Sweet Justice for Exemplary Library Director

BCLS Library Director Gail Sweet
Photo Credit Nancy Rokos BCT

Library director Gail Sweet is retiring from the Burlington County Library System, Westampton, NJ, after twenty eight years.  Read about all the wonderful innovations she has to her credit:

• "Sweet Closes Book as Longtime Library Director," by Danielle Camilli, Burlington County Times, 24 August 2012.

Read what I have written about her:

• "Et tu, Mary Minow? Then Fall, Gail Sweet!," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 2 August 2010.
• "Nominate Gail Sweet for I Love My Librarian Award," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 6 September 2010.
• "Revolutionary Readings Review: Go See It," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 21 August 2010.

"Censorship" Registered Zero on the Richter Scale

Look again at the Burlington County Times story.  Anything missing?  Nowhere is it mentioned that she removed a book from the library system having a graphic, shown below, of two men having anal intercourse while two Boy Scouts look on inquisitively.  All those shouts of "censorship" from the self-arrogated free speech crowd, as is noted in my writings above, and nothing mentioned about the book's removal in that BCT story.  Nothing.  It registered a zero on the Richter scale.

Picture in book that school and public library removed.

Communities Support Library Directors Who Stand Against False "Censorship" Claims

Despite all the astroturfed noise about "censorship" and discrimination against "LGBT" interests, many and perhaps most library patrons thanked Gail Sweet for what she did.  They stood behind her and supported her.  Quietly.  Gail Sweet doesn't have a 64,000 member library association to call on to raise false issues to promote an agenda foreign to the community, so most people don't realize how much the community supported Gail Sweet and is happy the book was removed.

This is an example of how community members will support library directors who stand up to the false shouts of "censorship" used to attempt to force a community to do as the ALA wants:

• "Will Manley Outs Library Profession as the Only One in the World That Wants Children to Have Access to Pornography; Annoyed Librarian Says Some Librarians Sound Like Smut Peddlars," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 2 May 2011.

As you retire, hold your head up, Gail Sweet:

And if they shout 

Don't let it change a thing that you're doing 

Hold your head up.

(Hold Your Head Up - Argent - 1972)

Same Book Removed From Local Public School and ALA Freaks Out

In the school local to Gail Sweet's library, Rancocas Valley Regional High School, the same book was removed.  Yes, it was in a public school, anal sex for kids and all.  The book was removed.  Even more noise from the "censorship" crowd arose from that.  That noise included:

• The school's media specialist being given an award for "research[ing] the motivations behind the challenges of three books on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues and up[holding] the principles of intellectual freedom...": "School Media Specialist Passes Sexual Content Review to Students; Dee Venuto Says It Is Discrimination to Keep Children From Material Including Lengthy, Vivid Descriptions of a Ménage a Trois," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 18 August 2010.
• The American Library Association [ALA] using this single instance from this single school of this single book as the means to fake its annual Top 10 Challenged Book List, and I have made available a recording I made of the book's author essentially admitting as such in response to a question I asked: "Banned Books Week is Gay Promotion? Author Admits ALA Faked 2010 Top 10 Challenged Book List," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 26 September 2011.  That is right, the ALA used the book removed by Gail Sweet that was also removed in the local school as the excuse to fake its annual list, likely to use the homosexual activist community to amplify the ALA's own agenda, and it worked.  The top book that year was also related to homosexual activity, it was also faked, and after I exposed the fake, it no longer appears on the list despite being on for five years straight.  Currently the ALA is faking its latest list to ride The Hunger Games movie wave, but I digress.
• The school's "media specialist" went over the head of her own school's administration to report to the ALA something that has nothing to do with removing school books having pictures of children watching anal sex: "Venuto discovered the book challenge to be part of a well-organized strategy, part of TV personality Glen [sic] Beck's 9/12 Project, to discredit Kevin Jennings, GLSEN founder and director of the Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools."  One of her supporters even called those who challenged the books part of a "terrorist group." 
• The school's "media specialist" joined the ALA's lecture circuit on "censorship."  Coincidentally or not, she said that my exposing ALA efforts to mislead communities was "changing the library profession":
  • "SafeLibraries Changing Library Profession According to Speaker at ALA 2010 Annual Conference; SafeLibraries Welcomes Media Requests for ALA Balance," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 14 August 2010.

