Politics and Censorship

I know that most of you have read this book before, but before I move on to the discussion of McCarthyism and censorship I just wanted to say that I was sort of surprised that there was really no redemption for Ruth Brown in Bartlesville. There is an effort today to build a memorial for Miss Brown, but it seems like prior to this there was no real attempt to honor her struggle. http://www.bartlesville.org/womensnetwor/ruthbrownletter.html

During this period there was a great deal of imposed censorship and also self censorship. In Ruth Brown's case it was the reason for her dismissal, and was also seen as others declined to speak up on her behalf. The "Red Scare" gave people the opportunity to exert a certain amount of social control. One of the arguments for the removal of "subversive" materials from the library was the impact they could have on children. This topic also seems to be a large part of the film (I am just basing this on the description in the book) where the young character, Freddie, becomes fixated on communism. This was discussed a little on the blog last week in regards to parental censorship of children. Do you think there are different levels of censorship in libraries for different groups of people? Should the community be able to dictate what materials are allowed in the library, or is it the library that influences the community?