Sexual Harassment of Librarians Never Happens; Child Pornography is Intellectual Freedom

Sexual harassment of librarians never happened and likely never will, according to the American Library Association's attorney Deborah-Caldwell Stone from ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom.  My reliable source for reporting this?  The Deputy Director of ALA OIF herself.

Below is a transcript of what she said at an Orland Park Public Library board meeting.  Below that is a YouTube video of her saying what's in the transcript so you can hear the dismissive tone in her voice.  And further below that is a library employee in that very same meeting revealing how she was sexually harassed as a result of the library applying ALA OIF's policy:

TRANSCRIPT OF ALA'S DEBORAH CALDWELL-STONE, ESQ.

ORLAND PARK PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING

18 NOVEMBER 2013

[START TIME 5:15]

I’m Deborah Caldwell-Stone.  I am an attorney employed by the Office for Intellectual Freedom for the American Library Association.

Um, I have thought carefully about what I might say tonight, um, and I could go tit for tat, challenging some of the conclusions that have been offered to you about the legal authorities that govern Internet access in libraries and hostile work environment.  I will only tell you, and um be brief about it, that it's far more complex than it's being represented here tonight.  In fact, the libraries that were sued for hostile work environment settled the cases.  They weren’t forced to pay any money.  Um, the settlement was uh reached with a mutual agreement with the librarians involved to get rid of the lawsuit and both, uh, in fact, both in Minneapolis and in Birmingham the EEOC and the Department of Justice declined to sue on behalf of the librarians.

Hostile work environment is a very fact-based lawsuit.  I’m sure your legal counsel can tell you that.  You must have very strict, uh, standards to bring a lawsuit.  You have to be targeted because you are part of a protected class based on race, sex, ethnicity or religion.  Um, the harassment must be a result of your membership in the protected class.  So these are far more complex lawsuits than, uh, is being represented here.  And there've only been three of them over time, over the last twenty years of Internet access in libraries.

So I encourage you to get good legal consultation on these facts, uh, uh, um, about these things.  We’re happy to assist, um, but I’m sure that there're other attorneys who can assist you as well.

I do want to reiterate that I work with libraries on developing policies on a regular basis.  You have very strong policies, they're very child protective, they're respective of your, uh, users’ rights to access the Internet and the library materials under the First Amendment, and there are First Amendment rights that accrue to library users.  And, um, I want to, uh, just express my, uh, my respect and my appreciation for your professionalism in all of this.

Thank you.

[END TIME 7:22]

Library Admits to Child Porn Coverup:

"Professionalism," to the American Library Association, includes allowing and covering up child pornography.  It is no longer debatable that occurred as the library has admitted to it and admitted it was wrong.  Watch: "2014-8-18 Diane Jennings Admits Child Porn and LIES about Staff Action," by Megan Fox, YouTube, 11 November 2014:

Child Porn Coverup Earns Law-Breaking Library Intellectual Freedom Awards:

Not to worry, that child porn coverup admitted to in August 2013 has earned the library multiple subsequent awards.  ALA seeks to hold up the law-breaking library as an example to others, and what better way than to make it an award-winning library!  After all, protecting child pornography is protecting First Amendment intellectual freedom!  ALA does oppose child pornography per se, but it teaches librarians and trustees they are not judges and are in no position to determine what is child pornography.

Photo Credit: Orland Park Public Library

Here are the awards so far, at least one instigated by ALA's Barbara Jones, and there are likely more in the pipeline—I wouldn't be surprised if library director Mary Weimar makes a graceful exit from her coverup by joining ALA OIF as at least one Assistant Director has done:

• GSLIS's 2014 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award: "2014 Downs Award Given to Orland Park Public Library Staff, Board of Trustees," by Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 9 December 2014.
• ILA's 2014 Intellectual Freedom Award: "From the Community: Orland Park Library Board Honored for Intellectual Freedom by Illinois Library Association," by Bridget Bittman of OPPL, Chicago Tribune, 4 November 2014.

YouTube: ALA Says Librarian Sexual Harassment Never Happens:

Here is the visual recording of the transcript provided above:

Source: "2013-11-18 = Terrific Rebuttal to ALA Lies During Public Comment at OPPL Meeting (Part 3)," by Megan Fox, YouTube, 19 November 2013, start time 5:15.

