The libertarian librarian
It has taken me some time to find a focus for my blog. But now, thanks to a well known conservative commentator, I believe I have found one.
Michelle Milkin recently wrote an article criticial of the American Library Association in her blog at www. michellemalkin.com. Included in the article was a listing of blogs created by conservative and libertarian librarians. I have checked those blogs out and I believe I shall join their ranks. As a librarian and a Republican I believe I am well qualified.
As I write this commentary, the ALA has just concluded its annual conference in New Orleans. I have yet to read the reports from the conference, but I fear they will tell of an association still drenched in liberal guilt, blind to the realitities of the modern world, tardy with changing technologies and more concerned with being politically correct than with protecting freedoms.
I will be extremely surprised if the conference has made even symbolic overtures to the conservatives in their association, not to mention the conservatives who utilize and help pay for this country's libraries. I will be pleased if the ALA leadership has even made the rudimentary gestures toward fair mindedness that the leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA) made at their recent 217th General Assembly.
I will be especially interested in seeing if the ALA has made any move toward rectifying its shameful neglect of persecuted librarians in Cuba. Failing to strongly condemn Castro's government for burning books and jailing librarians (who the ALA maintains were not really librarians since they were operating "private libraries") is a blot on the record of the ALA that will stain the association's reputation for years to come.
It now seems to me that librarians are much in the same boat as lawyers. The ALA - with its determination to equate the U.S. boycott of Cuba with the repressive actions of the Cuban government - is an accrediting organization for library schools. The American Bar Association - with its push for racial preferences in admissions despite recent Supreme Court rulings and, in some cases, state law - is the accrediting organization for law schools. Center-right librarians, as well as center-right lawyers, find themselves represented by, and in some cases educated by, organizations that fail to respect their beliefs and values.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that my library education and certification, at the University of New Mexico, was not accredited by the ALA. This is a fact that has kept me out of the running for several jobs throughout my career. Now, however, I am able to take a certain pride in this fact. My resume lacks the approval of, and therefore the taint of, the ALA.
Michelle Milkin recently wrote an article criticial of the American Library Association in her blog at www. michellemalkin.com. Included in the article was a listing of blogs created by conservative and libertarian librarians. I have checked those blogs out and I believe I shall join their ranks. As a librarian and a Republican I believe I am well qualified.
As I write this commentary, the ALA has just concluded its annual conference in New Orleans. I have yet to read the reports from the conference, but I fear they will tell of an association still drenched in liberal guilt, blind to the realitities of the modern world, tardy with changing technologies and more concerned with being politically correct than with protecting freedoms.
I will be extremely surprised if the conference has made even symbolic overtures to the conservatives in their association, not to mention the conservatives who utilize and help pay for this country's libraries. I will be pleased if the ALA leadership has even made the rudimentary gestures toward fair mindedness that the leadership of the Presbyterian Church (USA) made at their recent 217th General Assembly.
I will be especially interested in seeing if the ALA has made any move toward rectifying its shameful neglect of persecuted librarians in Cuba. Failing to strongly condemn Castro's government for burning books and jailing librarians (who the ALA maintains were not really librarians since they were operating "private libraries") is a blot on the record of the ALA that will stain the association's reputation for years to come.
It now seems to me that librarians are much in the same boat as lawyers. The ALA - with its determination to equate the U.S. boycott of Cuba with the repressive actions of the Cuban government - is an accrediting organization for library schools. The American Bar Association - with its push for racial preferences in admissions despite recent Supreme Court rulings and, in some cases, state law - is the accrediting organization for law schools. Center-right librarians, as well as center-right lawyers, find themselves represented by, and in some cases educated by, organizations that fail to respect their beliefs and values.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that my library education and certification, at the University of New Mexico, was not accredited by the ALA. This is a fact that has kept me out of the running for several jobs throughout my career. Now, however, I am able to take a certain pride in this fact. My resume lacks the approval of, and therefore the taint of, the ALA.
posted by dlh | 6:43 AM
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