Dear Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Your Libraries Will Soon Allow Porn Since Library Trustees Will Be Trained by the American Library Association to Violate the Law

Dear Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Virginia's public libraries will soon allow unlimited pornography despite the law since new Virginia library trustees will be intentionally trained by the American Library Association [ALA] to violate the law and allow porn.

Virginia library trustee training has been turned over to the ALA's "United for Libraries's Trustee Academy":

• "Virginia Becomes Latest State to Provide United for Libraries' Trustee Academy for their Trustees," by Jillian Kalonick, American Library Association, 21 October 2013.

"The Trustee Academy will enhance the Library of Virginia's existing online tutorials for trustees and will assist the trustees of Virginia's public libraries in carrying out their duties and responsibilities," said Librarian of Virginia Sandra G. Treadway.

It is not an "enhancement" to teach the opposite of the law with the intention of misleading library trustees into allowing porn in local libraries throughout Virginia.  ALA's "Virginia Trustee Academy" teaches the very people responsible for setting policy in Virginia libraries the opposite of the law.

The US Supreme Court said in US v. ALA, 539 US 194 (2003), a public library is not an open public forum, surprisingly enough.  Because of that, the government has a right to apply reasonable controls, including software filters to block pornography.  Besides, the Court said, libraries have traditionally blocked porn from book collections, so using software filters to achieve the same effect on the Internet makes no difference.  The case applies to all libraries, not just those obtaining federal funding.  All libraries may legally block porn, whether or not they accept federal funding.

The "Virginia Trustee Academy" teaches the exact opposite, that porn may not be blocked because libraries are open public fora.  They are not.  By the way, in a subsequent case, porn need not be unblocked, even upon request:

• "How to Filter Public Library Computers: Bradburn v NCRL Shows Libraries Need Not Approve Unblock Requests," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 25 April 2013.

So the training turns the very crux of the US v. ALA case on its head.  The newly indoctrinated library trustees then go back to their local libraries and apply the ALA's legally false diktat, thereby forcing communities to endure the typical harms unlimited porn brings.  You see, everyone assumes the library trustees must know what they are doing because they have been trained.  Perhaps, but not if they have intentionally received false training on the singularly key issue that pertains to community safety from the harms of porn in public libraries.  For details on this false training, see:

• "How State Library Associations Endanger Children; NJ Libraries and You: Not Perfect Together," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries 13 August 2013.

Governor McDonnell, I am offering my assistance to help you to counteract this insidious means of misleading and controlling local communities in Virginia.  And you'll have to do this because the Librarian of Virginia has already shown where her allegiance lies.  Naturally she will deny what I have said, but the issue of the safety of Virginia residents is too important so set aside so easily.

The person who created the training for the ALA is from New Jersey.  She has said libraries cannot block porn because that violates the First Amendment, even though the US Supreme Court said the exact opposite.  I'm from New Jersey too.  She has excused her porn pushing policies in local media by claiming that I have only written about a single incident in a New Jersey library and that I did not otherwise complain to the New Jersey Library Association that she leads.  So she has no excuse for defying the law and she chooses instead to attack the messenger.  This is the person who created the training that the ALA uses to indoctrinate your Virginia library trustee trainees, at least last I looked.  Is this what you want for Virginia?

• "Porn in Public Libraries," by Walter Kane, Kane In Your Corner, News 12 New Jersey, 5-6 November 2011.

Lastly, let me add that I am viewed as a "trusted source" on ALA misdirection by none other than the author of the Children's Internet Protection Act [CIPA].  CIPA requires filters in exchange for federal funding.  Please read this as it explains exactly how and why ALA misleads communities and what can be done about it:

• "Children's Internet Protection Act Author Ernest Istook Interviewed," by Dawn Hawkins, Morality in Media, 17 April 2012. 

So I am writing this message to warn that turning over library trustee training to the ALA will result in significant harm to communities throughout Virginia as a result of library trustees who have been intentionally misled into thinking blocking porn violates the First Amendment.

Sic semper tyrannis

URL of this page:  safelibraries.blogspot.com/2013/10/DearGovernor.html

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