Showing posts with label CensorshipByAla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CensorshipByAla. Show all posts

Sunday, July 19, 2026

Neutrality in Libraries is White Supremacy Says Librarian Kelly Jensen

"Neutrality is white supremacy," says a librarian i
Kelly Jensen: "neutrality is white supremacy"
n another example of how librarians are not "trusted experts" and seek to use local libraries for carrying out a political agenda antithetical to America.  American Library Association-awarded librarian Kelly Jensen in Book Riot writes that.  She doesn't want libraries to be neutral and blames it on capitalism, which is what she means by "white supremacy."  The public wants neutrality in libraries, but ALA librarians don't.

More from Kelly Jensen: "Who gets the safety of 'neutrality?' Cishet white people."  Sounds racist to me.  Sound racist to you?  "That trustee has been noting there aren’t enough books for their white cishet son, who is into history nonfiction."  Yep, racist.  "He wants the library to be 'beige,' built in the image of white supremacy and nothing more."  Yep, racist, and "beige" is not white, so her statement is internally inconsistent because she's blinded by hate.  Your "trusted expert" for school kids is a racist—but also a librarian, so she's fine and will continue to collect ALA's American Association of School Librarians awards and maintain her position as Senior Editor at Book Riot.

She's also anti American.  Kelly Jensen has a history of hate for America, such as by posting to her 13K Bluesky followers, "BTW, it is okay to just not celebrate or give a single sh[*]t about America's 250th anniversary of colonization.  You are allowed to just ... not!"  

Here are two articles on how people talking about "white supremacy" mean anti capitalism and anti American:

Borysenko, Dr. Karlyn. “Re-Education #7: Why Whiteness Means Capitalism; It’s Not About White People; It’s About the System.” Substack newsletter. Decode The Left with Karlyn Borysenko, August 18, 2024. https://karlyn.substack.com/p/re-education-7-why-whiteness-means.

Lindsay, Dr. James. “White Supremacy.” New Discourses, September 18, 2023. https://newdiscourses.com/tftw-white-supremacy/.


Now let's see in detail what ALA's "trusted expert" for children says about neutrality in libraries.  It's jam packed with projections like about "right-wing boards"—while ALA trains librarians ("Read. Lead. RUN!") into creating anti-American, pro child indoctrination boards comprised of librarians:

Jensen, Kelly. “Pride Month Still Matters, Despite Disappearing From Libraries: Book Censorship News, July 17, 2026; Pride Displays, Programs, and Events Continue to Disappear from Libraries in the US, Making Them Complicit in Queer Erasure.” Book Riot, July 17, 2026. https://bookriot.com/pride-is-disappearing-in-us-libraries/.  [Bold font modified.]

Quieting [of Pride in libraries] also happens more systematically. Numerous libraries have seen their right-wing boards craft policies related to affinity displays or programming. These policies target marginalized groups either intentionally, which we have seen in libraries where the far-right has simply taken over the library board and built the institution in their cult leader’s image, or they’ve been created under the guise of “neutrality.” But libraries aren’t neutral. Libraries have never been neutral, and libraries can never be neutral. They are unabashedly pro-library, which means being unabashedly pro-community and unabashedly pro-representation. Neutrality is bullsh[*]t. “Neutrality” is why far-right interests have run the train over libraries again and again and again. If libraries stand for nothing, they fall over easily again and again and again.

Neutrality is white supremacy. Until libraries understand that being political isn’t the same as being partisan, extreme partisan interests will declare the library as theirs and theirs alone.

....

At Columbia State Community College in Tennessee, a library’s LibGuide on LGBTQ+ terminology, flags, and organizations disappeared from the library’s website. It had been the library’s most-viewed guide, but the director heard from someone that they should remove it to “avoid any controversy.” The guide was not deleted, but it was unpublished. This is complying in advance, of course, and it’s also doing a tremendous disservice to an adult user audience. Who gets the safety of “neutrality?” Cishet white people.

.... 

Need I say more?  The above is all my opinion.  But watch Kelly Jensen on Bluesky to see for yourselves what I see.  These are the people set up by American Library Association to be "trusted experts" for school children.

Neutrality is white supremacy.

Quote of the above graphic:

