Abstract
Rancorous rhetoric has taken over the public square, causing many citizens to retreat from democratic work. Although self-governance and human dignity benefit when citizens express their views, it takes more than diverse voices to make democracy strong. It takes civility--reasoned public discourse where respect, restraint, responsibility, and empathy coexist with free expression so that fellow citizens can hear each other. And it also takes safe spaces—public forums like those in libraries, where communities come together at the intersection of law and civility and strike their own balance between the boundaries and norms of civil discourse.