A left-wing echo chamber?

[Anon]

As a former academic librarian, I fully understand Mr. Durant's feelings and opinions on ALA and the prevailing left viewpoints that pervade librarianship.   I have noticed that ALA has steadily moved further to the left and has issued more political resolutions and opinions.  I too have sat silently as co-workers felt the need to get up on political soapboxes during business meetings.  I now work in a bookstore, and hear the same sort of things.  I've even had the experience of co-workers intentially saying political musings that they know would upset me just to see if I would rise to the bait.

While at work, I don't have the option of leaving the area when work discussions take on political tones. I have to be there to do my job.  One could argue that I am experiencing a "hostile work environment."  

Political discussion is great.  Just leave it to the breakrooms and during breaktimes, please.

[Mark Rosenzweig, ALA Councilor]

Oh, the poor lonely conservative librarian! What a pitiable figure. Or rather, what a pitiful theme he has chosen in which to cast his figure. True, it has a certain stamp of authenticity which one must grant an almost clinical manifestation of a delusional paranoia --  and for which one might actually feel sorry if one didn't know it to be entirely constructed for political effect. However, even though it is just a ploy, it is interesting that this 'martyr' trope is used over and over by these posturing unfortunates: THEY are the_ really_ marginalized when, obviously, it should be someone else, i.e. the left, that is marginal!

In this scenario there is no justice for these righteous yet
biblically beleaguered "conservative" people. So they call out
plaintively for... for whom? They howl in hope that the professional vigilantes will come to their aid, the established and endowed witch-hunters --otherwise occupied perhaps with the schools and universities-- to come and rescue them from their lonely lurking in their ill-deserved oblivion.

The pitch has its appeal : "If your classroom witch-hunt is stalled in academia, we have some new territory for you inquisitors to exploit, somewhere you -- or certainly, your average person -- would never imagine: in your libraries!"

"Spies in the stacks! Treason in Tech Services! Reds in Reference! Anarchy in ALA! " That should be good for a entire series on Fox, for countless diatribes by O'Reilly and Limbaugh and Dr.Laura, for whole conferences of 'Focus on the Family'...

Yes, one can -- mark this, Mr.  Durant --  spin it into a whole
cottage industry of paid testimonials of right wing librarians
suffering the martyrdom of Tom Dooley at the hands of godless Communist librarians. A second career for a 'lonely conservative librarian".

This hack piece in the Chronicle is a good start, a dutiful if
predictably feeble attempt to do to American librarianship what David Horowitz is doing to US academia. Durant uses the same tools as Horowitz: distortion, lies, innuendos, false statistics, the creation of straw-men (in fact, in this case, the positing of an entirely made-up _world_  of politicized librarianship as a seething hot-bed of radicalism -- so thoroughly disingenuous that it's almost laughable!). Basing himself on the relative ignorance of the public about the nature of librarianship and the work of librarians, this self-styled 'heretical librarian'  takes his best shot at persuading the readers of the CHE and more to the point his true audience of right-wing pundits (who can now quote his lamentable piece in the Chronicle as if it had some authority) that the seemingly benign library world, with its outposts on your  very Main Street, has somehow been taken over by Communists who pull the strings of the feeble-minded but well-intentioned rank-and-file librarians of the US and manipulate them into ... well, not Communism (why not? the sky's the limit!) but, just as bad: 'liberalism"! Imagine a liberal
profession! It has to be a conspiracy!

One hopes that the soi-disant "heretical" conservative librarians aren't driven to actual self-immolation in their quest for attention and sympathy. If they are, they should please take it outside the library so they don't burn the books as well as themselves.

Mark Rosenzweig
ALA Councilor at large


> The "overwhelming prevalence" of leftist views among librarians
> has "created a politicized atmosphere of groupthink and
> intolerance," writes David Durant, a self-described
> conservative librarian, in The Chronicle. If librarians
> are supposed to defend intellectual freedom and diversity of
> opinion, how can they allow their profession to be "a bastion
> of orthodoxy"? Is it appropriate for the American Library
> Association to take stands on political issues, such as a
> recent resolution calling for the United States to leave Iraq?
>
> Read
> more...
>

[Bystander]

Or should it be dim bulb?  Are you seriously saying that academic libraries should only contain books written by individuals with advanced degrees?  Bye bye Aristotle, Plato, and Shakespeare.  Bye bye all the Oxford dons who never took a D.Phil.

As punishment for your inanity I suggest you be obliged to read nothing but the works of Ann Coulter (J.D. University of Michigan).

[%sig%]

[John]

Check your spelling.  I think it should be spelled "dilettantism."

[%sig%]

[Tom Terrell USF SLIS]

Purely for purposes of calibrating the perspective meter, let us consider this post from Mark.

I offer no assessment of good or bad or right or wrong, or even accurate or not for these comments, and I certainly will defend his right to possess and express opinions, but readers not involved with ALA who do not know him need to have some way of assessing where he comes from...

Tom Terrell

On Monday, Mark posted this to the ALA council listserv:

Date sent:         Mon, 26 Sep 2005 23:40:34 -0400
From:              Mark Rosenzweig
Subject:           [ALACOUN:15839] Re:  COSWL opposes Roberts
To:                ALA Council List
Send reply to:     iskra@earthlink.net

My congratulations to Kathleen de la Pena McCook for making this happen (see below).

It is without doubt that her personal persistence in in promoting our principles has immeasurably helped rouseat least part of ALA to confront,as it should as a whole body, the immediate threat at the most fundamental levels to our Constitutional order posed by the pending appointments to the Supreme Court in the hands of the reactionary and bankrupt Bush Administration.