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 
The first CRT tenet that we rely on, "racism as ordinary," is defined by Delgado and Stefancic as the idea that "racism is an ingrained feature of our landscape, it looks ordinary and natural to persons in the culture" (2017, 8-9). Because White Supremacy culture underlies the landscape of librarianship, and vocational awe and neutrality are arguably two of its most important mainstays, the assumptions, beliefs, and policies born from these values are seen as the norm rather than things to be challenged and ultimately transformed. Within this overarching tenet, we draw specifically on Alan Freeman's identification of a "perpetrator perspective" and a "victim perspective" in understanding White Supremacy, as well as Cheryl I. Harris's multifaceted approach to understanding whiteness as property. The second CRT tenet that we draw on to examine neutrality and vocational awe is "critique of liberalism," which pushes back against the idea that "equal treatment for all persons, regardless of their different histories or current situations," yields an equitable social structure, and that "with the election of Barack Obama, we arrived at a postracial stage of social development" (Delgado and Stefancic 2017, 26). Specifically because the value of neutrality in libraries relies on these misconceptions, we italicize this term throughout the rest of this chapter to highlight the fallacy in the goals of neutrality-framed library work. 
Due to a prevalent idea that "libraries are for all," there is a misconception that racial inequity does not affect libraries and requires no real intervention in libraries because people from all races, creeds, and walks of life are treated equally in the space. This idea is a central defense of neutrality; proponents of neutrality state that since we serve everyone, we must allow materials, ideas, and values from everyone. It also bolsters vocational awe, in that it forestalls meaningful critique of the field, particularly critique of its racial dynamics. As three People of Color, we have experienced on the micro and macro levels how librarianship weaponizes vocational awe and neutrality to uphold White Supremacy and further marginalizes communities of color. However, our very marginality allows a clearer view of the disconnect between the espoused values of librarianship and the reality of the field. We use this view to examine the current narratives of library work and, in a CRT tradition, to revise the history that has so long comforted the white majority of our profession (Delgado and Stefancic 2017, 25). 
Many of CRT's tenets overlap, particularly to relate the following ideas: that White Supremacy is purposefully maintained over time and is not happenstance and that the dismantling of White Supremacy is poorly served by incrementalism and similar liberal methods of achieving equality. Incrementalism, as defined by Lindblom, is the method of change by which many small policy changes are enacted over time in order to create a larger broad-based policy change (1980). Incrementalism, as a method, will not be limited to public policy in this analysis but will also encompass the larger implicit and explicit cultural rules that define the field of librarianship.

Source: Leung, Sofia Y., and Jorge R. López-McKnight, eds. Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies through Critical Race Theory. The MIT Press. The MIT Press, 2021. https://direct.mit.edu/books/book-pdf/2252069/book_9780262363204.pdf. 


Oh yes, oh yes, by the way, something completely different about Kelly Jensen.  She has been viciously attacking, of all places, New York Public Library and its president and CEO Tony Marx.

Jensen, Kelly. “What Goes Into Tracking Censorship, With an Update From the New York Public Library Comms Team; Immense Work Goes into Reporting On and Tracking Censorship, So When We’re Asked to Pull That Work, We Take It Seriously.” Book Riot, July 13, 2026. https://bookriot.com/what-goes-into-tracking-censorship/.

One of the things she really hates is that New York Public Library demanded she delete a link to something.

Within hours of last week’s Literary Activism link roundup post going live, a spokesperson from the NYPL’s communications department sent an email (to my personal email–something really unusual) expressing frustration that they were not asked for a comment and with “an urgent” request for a phone call.

....

I extended the offer to share what NYPL may wish to say in response to the carousel link. The spokesperson then responded with requests to take down the link, once again asking me for my phone number. I did not remove the link, though I did again offer to link to any public response they might give.

To be clear, we do not pull or censor our link roundups to allow individuals or entities to respond to information linked in these sources. Responses have been included in succeeding Literary Activism link roundups where appropriate.

To me, this is hysterical.  She's offended NYPL committed "censorship" by demanding she delete her link to something.  

This is yet another of the never-ending line of ALA double standards.  In the first of the many defamation suits ALA had someone file against me, there was a demand made of me.  If I complied with the demand, the lawfare lawsuit would be dropped.

What was the demand ALA wanted for the defamation suit against me to be dropped?  To delete a link!  To delete what I wrote about ALA!  About how ALA was homophobic!  ALA wanted me to delete a document proving ALA was homophobic!  Kelly Jensen wasn't incensed about that but demands NYPL be criticized for doing nearly exactly what ALA did!  To protect homophobia!  By Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Esq.!

So I never deleted it, the case continued on, and I won it both times (since it was refiled after the initial attempt failed).  Now, read about ALA homophobia from the very article ALA sought to get me to censor and I didn't—and Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Esq., only rose to more and more prominence in ALA making all of ALA homophobic (were she in my company, I would have fired her for homophobia):

Kleinman, Dan. “Gay Hate @ Your Library.” SafeLibraries®, July 27, 2014. https://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2014/07/gay-hate-at-your-library.html.

And I'm still being sued in now the fourth and fifth defamation suits promoted by ALA.  Please give $5, it's cheaper than a Starbucks!

Kleinman, Dan. “Legal Defense for SLAPP Suits Against Free Speech.” GiveSendGo, February 3, 2026. https://www.givesendgo.com/legalfundforparents.



Quote of the above graphic:

At the center of any investigation into whiteness that uses the methodological tools of “Critical Race Theory is Cheryl I. Harris’s (1995) foundational work on whiteness as property and the “conscious selections regarding the structuring of social relations” (280). Harris’s profound insights into the workings of whiteness compel us to recognize that the construction of racial meaning has historically emerged—and continuously reemerges—as a structural formation co-constitutive with US nation building, the territorial expansion of American empire, and racial capitalist development. The goal of destroying White Supremacy, then, routes us on a path to destroying the property relation itself—that is, destroying the system of ownership and control that reproduces relations of domination. In this vein, Jennifer Brown, Nicholae Cline, and Marisa Méndez-Brady’s chapter, “Leaning on Our Labor: Whiteness and Hierarchies of Power in LIS Work,” asks us to think carefully about the political economy of library services—in particular, how the commodification of information, the bureaucratization of diversity efforts, and inequitable distribution of labor seamlessly function to enact changes that don’t actually change anything at all. This “stubborn resistance,” as they call it, is, indeed, both ordinary and extraordinary, impeding the actual work of dismantling systems of oppression. Such a recognition forces us to consider whether a liberatory LIS is even possible within the very system of racial capitalism.”