Conclusion:  Sweet Justice for Exemplary Library Director

So when one reads that BCT story about Gail Sweet's retirement, and sees it written so wonderfully, and sees it has absolutely nothing about the book removal, that is evidence that the book removal issue was really a big zero to the vast majority of the community.  Although the "free speech" crowd had screamed "censorship" and even faked their annual "banned" books list using the book, the local press could care less and Gail Sweet apparently did not mention it either.  As one person said, "The ... elites have convinced themselves that they are taking a stand against cultural tyranny.  ....  [T]he reality is that it is those who cry 'Censorship!' the loudest who are the ones trying to stifle speech and force their moral world-view on others."

I see that as Sweet justice for an exemplary library director.  I see that as an example for the many libraries directors out there afraid for their careers to appear to oppose the ALA.  There are a few other library directors willing to stand against the false ALA shouts of "censorship," like Dean Marney, Jo Ellen Ringer, and Mary Hastler.  Instead of living in the ALA's chains, library director's like them have the key, and now Gail Sweet joins them to set the example for how to break free:

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains

And we never even know we have the key.

(Already Gone - Eagles - 1974)

Does your community library director have the key?

Brava, Gail Sweet!  Enjoy your retirement!

Follow @SafeLibraries

ALA Admits Library Filters Work; Barbara Jones Bursts Her Own Breast Cancer Bubble

Barbara Jones is the leader of the American Library Association's [ALA] so-called Office for Intellectual Freedom [OIF].  On 25 January 2012, she made the oft-repeated false statement that Internet filters block access to breast cancer web sites and do not work. [EN 1]  The ALA does this as a means to convince people not to block pornography in public libraries, because breast cancer might be accidentally excluded.  Nevermind that the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] was involved in a legal matter finding filters no longer block health-related information. [EN 2]

On 26 January 2012, I responded that she was lying about breast cancer being blocked. [EN 3]

Then, on 1 February 2012, library director Dean Marney [EN 4] was asked about blocking breast cancer and he responded in no uncertain terms that claims of breast cancer blocking are false. [EN 5]

Surprise!  Barbara Jones was on the very same radio broadcast with Dean Marney, and she contradicted herself [EN 6] from just a few days previously, handing me and Dean Marney a major success in our efforts to educate communities about the ALA's misinformation.  She admits, finally, that the breast cancer excuse is outdated.

And librarians know it is a lie. [EN 4] [EN 7] [EN 8]

ALA Admits Library Filters Work; 
Says Librarians Are the Biggest Impediment

Barbara Jones even admits that library filters work but that librarians don't know how to set them properly! [EN 9]  Breaking news!  ALA admits library filters work!!  Then the ALA blames librarians for misusing them.

But even in admitting they work, she still misleads saying, among other lies, "There is still constitutionally protected information being filtered out," by which she means pornography or the like.  As we all know by now, legal porn may be legally excluded from public libraries, and it was the ALA itself that lost on this very issue in the US Supreme Court back in 2003. [EN 4] [EN 10]

If anyone ever again says public library filters block breast cancer sites, know immediately that they are lying, and they are likely misleading in other areas as well.  Given my success (along with Dean Marney, mainly,) in turning the ALA on this issue, consider following me if you want accurate information about how the ALA misleads communities into leaving their own citizens open to harm.

Consider Subscribing to SafeLibraries for Politically Incorrect Library News

I am happy to be the only source bringing you this significant, high importance, well sourced news of major admissions by the ALA's OIF leader that library filters work, old breast cancer excuses don't, librarians don't know how to run filters correctly, etc.  But why am I the only news source doing so?  Where is the Library Journal?  Where is the ALA's American Libraries?  Where is LISNews?  Have any of them reported on, for example, the news I broke in "Know the ALA"?  Of course not.

