992 If there were no ALA tomorrow
it would make absolutely no difference to anyone, not librarians, not library boards and trustees, certainly not library users (also known as patrons, customers, and clients). Just for jollies, type (aka key) "Laura Bush ALA" into Google for a romp through left-wing rants on "how-dare-ALA-award-Laura Bush-anything-because-it-might-mean-she-isn't-interested-in-libraries-but-she supports-the-President's-policies." Oh, the pixels wasted by these petty tyrants who populate every ALA committee--and you thought they just walked around in sensible shoes and modest blazers, reading book reviews and restarting your computer in the reference rooms of America.'Scuse me, you say softly, I haven't a clue what an ALA is. I'm not surprised. It is the acronym for the American Library Association. I'm not sure what it does--except collect over priced dues from members, because I had a wonderful career as a librarian and never joined. Even in the days when I was a humanist and a liberal and a Democrat, I had no use for this organization. It can't do the single most important thing a professional organization absolutely must do--get its members' salaries to a decent, 21st century level by convincing the general public and its membership that librarians are worth a living wage, that they contribute to society. It also can't get library bond issues passed--libraries are either closing or struggling on limited budgets and hours all over the country. That's probably because ALA is fixated on the federal government, although I haven't researched just where it has gone wrong.
Perhaps to keep the organization from looking downright silly, the president has had to remind these pouters on the left that in the past ALA has honored:
President Lyndon Johnson
President Jimmy Carter
Rosalyn Carter
Barbara Bush
Sen Mark Hatfield
Sen Nancy Kassebaum
Sen Claiborne Pell
Sen Paul Simon
Rep Pat Williams
Sen Al Gore
Sen Robert Kerrey
Sen Jack Reed
Sen Edward Kennedy
Sen Robert Byrd
Sen William Cohen
Sen Thomas Eagleton
Sen James Exon
Sen Tom Harkin
Sen John Rockefeller IV
Sen Olympia Snowe
Sen Ted Stevens
Sen Ralph Yarborough
Sen Lister Hill
Sen Hubert Humphrey
Sen Wendell Ford
Rep Sid Yates
Rep Vic Fazio
Rep Daniel Flood
Rep Don Fraser
Rep Sam Gibbons
Rep William Goodling
Rep Edward Markey
Rep Pat Roberts
Rep Edith Green
Rep John Fogarty
Rep Verne Ehlers
Rep Carl Elliott
Rep Silvio Conte
Rep Duke Cunningham
Rep Ralph Regula
Rep Pete Hoekstra
Rep Major Owens
Rep John Porter
Rep William Ford
Rep William Natcher
Secretary of Education Richard Riley
Secretary of Education William Bennett
Sigh. What a bunch of whiners and babies the left is.
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7 comments:
Hi,
I like your blog. I linked to it here.
I have felt like ALA has suffered from "NEA Envy" for years now. They desparatly want to be a player in the political arena like the teachers' group. Sadly they do not have the membership numbers or dollars that requires but are doing their best with sputterings like this.
I hadn't thought of it in that way, but if an organization can have penis envy, ALA does. Thanks.
As a library school student, all of my professors have urged us to join ALA. Despite my conservative beliefs, I almost gave in. Thank you. Your article has given me renewed strength.
Thank you! I will resist the "dark side" of librarianship. *grin*
BTW, what do you think of ILA?
If ILA is the Illinois Library Association, I'd say it's a good place to put your efforts. My experiences at the state level were always good, as with MLA, Medical Library Association. I think the specialty associations put on terrific programs and continuation ed. opportunities. You'll need someplace to network. They're also cheaper to get to and to belong to.
Know what? I'm a Christian. I'm an ALA member. I am not a right-wing know-it-all and I think home schooling (talk about a bunch of WHINERS!!!) is anti-American. Laura Bush is Laura Bush. Big deal. Who cares what phony awards she is or is not granted? Just another opportunity for some folks to try to conjure up that non-existent liberal boogie-man and further proof of deep-seated right-wing ignorance and fear.
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