Source:
Knowledge Justice
Leung, Sofia Y.; Lopez-McKnight, Jorge R.; Chiu, Anastasia



NOTE ADDED 20 JULY 2026:



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Location: Woodstock, IL 60098, USA

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

General Mike Flynn Calls American Library Association 'Marxist Thugs' Who 'Hurt, Abuse or Negatively Influence Our Children'; Brave Books Blocked

General Mike Flynn denounced American Library Association as "Marxism thugs" and said ALA needs to "stop trying to hurt, abuse or negatively influence our children or any children for that matter."  This in the context of ALA's training librarians to commit censorship of Brave Books by Kirk Cameron and block his use of public library meeting rooms.  Right during ALA's annual conference #ALAAC23, this has to be the biggest shock for the organization since losing the US Supreme Court case in 2003 that allows Internet filtering in libraries.  

Librarians responded by attacking General Flynn as a "moron," and I predict library media will be sure not to report on this truthfully, if at all.

Many others criticized ALA as well. Kirk Cameron, Andy Ngô, Haley Kennington (who did the initial research and tweeted evidence of the censorship attempt), Christin Bentley, David J. Harris, Jr., HotAir, Twitchy, and myself.

It's about time major attention is being brought to bear against what I have been reporting for almost twenty-five years.  Thank you General Flynn for saying what you did and promising to follow up!  Thank you Kirk Cameron for your book reading drive!  Thank you Haley Kennington for your excellent research!

Here's what different people has to say about ALA's training for censorship of conservative voices:

General Mike Flynn:

I, for one, am sick and tired of the Marxist thugs on the left who currently control far too many of our institutions of government and other activities that are taxpayer funded…the American Library Association (ALA), a taxpayer funded entity, is at the very heart of this latest controversy. 

ALA, this won’t be the last time you hear from me regarding this issue.

This, among many reasons, is why we must get positive and strong leaders with God-given common sense back in charge of our country. Those in charge currently are driving us straight through the gates of hell. 
 
Lastly, stop trying to hurt, abuse or negatively influence our children or any children for that matter. Why does the left insist on culturally abusing children? WTH!!!???

Brave Books, and do read the entire thread:


Haley Kennington, the initial researcher who got the ball rolling, and everyone should watch this to see how egregious is ALA's training, like it's advising librarians to bully those who come to the library for Kirk Cameron events:


Andy Ngô, a super excellent reporter (full disclosure, I read his book "Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy"):

Kirk Cameron, the actor/author against whom ALA members express their ire for his daring to let kids read wholesome books:


Twitchy:


HotAir:


Christin Bentley, SREC SD-1, who fights "filthy books" in Texas schools and helped get HB900 passed after sending the Texas legislature over of month of daily reports of, well, the "filthy books" in Texas schools:


David J. Harris, Jr., who doesn't like David:


Despite the library leader Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Esq., getting caught red-handed training librarians how to keep Kirk Cameron and friends from reading Brave Books in public library meeting rooms, librarians are defending ALA by smearing General Flynn.  

These people are despicable.  They get caught training for censorship (making a complete mockery of all their "United Against Book Bans" and "Banned Books Week" efforts to defend schools kids from parents trying to stop school librarians from giving their kids s3xually inappropriate material because Caldwell-Stone trained them to "reframe" it as diversity and inclusion, but I digress) and their reaction is to smear the General.  

Here, parents and Kirk Cameron are called "hatemongers" by Harvard Medical School librarian Matthew Noe (who smeared me causing me to get death threats):


Here the General is "this moron" and "incredibly disingenuous":


Now he's "completely bananas" and "sh*t":


Here it's "nonsense":


Here it's "Lol. Lmao.":



It really is time to defund the American Library Association, stop sending money to ALA, stop buying memberships, stop attending its trainings and conferences.  I am building another library association, but that's neither here nor there in this particular matter, other than to say my library association will not train librarians how to commit official public censorship.

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Location: Chicago, IL, USA

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Librarians Admit Banned Books Week Is a Hoax, Bash Trump and Breitbart, Then Censor It All

Gregg Whitmore:
Thoughts? Seems wrong to me on numerous levels...

