Secret holdings or forbidden holdings ? An outline of the history of secret holdings of Romania libraries

Studying the history of secret holdings is essential to understand libraries' and cultural history of Romania, but also of former East Europe libraries. The existence of secret holdings is a major form of censorship. Censorship is a public prohibition. With secret holdings, every thing is changing, hidden, and can be interpreted in a moving way. The content of the lists of censorship itself is secret. The decision is taken by a small number of persons, from the high sphere of the State. Books are removed from stacks secretly and destroyed. This needs complicity within the libraries.
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