Eventually, I served for more than 40 years in public and academic libraries in the US.
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Hong Kong publishers resort to self-censorship under new security law
It states that the association “believes in freedom of enquiry, thought and expression and in the free, uncensored flow of information. It is a fundamental principle that the primary duty of library and information personnel is to facilitate access to information”.