Library Bans 'Clinton Cash: A Graphic Novel' from Its Shelves
A Florida library denied a woman's request to put a New York Times bestselling graphic novel that criticizes Hillary Clinton on its shelves.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/09/20/florida-library-bans-clinton-cash-graphic-novel-from-shelves/
WWW.BREITBART.COM
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Andy Woodworth: Yeah, linking Breitbart on the Think Tank is never a great move.
Andy Woodworth: Edit: The only reviews I see are on Goodreads and Amazon. A quick check of the library's website shows that they own it as a book, audiobook, paperback, OD eBook, and OD audiobook.
The library isn't wrong to say that they have plenty of copies of that book and in multiple formats; that's certainly true. Whether it should be added as a graphic novel for a book that is already a year old is pretty up in the air. I'm not sure what it adds to the collection other than yet another format for the same material. Personally, I'd add it but only because we have the space. Otherwise, I wouldn't.
Crissy Hensley: The local news version adds that the library has accepted 35 out of 39 of the patron's suggestions in the last 2 years. I wonder if she complained about the other refusals to this extent...
Philip Levie: Or anywhere. Ever.
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Terry Moore: “We want all the books on the shelves. We want the people to make the decision,” Lhota told WUFT-TV. She wants "all the books" on the shelf. Will she vote for a bond to expand the library to the size of the Western US? Not having every book on the shelf is not censorship, it's Collection Development.
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Richard Sandstrom: If she was the only person requesting it, no matter what it is, most libraries will say no. It is a matter of limited space, limited budget, and demand. The standard here is to offer to interlibrary loan it to her from a library that does have it.
Michelle Eisele: In this case, the article says she offered to purchase it and donate it to the library and they have said they will refuse to shelve it. On the other hand, it does appear that they have it in 11 other formats, so I can see why they could say no. It's not exactly censorship to not want to shelve the graphic novel version of a book they have already...in that many formats. It does seem a little petty to refuse a donation. I can honestly see both sides of this issue.
Jill Grunenwald: Michelle Eisele donations are not free. They still cost staff time and resources to process.
Richard Sandstrom: Looking into it further, the graphic novel seems popular and based on the statistics I looked up on the county, the library should have a copy. There are several copies of Clinton Cash the book and they seem to be circulating well. Depending on the policy the library may not be able to accept the book, but it is surprising that I do not see it in the catalog. But, that does not mean it hasn't been ordered and I know nothing of the library's internal structure and policies that really do have more to do with this situation than the book itself.
Megan Esseltine Hathaway: Michelle Eisele Donating a book does not give a patron decision-making power over a collection. If the library refuses to buy it for reasons other than cost, denying the request to accept a donation makes sense. We do nto accept donations that come with such stipulations-they are given to the Friends book shop (from which we can snag items for the shelves) or the patron can keep their book and hope we see value in buying the item.
Michelle Eisele: I'm not purely advocating for the patron, I said I could see BOTH sides of the issue.
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Nicole Renée Gustavsen: Interesting choice of the term "banned" in the title when the lede clearly indicates something different.
Andy Woodworth: Didn't buy it in all available formats, therefore BANNED
Diane Lapsley: Nothing draws an eye like "banned,' except maybe "aliens."
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JP Porcaro: lol breit bart
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John Sandstrom: Hopefully the library has a collection development policy in place that justifies their decision.
JP Porcaro: i dont even think you need a policy - librarians are obsessed with policy - a simple "we don't have space for everything" will suffice - policy or no policy doesn't prevent misleading briet bart articles like this
Andy Woodworth: Yes, you do need a policy. You need something you can show people (new staff, stakeholders, community, whatever) that says "here's how we decide things". If you say "we don't have space" and don't have a document that backs you up, it makes you look like you just made it up.
Shawn Bliss: I'm with Andy on this one. Carefully crafted policy is the CYA gift that never stops giving. Especially for public libraries.
Sally Breedlove: Yes, a policy is in place for any decline to purchase
John Pappas: A policy will back up your decisions when breitbart attacks!
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Sarah Dentan: Declining to add =/= "banning".
Tim Spalding: I hold no brief for this book whatsoever—the point is general—but this sort of argument falls apart, at least at the margins. Consider a bright-line case, the history of South African public libraries systematically declining to buy popular, well-known and much-praised books by black people, or that might seem to undermine Apartheid, even if they had not been explicitly sanctioned by the government. None of us would shrink from saying that they had "banned" them. None of us would say "Not adding isn't banning!" or "But they had collection- development policy!"
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Gregg Whitmore: Admittedly I'm not familiar with Breitbart , which might be part of the issue. And a good CD policy, multiple formats, money and space are always issues. Having a colleague in Mississippi that has to deal with outside politics constantly thwarting her ideas gave me pause when I read this . As a medical librarian, politics rarely plays a part in my CD policy, but I'm always interested to see what issues other librarians are facing. Thanks all!
David Rachlin: Brietbart is a conspiracy spewing tea party mouthpiece that routinely publishes inflammatory headlines that mask the true story. They purposely try to rile up conservatives with non-stories to take their minds of the real issues in the world.
John Ward Beekman: And the editor is now a major manager of a presidential campaign. No points for guessing which one.
Terry Moore: Pssst, it's the racist one.
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Janet Genchur Lukas: I once had a director take the swiftboating book on John Kerry off the shelves. He asked me where it came from and I answered that it was a donation. He opened the front door and tossed the book out the door. "it's missing."
Moni Rae: Wow.
John Jack: That is appalling.
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Ben Kenobii: Sounds more like a collection issue than a political one, huge beat up
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Alma Chavarria: So you all know Breitbart is a xenophobic, misogynistic, racist website from the alt-right. Right?
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Edward Pellaeon: Possibly two things going on here. They have the books but they're all checked out or someone is going out of their way to not shelve them. Most likely the former. With enough attention now, we'll see more copies once county and library board get media pressure despite any policies currently in place.
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Sally Breedlove: I work at this library. Suffice to say there is a lot more to this story. Also we didn't ban it.
Michelle Eisele: Can you share what's more to the story? Because while I was reading the article I definitely had that thought, we're obviously missing a lot here.