People, consider subscribing to my news feed (at Twitter or Facebook) for library stories not politically correct enough to be reported elsewhere.  After all, if the ALA OIF finally admits filters work, doesn't its whole house of cards fall down?

End Notes

1. "Libraries, Sexual Content and the Internet: Striking a Balance Between Rights, Access, and Comfort," by Barbara Jones, Huffington Post, 25 January 2012:

   Research shows time and again that filters end up blocking content that is not only legal but is important for adults to be able to view.  ....  An ideal example is the word, "breast," which many filters block.  The problem is that in addition to blocking what might be offensive content, the filter also blocks "breast cancer."  And so the only solution is for parents, teachers, librarians, and other community leaders to work with Internet users.  Filters won't do it for them.

2. ACLU v. Gonzales, E.D. Pa., March 2007:

   75.  In addition to analyzing the content of Web pages, dynamic filters also take the context of the page into consideration, to ensure that the determinations are as accurate as possible.  For example, many companies will develop templates that provide additional context to teach the software how to recognize certain contexts – for example, to block the word "breast" when used in combination with the word "sexy," but not when used in combination with the words "chicken" or "cancer."  The software analyzes context, in part, by utilizing statistical pattern recognition techniques to identify common features of acceptable and unacceptable Web pages, depending on the context in which the content appears.  Cranor Testimony, 10/23 Tr. 243:5-244:6; Whittle Testimony, 10/31 Tr. 201:4-17, 204:17-205:2 

3. "ALA OIF's Barbara Jones Misleads Entire Nation to Think Library Porn is Not a Problem While Library Filters Are," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 26 January 2012:

   "An ideal example is the word, 'breast,' which many filters block.  The problem is that in addition to blocking what might be offensive content, the filter also blocks 'breast cancer.'"  Now this lady has gone from misleading people to flat out lying.  She is lying.  She is in the very position to know better, and she chooses instead to lie, so she is purposefully lying.  Even the ACLU admits filters are 95% effective and no longer filter out health-related information: http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/07D0346P.pdf

4. "Library Porn Removal Roadmap; NCRL Director Dean Marney Details How to Legally Remove Legal Porn from Public Library Computers and Advises that the ALA Relies on Outdated Dogma," by Dan Kleinman, SafeLibraries, 15 November 2010:

   The outdated tenets about using technology to manage the Internet, promoted by the Freedom To Read Foundation (FTRF) and American Library Association (ALA) Office of Intellectual Freedom, express dogma and fundamentalism and deserve challenge.
   ....
   Filtering offers a technological solution for a technological problem.  If your filter is inadequate, find a better one.

5. "Viewing Porn in Public Libraries Spurs Debate," by Ross Reynolds, KUOW 94.5 FM Puget Sound Public Radio, 1 February 2012 interview with Barbara Jones and Library Director Dean Marney:

   Ross Reynolds (7:13):  Now I've heard that some computer filtering can be problematic because, for example, it won't allow you to go to a breast cancer web site 'cuz it's got the word "breast" in the search.
   
   Dean Marney (7:23):  Ross, that drives me crazy because when people bring up that as an example and I wanna go, if their filter is blocking breast cancer, they've got the wrong filter.  'Cuz that's, maybe that was like maybe that was 50 years ago but it's not the state of the art now.

6. See End Note 5:

   Ross Reynolds (9:05):  Back to you, uh, Barbara Jones, uh, Dean says he's got filtering software there that just works perfectly.
   
   Barbara Jones (9:12):  Um, I would like to say that, yeah, the breast cancer example probably is kinda old these days, but, um, we're currently working on a case and I can give really, um, really current examples ….

7. "Librarians are Guardians of a Trust," by Jo Ellen Ringer, Notus Public Library Director and Guest Writer, SafeLibraries, 10 April 2011:

   There are two issues here: "proper" (based on local standards, not ALA standards) expenditure of public tax dollars in our communities, and using the trust given to librarians in wise ways.  Education and information are the twin missions of any library.  Are we meeting those goals?  Pornography, violence, bomb-making are not for the public good, nor do most taxpayers wish to support this with their taxes.

