Librarians : No censorship. No compromise.

The entire library team traveled to Lausanne on January 19th to attend an exclusive screening of the documentary The Librarians, directed by Kim A. Snyder. The film explores the dramatic rise of censorship in the United States, particularly since 2021, when the governor of Texas published a list of 850 books dealing with racial, feminist, or LGBTIQ+ issues to be removed from school libraries. This initiative sparked a wave of censorship that spread to many states, fueled by extremist groups whose representatives are increasingly present on school boards. The film follows the struggle of librarians who face pressure to censor books, restrict access to certain ideas, or bow to the expectations of a sometimes hostile, even dangerous public. Their response? To resist, to stand firm, to defend every book, every voice—often without institutional support and sometimes at the risk of their personal safety, despite threats and the risk of criminalization. 

Their fight is for free access to knowledge, beyond ideological, religious, or political boundaries. Because defending freedom of reading, diversity of ideas, and the universal right to information is at the very heart of the librarian's profession. These are fundamental values shared by all those who choose to pursue this profession—in the United States as well as in Switzerland—and are embodied in the skills and expertise required to practice it. 

The screening was followed by a roundtable discussion with various experts and librarians from the canton of Vaud. The question on everyone's lips was: could a similar situation happen here in Switzerland? The response from the speakers—or rather the lack of a definitive and unequivocal answer—unfortunately raises reasonable doubts among information professionals. This lack of a framework also calls into question the mechanisms in place or to be created to prevent American ideology from spreading further in Switzerland.