Brittany Turner: Michelle Eisele probably better that she not. May not be authorized to speak on behalf of the library, and probably better that she not open her personal Facebook account up to public records requests (which may have already happened with this post).
Michelle Eisele: I totally understand if she's not able to share, but I'm curious so I just thought I would ask!
Brittany Turner: Michelle Eisele agree... I'm assuming there will be more to come in the media, or on the library's Facebook page if they have one
Sally Breedlove: I'm the Facebook person for my library. We've already gotten people commenting, but I don't work outside of reg. hours. I can't say more, but if this were happening to your library you would know there was a lot of backstory.
Gregg Whitmore: Thanks for the insight, Sally. Much appreciated!
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Emily Whitmire Sluder: I wouldn't add it just because there would not be much circulation of it, and interest would wane more quickly than say, most other graphic novels.
Glynn Dowrgeun: Right, we have just a few weeks until the election.
Erik Wilkinson: Assume much Emily Whitmire Sluder?
Emily Whitmire Sluder: Haha!!!! I know you're joking! Our adults requesting the Clinton cash book would not want to read the graphic novel. You should have seen the uproar when Janet Evanovich had a graphic novel come out. "You mean it's not a real book?!" And our graphic novel fans usually stick to Walking Dead, game of thrones, um yeah... Clientele differences. Not to say other adults wouldn't like it or current gn fans wouldn't like it. There just aren't enough to justify! Plus to me it is like all the other political books about candidates. Interest wanes.
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Glynn Dowrgeun: That's not "banning'. That's "declining". A responsible journalist would learn that librarians have to decline crackpot offers of additions to the library all the time. And noncrackpot offers too. Breitbart is, of course, mischaracterizing for maximum sensational effect.
Philip Levie: Breitbart just got shared on my fb. This is one strike towards me unfollowing the Think Tank.
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Johna Von Behrens: "have even offered to pay for the book and donate it to the library." I dont see the issue here??
Brittany Turner: I have never heard of a library system that adds every donated item to a collection. Collection development policies exist and for good reason.
Alma Chavarria: We have a process that includes reading reviews from professional publications, input from librarians and collection development staff, and consideration on whether a book fits in our collection. Few books get a pass without going through all the steps.
Mike Cendejas: I used to work at a small bible college (sub-50 students) and their policy was to accept any donations from pastors and bump them to the head of the line for cataloging. We had 19 copies of the first Left Behind book. All cataloged and on the shelf.
Mara Connolly: That does not sound like a good use of shelf space!
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Lara Faekitty: Depends on the quality of the book and demand.
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Philip Levie: Audiobook on CD, Ebook, Print, AND E-Audiobook available. The librarians thought there would not be demand in GN format beyond this one very squeaky wheel. Move along, non-issue.
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Lisa Eichholtz: Libraries can't buy everything requested and not adding something to the collection isn't banning it.
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Ann Clare LeZotte: A local article with a bit more information. https://www.wuft.org/news/2016/09/20/libraries-denial-of-anti-clinton-book-draws-frustration/
Libraries’ Denial Of Anti-Clinton Book Draws Frustration
In mid-August, Ann Lhota, a Newberry resident, requested that the Alachua County Library District purchase “Clinton Cash: A Graphic Novel,
WUFT.ORG
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Wanda Mae Huffaker: I think I might have thought to myself: " It's a political year. Perhaps, I can find a little room for a display and display every political related book I can. I think I can get it, and every format, every Trump book, every voting book...everything and see if we can get circ up. It might not sit on the shelves. THEN, next year, when interest is down, we will reevaluate what our needs are. It's a win/win, and nobody calls the press".
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Nishan Stepak: If the decision is based on a disapproval of the ideas expressed and desire to keep those ideas away from public access then it fits the definition of censorship.
Jill Grunenwald: But that's not what is happening here. They already own the same book in multiple formats.
Nishan Stepak: A graphic novel is a different style of presentation than a book. Visual narrative and storyboards have a different process of creation than novels. A graphic novel is much closer to a film than a book. The process of creation is different. A writer of novels for the most part cannot create the visual imagery in a comic or graphic novel. The content is significantly different because of the images.
Megan Esseltine Hathaway: The audience for standard print vs. graphic novel are not the same audience. I would probably not purchase it for my collection, either, without a patron request (I don't get a ton, and am in a position to say yes to most of them).
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Breitbart News’ Worst Headlines
Media Matters looks back at the some of Breitbart News’ most outrageous and over-the-top headlines during...
MEDIAMATTERS.ORG
Erik Wilkinson: I agree that Breitbart is a shill for Trump, however it's also important to note that MMfA is a pro-Hillary organ (in fact she was one of its founders).
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Alma Chavarria: What say we look at the fine authoritative source that Breitbart is and ponder whether this site should be instrumental in collection development decisions. Hm?
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Diane Lapsley: Sure hope they circ a copy of "The Art of the Deal" or there'll be all sorts of hell....
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Nitko Odvaseg Poslovanja: If they have 11 copies in the catalog and they're not on the shelf, then they're all checked out.
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Nitko Odvaseg Poslovanja: Yeah. That library system has multiple copies of that book currently available for checkout.
Jack Baur: They don't have the graphic novel.
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Erik Wilkinson: I remember my public library carrying a a pro-Obama graphic novel back in 2008 so I do not see the harm in providing a timely and relevant one that may be critical of the Clintons. After all, a good library should have something to offend everyone. And as a personal aside, I think that as librarians we should further encourage the publishing of dense, complicated topics in GN format; it serves the public well.
John Ward Beekman: this line from the better-sourced news story makes a troubling point: "After the denial, the library district purchased “A Child’s First Book of Trump,” a satirical picture book that mocks Clinton’s Republican opponent, Donald Trump, Lhota said."
Erik Wilkinson: *sigh...*
Harriet Bedell: "better-sourced"?
John Ward Beekman: WUFT, a public radio station, vs. Breitbart
Harriet Bedell: ok, bc public radio isn't liberally leaning at all. Very subjective. At first I thought WUFT was you trying to cuss me out! lol
John Ward Beekman: liberal "leaning" perhaps, but with that outmoded sense of propriety and commitment to at least attempt objectivity, vs. an avowedly partisan mission.
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Tim Spalding: One thing I'd get into a collection-development policy: "We may add fewer hot political books than people expect." Because books like that seldom retain interest over the long term.
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Jen Crouse: Just searched catalog. No longer appears to be there. Odd.