8. "Minneapolis Library Workers Go Public with Cybersmut Complaint," by American Library Association, American Libraries, 21 February 2000:

   "We feel harassed and intimidated by having to work in a public environment where we might, at any moment, be exposed to degrading or pornographic pictures," read a February 12 Minneapolis Star Tribune letter to the editor signed by 47 employees of the city's Central Library.
   
   Siding with a February 5 editorial by a patron outraged that MPL won't intervene when users display sexually explicit Internet sites, the letter urges the installation in high-trafficked areas of "sophisticated filters" which, "contrary to the 'official' line of the ALA . . . allow searching of topics such as 'breast cancer.'"

9. See End Note 5:

   Ross Reynolds (9:55):  Are the filters getting better?
   

   
   

   Barbara Jones (9:59):  Um, filters have gotten better because people have more control.  However, um, a lot of librarians don't know how to set these controls, and some of the controls actually don't work.  Um, nothing is as good as the human brain.  There is still constitutionally protected information being filtered out.  I do have evidence to show this.

10. United States v. American Library Association, 539 US 194 (2003):

    [P]ublic libraries' use of Internet filtering software does not violate their patrons' First Amendment rights....
    
    In any case, the suggested alternatives have their own drawbacks.  Close monitoring of computer users would be far more intrusive than the use of filtering software, and would risk transforming the role of a librarian from a professional to whom patrons turn for assistance into a compliance officer whom many patrons might wish to avoid.  Moving terminals to places where their displays cannot easily be seen by other patrons, or installing privacy screens or recessed monitors, would not address a library's interest in preventing patrons from deliberately using its computers to view online pornography.  To the contrary, these alternatives would make it easier for patrons to do so. 

NOTE ADDED 7 SEPTEMBER 2013:

I have updated some links that had gone missing with archived links.

Also, see how Children's Internet Protection Act author Ernest Istook describes how ALA purposefully misleads people in a propagandistic fashion:

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

NOTE ADDED 8 APRIL 2015:

Updated link in Note 5.

Follow @SafeLibraries

Librarians are Guardians of a Trust, by Jo Ellen Ringer, Notus Public Library Director and Guest Writer

Librarians are Guardians of a Trust

by

Jo Ellen Ringer
Library Director, Notus Public Library, Notus, ID

8 April 2011

In rural communities like the one I serve, all computers are usually in one spot because of the amount of electric wires needed.  So the person viewing porn on one computer is sitting next to a child playing a game or doing homework on the next computer.  It is very easy for that child to view what the adult is viewing.

How the Nampa, ID, library handled that was to put privacy screens on their computers.  Rural libraries do not have the money, nor often the desire to do so.  If computers are in the middle of the library, people are less likely to pursue questionable topics on the Internet, especially since other library users are walking by.

The Notus, ID, library uses an online filter that blocks violent, racist and pornographic sites.  I did not think that those extra categories were necessary but it came with the filter.  Then I discovered, through teens complaining the Internet wasn't "working," that they were trying to access brutal gang fights and decapitation of dogs.  I was sickened.  I explained we had a filter to block online violence so they would have to go elsewhere to access these videos.

Another rural librarian had a convicted felon in her library using the computer.  She decided to walk by his computer several times and saw that he was studying information on arson.  He had formerly fire bombed a public building in her town.  She made the decision to report him to the authorities.  She brought up this issue in a librarians meeting and asked what others would have done.  The consensus was they would not have reported him.

What would the result of her silence been?  Another fire bomb with perhaps human deaths this time.  We are guardians of a trust that few public workers have.  That librarian did honor the trust of her community.

There are two issues here: "proper" (based on local standards, not ALA standards) expenditure of public tax dollars in our communities, and using the trust given to librarians in wise ways.  Education and information are the twin missions of any library.  Are we meeting those goals?  Pornography, violence, bomb-making are not for the public good, nor do most taxpayers wish to support this with their taxes.

