The superstitions in public libraries: alive and well?

Abstract

Social reformers in the nineteenth century thought that superstitions would gradually die out. Institutions of formal education, such as schools and universities, promoted progress through spreading positivistic and utilitarian ideas. Institutions of informal education, including public libraries and the press, spread the same ideas. The edifice of civilisation was firmly supported by three pillars: the state, science and institutionalised religion. At the beginning of the twenty first century, the social landscape has greatly changed. Science is treated with suspicion, and the state and religion have been weakened. Superstitions are alive and well, and they have even found their way to public libraries. Is the library's noble goal of the dissemination of knowledge in danger of being replaced by the diffusion of falsehood?