Jack Baur: It doesn't sound like the ever had the graphic novel -- they said that having the audiobook, ebook, hardcover, and movie was enough.
Jen Crouse: Did you search the catalog?
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Tim Spalding: Final comment:
This is Breitbart bull. But I'd be very interested in a systematic analysis of political bias in library collections. (One could compare similar, but politically differing titles that sold equally across library collections. One could also look at holdings- vs-check-out ratios. There are lots of ways.) My gut tells me bias happens, and that it differs in both direction and magnitude in different places. And while I understand the various defenses, a significant systematic mismatch between patron demand and library holdings--all other things being equal--should be a concern.
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Jack Baur: If they've got multiple patron requests and people offering to provide copies of the book, I would say they are quickly running out of legitimate reasons to have it, unless they can fall back on a plurality of professional reviews.
Tim Spalding: Library collections are a planned, intentional, curated thing. You can't have a library filled with conservative titles because local conservatives donate books any more than you can have a library filled with liberal titles because liberals donate them.
JP Porcaro: Tim Spalding yea, tim is right re: curation.
as an aside, conservative think tanks spend huge money buying up books by talk radio folks and the like - which in turn, rises them up on the NY time best seller charts - which makes it *seem* at first glance like a legit reason to buy those books. without someone curating the collection (aka, just letting your collection be steered by donations, ofr the ny times list, or the whim of the few folks who fill out book requests). I don't see demand by a few folks as a legit reason to include the book.
JP Porcaro: this is also the reason why I dont include any of the DOZENS of great-looking hard-cover titles that we are constantly getting shipped here, unsolicited, from L. Ron Hubbard's folks. One or two books is enough.
Tim Spalding: JP: There's truth to that, but popularity manipulation is hardly restricted to right-wing outlets. (It's gotten to the point where, if a book is called an "Amazon bestseller," you should *expect* it was so for a day or less. The algorithm is absurdly sensitive to spikes, and, if you time your purchases right, you can make it spike for very little.)
FWIW, even if nobody you or I know would read it, Clinton Cash is no small book.
JP Porcaro: Tim Spalding even a big book isnt necessarily right for every, or even "the average", collection is what im saying- maybe i should have left politics out. i dont trust the 'charts' at all, for sure.
Tim Spalding: JP Porcaro There's no real way to dispute an individual case. It's too mired in empirical questions none of us can really solve. The larger, philosophical question is worth it, however. And, as I've said, I'd love to see a systematic "big data" analysis of political bias in libraries.
(Between the commercial and the library holdings data at my company, I've got more than enough to do that. But, fun as it would be—I *live* for what's now called "big data" analysis—I can't mine my customers' data for that sort of thing.)
Tim Spalding: Aside: I once did such an analysis of LibraryThing users' libraries--picking a dozen paradigmatic "red" and "blue" titles, and then inferring the red- or blue-ness of millions of other titles, as well as of the members collections. The red/blue divide is very real in bookland—most people's collections lined up neatly on one side. I never pushed it live because, well, that sort of thing, even if only seen by you, can get into people's noses like pepper. I envy OKCupid's data team.
JP Porcaro: Tim Spalding that is truly interesting!!! fictional title divides? red folks reading some fiction while blue folks read another?
Tim Spalding: Right. This is unexpected?
JP Porcaro: Tim Spalding not unexpected as much as unrealized. we - myself included - like to live in our little enlightened bubbles.
Tim Spalding: The effect is very strong. I remember early on noticing that "people who like The Mists of Avalon like Our Bodies Ourselves." On one level, it was silly—people don't expect recommendations to cross the fiction/non-fiction divide, unless the subject matter is identical. On another level, I'd seen the two rubbing shoulders on half the bookshelves of my Cambridge, Massachusetts childhood.
--
Jack Baur: Also I'm really disappointed in Chuck Dixon right now.
Jan Arrah: Why? If we're talking about the same CHuck Dixon, comic book writer, his political beliefs have been well known for decades. It's one of the reasons people threw a fit when he was picked to write the Grifter/Midnighter series several years ago.
--
JP Porcaro: as a related issue here: this is partially librarianship's fault. as long as we are out there banging the "banned book!!" drum for books that actually arent "banned" and are widely available everywhere, this is what we get. We get other people bending the definition of a banned book just as we ourselves bend it.
Michelle Eisele: That's a very interesting point. We understand the difference, but they might not always get it.
JP Porcaro: Michelle Eisele in this case, they might actually be even closer to the REAL definition of a banned book than librarians use - our banned books are available in libraries, this book isnt.
Tim Spalding: I think there's an excellent case against stocking this book. But your point is also where I get off the bus. Things seems to boil down as follows: Something is banned ("banned and challenged," but "banned" for public purposes) if a cranky private citizen writes a comment card against an available book, and the library staff appropriately do nothing whatsoever about it. But nothing that trained librarians do in the field of acquisition and weeding, although government employees, can ever quality for a spot on the banned-and-challenged continuum.
JP Porcaro: Tim Spalding I think we are saying the same thing? We librarians call it a "banned" book if we decided it should be there against the wishes of a one/a few people, but we'd never dare call it a "banned" book if we ourselves decided it shouldn't be on the shelves? 
JP Porcaro: which, btw, is my big issue with banned books week.
Michelle Eisele: I actually do think you guys are making the same point.
Tim Spalding: Right. We are. I'm just saying it in a lot more words.
JP Porcaro: oh ha sorry when you said "get off the bus" i thought you meant we weren't saying the same thing
Tim Spalding: Bus, not train. The "librarian common wisdom bus" or something.
Also the way ALA's list is presented as real, verifiable and statistical data, but is really an impressionistic marketing tool. I found that episode very depressing. There are few topics I care more about than freedom of expression, so statistical and methodological sloppiness here steams me up.
Wanda Mae Huffaker: We will never report on ourselves anyway, because we justify everything we do so that we are never wrong. Thus the reason we aren't reported to OIF.
--
Jan Arrah: I'd just like to point out that despite what people seem to think, Breitbart is not alone in the idea of misleading headlines (though theirs is very specific and only talking about the graphic novel..) and yes they used a sensational headline.. but so has every single news outlet I've ever seen and they often have a headline that is COMPLETELY different than the story inside all to manipulate people on the headline alone.
And yes, I think this is a misleading headline.. but then again we do over use the word ban in our society and as JP Porcaro pointed out.. it no longer means what we think it means. I remember not that long ago people getting very annoyed with me for pointing out an anti-gun ad that stated that Little Red Riding Hood was banned in America, but guns weren't that it wasn't accurate.. and people happily stood by banned in THAT case.. (though someone did make a more accurate ad..)