I would add a third mission for rural libraries, caring for the children.  Latchkey kids are seen in all rural libraries after school.  We watch over them until parents get home from work.  In the summer it becomes a full-time job for rural libraries.  Parents are trusting us.  Let's be worthy of that.

Parents presume we are keeping their children safe and occupied in educational activities.  No parent assumes that "educational" means access to porn and violence for violence's sake.  To be clear, I am not speaking of works that portray the horrors of war or racism: books or films on war or genocide.  Deadly gang fight videos do not qualify as "educational" in my opinion, nor in the opinion of the community I serve.  Let's earn the trust our communities have invested in us.

Jo Ellen Ringer, Notus Public Library Director

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NOTE FROM SAFELIBRARIES:

Libraries are not well served by blind adherence to the anything-goes attitude of the American Library Association [ALA].  And the ALA will not publish, let alone entertain, the works of conservative librarians.  Scott Savage comes to mind.  Therefore, SafeLibraries has presented the above excellent guest blog post by Jo Ellen Ringer.  She is the library director for the Notus Public Library in Notus, ID, where she has been since 2003.  All graphics and hyperlinks were obtained and inserted by SafeLibraries.  All guest bloggers are welcome.

By the way, legal pornography may be legally removed from public libraries, privacy screens are demonstrably ineffective, and even rearranging furniture does little to stop porn viewing in public libraries.

Note that Jo Ellen Ringer has appeared prominently in one of my blog posts on the Idaho Public Libraries Internet Filter Act, specifically this one:

• "Librarian Strongly Supports Filtering Legislation; Notus Public Library Director Jo Ellen Ringer Tells It Like It Is."

© 2011 Jo Ellen Ringer; published by SafeLibraries with permission.

JO ELLEN RINGER WILL BE HAPPY TO RESPOND TO YOUR QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!!  Enjoy!

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Librarian Strongly Supports Filtering Legislation; Notus Public Library Director Jo Ellen Ringer Tells It Like It Is

Notus Public Library Director Jo Ellen Ringer strongly supports filtering legislation and exposes that "[e]very librarian knows full well that non-filtered computers are used for pornographic purposes."  And, "Is porn information?  NO!"  Heresy!

In a comment to a recent post of mine she wrote:

J.Ringer said...

I am probably the only librarian in Idaho that totally supported the filtering legislation.  I made my legislators aware of my career and my backing of the bill.



Every librarian knows full well that non-filtered computers are used for pornographic purposes.  No one denies it.  I have yet to encounter the person who is doing breast cancer research, thus needs filter turned off.



Why should public tax dollars go to support porn addicts?  That is the bottom line, not freedom of information.  Is porn information?  NO!

I have seen men publicly masturbating while viewing porn on library computers.  When I reported this to my supervisor (at Nampa, ID library), I was told it was none of my business.  I wondered if it became "our" business if he sexually assaulted some child in the library bathroom after this viewing.

I expressed my views to the Idaho Library Association and was quite disappointed that they chose to fight filtering.  All filters can be turned off NOW for legitimate research.



Jo Ellen Ringer, Notus Public Library, Notus, ID

Thu Apr 07, 04:28:00 PM 2011

Brava Jo Ellen Ringer!  She now joins other librarians and library directors willing to speak out about the "dogma," like Dean Marney.  See, "Library Porn Removal Roadmap; NCRL Director Dean Marney Details How to Legally Remove Legal Porn from Public Library Computers and Advises that the ALA Relies on Outdated Dogma."  Or like Will Manley; see, "The Anything Goes ALA is Out of the Mainstream by Defending the Right of Children to Access Pornography in Public Libraries."

Maybe it is time that librarians and library directors rise up and speak out about what they know to be true.  I will make that happen as best I can.  For example, here's an open invitation to guest post on this SafeLibraries blog.  You are not alone.  The American Library Association's anthem need no longer be "Smut!" if enough people speak out.

And thank you, Jo Ellen Ringer, for commenting on my blog post and getting this ball rolling.

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