University Library Reinstates Its ‘New York Times’ Subscription, from the Chronicle

In announcing on Friday that the subscription would be reinstated, Mr. Morgan said that he did not believe his use of the university library as a forum for personal protest was inappropriate…

It’s amazing, there are so many ways in which I disagree with this statement. The library should not be anyone’s personal soapbox, not even the library director’s. I’m not even sure to what extent I believe that a library should be the institution’s soapbox, but that at least I can see a case for, especially in a private institution. Also, granted, a library cannot subscribe to every publication in existence, but personal politics and belief systems really have no business coming into collection development decisions. Again, institutional politics and belief systems, maybe. Maybe.

Anyway, so much for the Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read.