Source of the above, started 20 November 2016:

Source of archival copy, collected 25 November 2016:
(where ALATT = ALA Think Tank)
The archival copy shows all the typical Facebook graphics, notations, and indentations that I removed from my republication above for readability/searchability reasons.

I know of no other source for this post/document that the ALA people censored.  I'm happy to resurrect it and make it available for public discussion.

As stated, the above discussion has been censored from the ALA Think Group public Facebook group.  It now appears as follows—note the statement in the lower left (and the "revolution" graphic of the Black Lives Matters hate group that ALA pushes into public schools):

"This post has been removed or could not be loaded."
Actually, it was censored by ALA censorship police.
I was able to obtain a copy, before it was censored, of course.  I republish it as a courtesy to those seeking to expose how the American Library Association [ALA] harms communities.  It contains admissions and statements that go against the usual picture of good librarians caring for school children and communities.  These librarians are instead mocking patrons and otherwise showing they are social justice warriors, not civil servants acting in the public good, actively working to shape what patrons see.

Not all, of course.  Some librarians did indeed stand up for patrons and for common sense.  But the group counterattacks scare off many.  Even the first comment was to attack the messenger for posting a Breitbart News link.  I myself, a volunteer librarian, have been blocked from seeing, let alone commenting upon, this "open" Facebook group run by ALA heavyweights.

Why this matters: The censorship was done by the very same people who claim it is censorship to keep school children from inappropriate material in public schools.  It was done for the purpose of censoring their admissions that so-called "Banned Books Week" is a hoax.  As one candidate for ALA President put it (and the guy who blocked my access, self-arrogated free speech proponents that they are):
this is partially librarianship's fault. as long as we are out there banging the "banned book!!" drum for books that actually arent "banned" and are widely available everywhere, this is what we get. We get other people bending the definition of a banned book just as we ourselves bend it.
Exactly.  He also said,
We librarians call it a "banned" book if we decided it should be there against the wishes of a one/a few people, but we'd never dare call it a "banned" book if we ourselves decided it shouldn't be on the shelves?
which, btw, is my big issue with banned books week. 
Another librarian said,
Something is banned ("banned and challenged," but "banned" for public purposes) if a cranky private citizen writes a comment card against an available book, and the library staff appropriately do nothing whatsoever about it. But nothing that trained librarians do in the field of acquisition and weeding, although government employees, can ever quality for a spot on the banned-and-challenged continuum.
Correct.  And that's how books about ex-gays are banned by ALA and children's Rush Revere books by Rush Limbaugh are banned, even during Banned Books Week.  See:
It also exposes just how much librarians hate conservative ideas, Donald Trump, and Breitbart News.  Seething hatred.  Just read it.  No wonder they deleted it.  No wonder I resurrected it.

It also exposes how librarians practice their own brand of censorship that never makes it into ALA's "Banned Books Week" hoax list, as the one librarian pointed out, like the library director who threw Jerome Corsi's New York Times #1 Bestseller out the front door for obvious political reasons, then said it is now missing:
I once had a director take the swiftboating book on John Kerry off the shelves. He asked me where it came from and I answered that it was a donation. He opened the front door and tossed the book out the door. "it's missing."
Unfit for Command; Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry never appeared on any ALA Banned Books Week annual list.