YouTube: Library Employee Reveals Sexual Harassment:

At the very same meeting that ALA just said sexual harassment never happens, a former library employee spoke to say she was sexually harassed in that very library:

Source: "2013-11-18 = SHOCKING EXPOSE: Library Insider Linda Zec Gives Scoop on Porn in Libraries (Part 4)," by Megan Fox, YouTube, 19 November 2013.

Transcript of ALA's Barbara Jones Speaking at Same Meeting:

FYI, here is the transcript of Barbara Jones, head of ALA OIF, who spoke directly before Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Esq.:

• "Barbara Jones Transcript: ALA and FTRF Mislead Orland Park Public Library," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 15 December 2013.

Warning to TeamHarpy:

There are two librarians being sued for defamation for reporting on the alleged sexual harassment by another librarian that allegedly occurs at library conferences.  On Twitter they call themselves #TeamHarpy.

I have a warning for TeamHarpy.  If you ignore the ALA OIF saying sexual harassment of librarians never happens, you'll never be able to prove sexual harassment of librarians really does happen.  At a minimum, you cannot be truly serious about opposing sexual harassment of librarians if you ignore that ALA OIF is saying sexual harassment of librarians never happened and likely never will.  I realize nearly every single librarian is afraid to speak out against ALA OIF on its harmful policies because that would be a career ender, but if your goal is to truly stop sexual harassment of librarians instead of stopping just one man, you must address the source, the ALA policies that allow unfettered porn including child pornography.

Note to my readers:  TeamHarpy absolutely hates me for saying the above, but it is the truth.  You can't prove sexual harassment of librarians happens when ALA OIF says sexual harassment of librarians never happens.

Congrats to #TeamHarpy censors who got me removed from Top 200 #Librarians list! #hypocrites http://t.co/FDvUpVVGVh #censorship #FreeSpeech
— Dan Kleinman (@SafeLibraries) December 16, 2014

Conclusion:

Sexual harassment of librarians never happens.  Child pornography is intellectual freedom.  At least that's what ALA OIF wants people to believe because its own policies are directly responsible for the unfettered porn and child porn viewing that leads directly to sexual harassment and other sex crimes.  These policies are in many libraries nationwide.  If people like TeamHarpy want to address librarian sexual harassment, they should not ignore the main source of that harassment, namely, ALA OIF pro child porn policy.  Such policies must be extirpated or the illegality and harassment will continue unabated.


NOTE ADDED 19 DECEMBER 2014:

Here is one example of where the American Library Association advises librarians to ignore child pornography, and this policy guides many local public library polices nationwide:

• "Guidelines and Considerations for Developing a Public Library Internet Use Policy," by Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association, 26 March 2013, emphasis in original:

Libraries and librarians are not in a position to make those decisions for library users or for citizens generally. Only courts have constitutional authority to determine, in accordance with due process, what materials are obscenity, child pornography, or “harmful to minors.”

.... 

As for obscenity and child pornography, prosecutors and police have adequate tools to enforce criminal laws.  Libraries are not a component of law enforcement efforts naturally directed toward the source, i.e., the publishers, of such material.

NOTE ADDED 28 OCTOBER 2017:

ALA OIF's new leader, Jamie LaRue, has doubled down on saying sexual harassment of librarians due to the unfiltered Internet never happens.  He called it "speculation," "dubious":

• "Sexual Harassment and the Internet," by James LaRue, Intellectual Freedom Blog, 12 July 2017:

My correspondent made various misleading claims I won’t repeat here. But I did want to address one issue. He wrote that “harassment is caused by people having viewed the unfiltered Internet while in the library.” But that’s speculation, not fact. It’s dubious, too. People read mysteries in libraries and don’t feel compelled to commit murders. People are responsible for unwanted or criminal action, not the internet. And not library policy.

Wow.

URL of this page: safelibraries.blogspot.com/2014/12/sexual-harassment-of-librarians.html

On Twitter: @GSLIS @IllLibraryAssoc @IntolerantFox @OIF @OrlandPkLibrary #TeamHarpy

Follow @SafeLibraries