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Old 01-26-2013, 10:13 AM   #22
Iznogood
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Norway
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Yes, but what happens in 50 years if someone comes to borrow a particular book that hasn't been for sale in decades? The file resides on the libarary server, but cannot be loaned since there isn't a license available, and that particular edition is not for sale.

Since you're from Sweden you are, presumably, familiar with Astrid Lindgrens Pippi Longstocking and the sencoring of the Lindgrens stories. For those not familiar with them, a short recap:
Pippi's father was originally a "negro king" (hope I'm not getting banned for using the N-word. It is not ment in desrespect), but that word has since then gained a negative assiciation that he is now referred to as "south sea king".

Pippi is of course not the only example of this. Disney is sencoring a lot of their films and cartoons from the thirties that they now regard as "unfit" for modern audience. Jews, blacks and other "funny characters" (seen with the humour of that era) frequently appears in stories of those days, but this is regarded as "unfit" today. Even Tintin is being pulled from the libraries accused of being both racist and gay.

Since the original books and cartoon prints are very rare, the only versions available are the sencored ones. This is where the libraries come into it as "knowledge reservoirs/repositories" with a responsibility for preserving the materials that are published for later use and future research.

I've gone many rounds with the library system here in Norway to get access to rare books and documents, and in some cases even had to go to the national library (travel through half the country!) to get access to books no more than a couple of decades old.

I sincearly hope for a system that will preserve electronic publications and allow the use of them since these are interesting subjects, and subjects that needs resarching to understand the past and our history
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