At the January meeting of the board of trustees, Trustee Wagner motioned that the district cease the two college libraries' memberships in the American Library Association.
His reasons? First, said Don, the district should not support "partisan" or political organizations, and the ALA is clearly partisan. They're in favor of books and reading and stuff. Plus they're peeved about the Patriot Act.
With a great display of sneerage, Wagner implied a further reason: that the politics of the ALA is "left" or "liberal" and is thus contrary to that of the trustees' conservative constituents. His point seemed to be, not that the ALA is political, but that it is
wrongly political.
Wagner noted that the ALA opposes legislation (CIPA) designed to place filters on library computers to protect minors from pornography. His point seemed to be that the ALA's position re CIPA is absurd or objectionable.
Wagner also noted that the ALA is a bunch of "busybodies" ("liberal" ones), putting their noses in business that does not concern them. He implied that the Patriot Act is clearly not the concern of
librarians, and neither is "academic freedom," since librarians are "not faculty."
The motion passed, with Trustees Wagner, Fuentes, Williams, and Padberg voting in favor of it.
The matter came up again at the February meeting, but it was then tabled. Fuentes muttered something about pornography. It was pretty creepy.
At the March 27 meeting, the pro-ALA forces seemingly had their ducks in a row. It was clear that Trustees Padberg, Jay, Milchiker, and Lang were inclined to vote to reinstate our libraries' membership in the ALA.
But something came up, and Trustee Padberg was called away for over an hour. (I've been assured by reliable people that something really did come up and her absence was unavoidable. Somethin' about her run for judge.)
When item 29, the reinstatement of "institutional membership" in the ALA, came up, Padberg had not yet returned, and Trustee Fuentes motioned to table the item.
"Yes!" thought I. For some reason, Mr. Fuentes was doing the right and the collegial thing. He was putting off action on an item until Nancy, who seemed to feel strongly about it, could return. Great!
But no. For some reason, Fuentes, Wagner, and Williams voted for tabling. But Jay, Lang, and Milchiker voted against it! Huh?
The fate of the ALA matter was now set in stone. After a brief discussion, the vote was taken, and the item (a motion to reinstate ALA membership) failed, 3 to 3.
"Staff" had recommended reinstatement. For the sake of this discussion, they produced a two page document that answered questions regarding the ALA that had come up in January and February. Here's a brief summary of that document:
1. Was the ALA involved in opposing the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA)?Answer: Yes. The ALA took the view that local communities should decide internet policies in their libraries. A "one size fits all" federal solution is clumsy and unnecessary. Further, the filters are not very effective. They unavoidably filter out materials that are unobjectionable, restricting access.
2. What is ALA's position concerning access of minors to pornography?Answer: the ALA has never supported children's access to pornography. "The conviction that young persons are entitled to enjoy the same freedom to read as adults is not a belief that children should be given adult-themed materials. Librarians work cooperatively with parents to assure that what a child borrows from the library is age-appropriate and a good fit for the child's reading level and interest. ALA believes that library staff cannot and should not take the place of parents in the lives of children, and encourages parents to take an active role in guiding their child's reading choices."
3. What about the Patriot Act?Answer: the ALA opposes "certain provisions" of the USA Patriot Act "which permit federal law enforcement agents to obtain records concerning individuals' use of library resources without a showing of probable cause...." ALA has worked with Republican and Democratic Representatives to try to amend the Patriot Act.
4. Is Laura Bush a nember of the ALA?Answer: neither Laura nor her idiot husband are members of the ALA. [As I explained in an earlier post, Laura Bush has attended ALA functions and has accepted awards from that organization.]
What follows are two audio clips from the March 27 board meeting re this ALA business:
PART 1: During "public comments": Saddleback College Academic Senate Prez Claire speaks on the issue.
(Once again, no librarian from either college speaks or even attends the board meeting (as far as I can tell). What's with librarians? I starting to think they deserve what they get.)
PART 2: Trustee Milchiker argues in favor of the motion (to reinstate).
Trustee Wagner responds to Marcia. He's peevish.
The vote is taken.