The appointment of Roberts must be broadly opposed because he is the wrong person for the wrong job at the wrong time. It is on that basis that we can best go on to challenge what promises to be the even more outrageous appointments proposed by Bush to the other opening on the Court.

We cannot let this lame-duck President determine the future -- for generations to come --with Supreme Court nominees whose record flies in the face of all precedents protecting the gains, made through so much struggle in the 20th Century, in the elaboration of and extension of equal rights to every American.

As librarians who cherish the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, let us stand together in opposition to any and all Court appointments which jeopardize privacy, free speech, women's rights, racial justice, and democratic governance, and which compromise those principles to which we are committed in ALA's own constitution and by-laws.

In solidarity,
Mark Rosenzweig
Councilor at large

[anonymous]

And we librarians are even smarter than the academics.  Instead of 10% conservatives, we've got only a fraction of one percent in our profession.  No diversity problem here: we're just the smartest people in the land!  Anyone who disagrees with us is just dumb.

[%sig%]

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one who remembers how the videotape greeting from Laura Bush was booed in the opening session of ALA Atlanta... even before it was shown?

[%sig%]

[Randy Stephens]

In the South- AU CONTRAIRE!   Media Specialists and
Librarians are most often very political lackies of the
bougeousie.

[John]

Thank you, Tom.  I previously posted a reply saying that one should think about sending one's ALA dues directly to Democratic Party Headquarters to avoid the middleman.  Perhaps I was wrong.  After reading Rosenzweig's rants, I might suggest sending one's ALA dues directly to CPUSA Headquarters.

[%sig%]

[John D. Berry]

As a previous ALA Councilor at Large, 2001-2004.  I have to say that David has it right (pun intended).
Considering my own treatment while a member of ALA Council, whenever I stood up for moderation or opposition to SRRT positions; villification, mockery and slander shortly followed.  Either in person on the floor at Council, or via the ALA Council listserv and/or the SRRT Listserv.
If you want to see who said what, just check the ALA listserv archives and decide for yourselves.
So, hang tough David, you just painted a bulleye on your back with this article.  
It wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't pretty much the truth of the matter, as David paints it.  Sadly, ALA doesn't represent everyone and the welcome mat isn't out.
John D. Berry, Assoc. Librarian, UC Berkeley

[Jojo]

"As librarians who cherish the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, let us stand together in opposition to any and all Court appointments which jeopardize privacy, free speech .."

Sweet God in Heaven .. how 1960s. Reminds me of when the British Labor Party used to play USSR anthems at their conventions ..

Wake up, will ya? Slick Willie said the era of big government is over, nearly 10 years ago. I mean, really ..

Unless, of course, you want to give blue-state politico's, more ammo in their drive to privatize Big State Universities ..

[Patricia Pettijohn]

Is simply untrue.  Begin with Book Burning, held by 683 libraries, including many academic libraries.  The argument over whether it is an appropriate selection for academic library collections is a complex one, having to do with whether other libraries in your immediate borrowing system have a copy, the degrees and disciplines you offer, your book budget, and available shelf space, as well as issues of intended audiende, i.e. popular vs. academic press, undergraduate versus graduate/professional, etc.  Understand that many academic press titles publish limited printings-- in the hundreds, somtimes as few as 100-- and most academic authors would be thrilled to be held by 683 libraries.  

Now let's look at the works of Dr. Laura Schlesinger, who is famed not only for her conservative views, but for her frequent criticism of librarians and attacks on the American Library Association.  She is in fact an author whose books are frequently held by American libraries, with thousands of copies of her books in public, and some academic, libraries.  

I resent the charge that librarians are biased in their selections, an accusation that can be easily proven false.  Librarians have an obligation not only to be unbiased, but to act as stewards in shaping collections with lasting scholarly value.  We face serious problems with the crisis in academic publishing, largely driven by rising journal prices.  We make difficult decisions in a climate where libraries are forced to go without materials they dearly need and desire.  And we deserve better than to be sabatoged by one of our own for purely political reasons.

[Peter McGivney]

It’s been a few years since I left the ALA so I’d forgotten how entertaining the outraged shrieks of the more left-wing elements of the profession can be when someone actually suggests there might be other opinions on issues than the ones they hold near and dear.

[Midwest Missouri]

The criticism that David Martin has received by some for his article is a good example why librarians need tenure. I am afraid to criticize ALA too much in front of my colleagues for fear of vilification or worse, loosing my job. To those who have written that David has overemphasized the issue, why don't you step into the untenured librarian's shoes for a while? It is ironic that an organization such as ALA, which emphasizes balance and impartiality in their Code of Ethics, has taken a personal conviction stance in their "Resolution on the Connection Between the Iraq War and Libraries"

From the American Library Association Code of Ethics:

VI. "We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions."

VII. "We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources."

[%sig%]

[Bart J. Stinson, MLS]

Mr. Rosenzweig's intemperate diatribe against Mr. Durant's thoughtful article is Exhibit A of the over-the-top ad hominem attacks that await any independent thinker who strays off ALA's far-left plantation. The ALA Councilor's hyperventilation would be laughable if it weren't so typical of what passes for discourse within our organization.

The ALA leftists' self-indulgence is not cost-free. In addition to losing members like Mr. Durant, and in addition to the extraordinary legal expenses loaded onto the shoulders of our members, the ALA pays the even heavier price of forfeiting credibility and influence we might otherwise have exerted in the policy arena.

We're so busy earning our leftist bona fides that we can't spare the resources and intellectual firepower to make the case for school media specialists. If we were to commit about 20% of our I.F. passion and ink to making the case for school media specialists, their prestige, job security and budgets would be very different today, and student outcomes would reflect credit on our presently disreputable association.