PROPAGANDA AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC-LIBRARY FROM THE 1930S TO THE EVE OF WORLD-WAR-2

In the decade before the United States entered World War II, many Americans believed that the surge of communist and fascist propaganda in the mass media threatened traditional American values based on democracy and capitalism. The public library community responded by engaging in a discussion in the professional literature about whether propaganda should be censored, avoided, or intentionally provided to the public as simply one of many points of view. This led to an emotionally charged debate about professional values regarding the role of public libraries and librarians in a democratic society and pressure for reforms in library services and management. The achievement of the national Library's Bill of Rights was an important result of the debate, which supporters hoped would reverse the general climate of censorship in public libraries based on political and social bias. By the early 1940s library and community traditions and world events proved to be powerful factors encouraging librarians to take a proactive stand to defend and promote democracy against attacks despite continuing calls for library neutrality.