Each year the American Library Association fakes stories about Banned Books Week and leaves out its own censorship.  The first commenter on the ALA Think Tank post above, who immediately went negative by questioning why anyone would link to Breitbart and mocked the library patron for claiming the Clinton Cash graphic novel was "BANNED," worked directly with ALA's "Office for Intellectual Freedom" to increase the efforts to dig up false censorship cases.  No book's been banned since 1963, for example, so all censorship cases ALA has uncovered since BBW started in 1982 by ACLU/ALA's Judith Krug are false censorship cases.  All of them.  Yet ALA keeps digging for more:
Here we see the very same people involved with that Banned Books Week hoax are themselves censors when they need to hide their own censorship and their own hatreds.  They admit Banned Books Week is a hoax, bash the President and conservative media, then censor the whole conversation.  Only the got caught at it.

Do not believe the ALA hoax any longer:


More on the Banned Books Week hoax that Thomas Sowell calls National Hogwash Week here.

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Saturday, April 19, 2014

American Library Association Blames YouTube Video for Benghazi Attack; Passes Policy Silencing Prayer After Jewish Man Prays for Dead Colleagues at ALA Meeting; Does Not Support Free Speech

ALA claims Benghazi attack was
"fueled" by a YouTube video.
The American Library Association [ALA] claims a YouTube video was responsible for the Benghazi attack.  Yet the video had absolutely nothing to do with the attack.  Instead its use supports Islamist efforts to use blasphemy laws to silence the free speech of those speaking out about Islam from a different point of view than the Islamists.  ALA now evidences agreement with that anti-free speech goal.

ALA, supposedly a supporter of free speech, has in the past censored a speaker in response to complaints from Islamists and maintains a block on speech from Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.  Now it has joined with those promoting blasphemy laws to silence free speech.  The video had nothing to do with the Benghazi attack, yet ALA calls it, "the radical anti-Islamic video that fueled the attack on the American embassy in Benghazi"?
  • "Appeals Court Decision Undermines Free Speech, Misinterpret Copyright Law," by Carrie Russell, Director of the Program on Public Access to Information in the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP), American Library Association, 14 April 2014 (hyperlinks in original, emphasis mine, grammatical errors in title and text are in original):
    Last week, the American Library Association (ALA) joined an amicus brief calling for reconsideration of a 9th circuit court decision in Garcia v. Google, case where actress Cindy Sue Garcia sued Google for not removing a YouTube video in which she appears.  Garcia appears for five seconds in “Innocence of Muslims,” the radical anti-Islamic video that fueled the attack on the American embassy in Benghazi.  The video was uploaded on YouTube, exposing Garcia to threats and hate mail.  Garcia did not know that her five second performance would be used in a controversial video.

ALA Policy Silencing Impromptu Prayer at ALA Meetings

By the way, at ALA's latest annual conference, it passed a policy silencing prayer at ALA meetings in response to a Jewish ALA member saying a quick prayer over other ALA members who had just died:
As former ALA Councilor Ruth Gordon said, "When Mr. Friedman intoned the Jewish mourner's 'Kaddish' after the sudden deaths of 2 Councilors, I was highly indignant and walked out.  It never should have been allowed and before the second incident I begged Mr. Friedman not to repeat the prayer-at least on Council floor." Source: ALA Councilor Ruth Gordon.
Anyone is free to pray at any time, anywhere.  What people are not free to do is to force others to participate in their prayers, which is what happens when one prays aloud.  If Mr. Friedman wished to offer a prayer in his own particular religious format, he has a temple or synagogue in which to do so.  An ALA meeting is not a religious service, & if Mr. Friedman wished to express his sadness over the deaths of the councilors there, he's free to do so in a non-religious way.  Source: Sherry Rhodes.
So the self-arrogated free speech police who claim it violates free speech to keep children from inappropriate material and decry "banned books" think one has free speech to "express sadness over the deaths of the councilors" but only "in a non-religious way," unless you go your own "temple or synagogue."

A single ALA member (ALA Councilor Ruth Gordon) was incensed at a Jewish prayer being said in a single ALA meeting and ALA has now banned such prayer.  The free speech police banned free speech.  Remember, ALA claims a single parent should not be allowed to "censor what others students can read" in public schools; one parent should not control an entire school.  But it is okay for one person to react to Jewish prayer and cause ALA to block religious free speech ALA wide.  Just another double standard.

It is right that ALA is not a religious institution and should not have official prayers or prayer times, but a colleague saying an impromptu prayer upon news of the death of another colleague is not official ALA prayer and ALA had no right to silence people in such a fashion.


ALA Censorship Double Standard; ALA Does Not Support Free Speech

What we see here is ALA censorship promoted by impromptu Jewish prayer while ALA promotes censorship of those who oppose radical Islam.  All while telling communities it is censorship to block porn in public libraries and censorship to keep school children from inappropriate material.

ALA supports Islamic blasphemy laws that silence free speech, censors points of view that differ from Islamist views, and silences its own members after a Jewish man makes a quick Jewish prayer at an ALA meeting out of respect for a dead colleague.  ALA does not support free speech.



On Twitter:  @ALALibrary @JihadWatchRS @OITP

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