Recently the Director of the Lafayette Public Library System instituted a policy of banning any displays of what he called a "controversial" or "political" nature. This policy was put in place just days before the beginning of LGBTQ+ PRIDE month, ensuring that no books about folks from those communities would be highlighted at our libraries this year. The policy goes a step further, however, banning displays for Black History month, Women's History month, Indigenous History displays, Cajun & Creole history displays, and Asian American/Pacific Islander displays. The list could go on. Until now, librarians had broad discretion to curate the displays to highlight marginalized communities as they were trained to do, and they did that job admirably for our library system. With this new policy in place, patrons will no longer have the joy of finding new and interesting books recommended to them, or the joy of seeing themselves celebrated when they walk into a library. Those books will now be left on the shelves, possibly to be discarded through lack of circulation. Please help us - send the message to our Director that these displays are vital to our library, that this is not who we are as a community, and that self-censorship is NOT ACCEPTABLE!!