I think individual libraries who feel very strongly that they want to keep their catalogue pure in the philosophical sense will change it and have done so. I think others will be more concerned about when people come into the library, can they find the book or not.

Filters at public libraries are not the answer. Most filters out there are meant for home use. In a library setting, it doesn't work for a variety of reasons. It can be too restrictive or not restrictive enough. ... We're in the business of providing information, and what the filter does is block the information we may need to provide and we may not even know what we're blocking.

It's hard to talk about whether there is a problem or not when the people who receive (the national security letters) cannot talk about it.

Libraries really are wonderful. They're better than bookshops, even. I mean bookshops make a profit on selling you books, but libraries just sit there lending you books quietly out of the goodness of their hearts.

Libraries are our friends.

The first thing naturally when one enters a scholar's study or library, is to look at his books. One gets a notion very speedily of his tastes and the range of his pursuits by a glance round his book-shelves.