Vickery Bowles
Censorship and Disinformation in Today’s World: Toronto Public Library’s Response
Throughout the world, there are serious challenges to democratic values and freedoms, as individuals and institutions face rampant disinformation and increasing opposition to intellectual freedom on a wide range of issues, through all forms of media, and from all sides of the political and social spectrums. Public Libraries are under attack as they respond to increasing requests to censor and work to combat disinformation. Toronto Public Library’s response to these challenges includes policy development, programming, civic engagement, education and advocacy. Public libraries need to stand up and speak out against censorship and disinformation by taking multi-faceted approaches to these threats.
Vickery Bowles was Toronto’s City Librarian from 2015 to 2025. Throughout her tenure, Vickery demonstrated a passionate belief in the difference public libraries make in the lives of individuals, in communities and cities.
Vickery’s unwavering dedication to Intellectual Freedom is a hallmark of her career. She has championed the public library as a vital democratic institution, uniquely positioned to preserve and protect democratic values and freedoms. She led the development of a comprehensive set of initiatives, ranging from programming and civic engagement to policy development and advocacy, including the adoption of an Intellectual Freedom Statement to guide policies, service planning, and communications.
Vickery launched TPL’s newest Strategic Plan for 2025-2029 to support social connections, civic engagement and democracy; to enhance physical spaces for resilience and belonging; to expand learning opportunities for all; and to increase awareness and availability of library services.
Vickery is the former Chair the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) headquartered in Washington, D.C., was a member of the Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC), and a Board member for the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries (FOPL).