By Arlene Quaratiello –
In February 2024, the American Library Association posted a press release on its website opposing Georgia legislation that would have defunded it. This press release describes the ALA as “the preeminent non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services in the United States.” The American Library Association further claims not to “espouse any political belief other than a commitment to the freedoms identified in our nation’s founding documents that are essential for our democracy.” The previous month, however, the ALA reaffirmed a commitment at its annual conference to “climate justice” by unveiling the “National Climate Change Action Strategy” of the Sustainable Libraries Initiative. The goal of this group is “to work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase work on climate adaptation to ensure libraries are contributing to community resilience, and harness the power of education for climate justice.”
Taxpayers should be left shaking their heads as they futilely wonder which essential freedom from our founding documents this “climate justice” initiative could possibly correspond to. The truth we must realize is that the American Library Association is nothing more than a woke lobbying group supported substantially by tax dollars. Its denial of a left-wing political agenda is an outright lie, and its twisting of the Constitution is an egregious attack on democracy. It should not be funded by any public money on the state or local level.
The ALA’s recent support of so-called “Freedom to Read” state legislation to supposedly ban book bans is disingenuous while it simultaneously defends the inclusion of pornography in the children’s rooms of public libraries nationwide and supports events such as drag queen story times. Back in 2020, during an ALA Webinar, “Banned Books Uncensored: LGBTQIA+ Stories & Gender Identity,” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, commented on various proposed state legislation regarding controversial books, revealing that the ALA promotes an insidiously liberal political agenda and is very much involved in partisan efforts. She stated, “What needs to happen most, and it needs to happen before these bills are introduced, is sustained messaging that reframes this issue, that takes it away from the idea that these [books and programs] are … sexually inappropriate for minors and promote them as diverse materials and programming that are about inclusion, fairness, and the protection of everybody’s right to see themselves and their families reflected in the books in the public library.”
We want to thank Arlene Quaratiello for this Contribution. Submit yours to steve@granitegrok.com
An article from the Philadelphia Gay News (2/5/24) describes the ALA as “a major player in the lobbying effort to convince state legislatures to pass bills like New Jersey’s Freedom to Read Act.” Caldwell-Stone duplicitously asserted in this article that “State legislatures have an increasing interest in legislation that bans book bans, and ALA sees that as a call to everyone to stand up against censorship and call it what it is, a threat to our children’s education, to our civil liberties and individual freedoms and to our democracy.’”
The American Library Association’s political agenda becomes obvious when considering its organizational structure. It has a “Committee on Legislation” that “is charged with the responsibility for the association’s legislative agenda” and is specifically tasked with ” identifying…the association’s strategic priorities” and ” recommending…a legislative and public policy agenda.”
Meanwhile, the ALA’s Public Library Association Committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice has, as its name implies, an egregiously woke agenda. It has acknowledged “that libraries have been—and still are—complicit in systems that oppress, exclude, and harm Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC).” It further asserts, “The library profession remains overwhelmingly white, despite decades of emphasis on diversity and inclusion.” Because “the profession has largely failed to improve conditions and ensure pathways for advancement among library workers of color,” this Marxist group is committed “to dismantling white supremacy in libraries and librarianship” and will “Embrace discomfort as we navigate challenging and emotional subjects.” One of the PLA’s “EDISJ” (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice) projects is its Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity Framework, which simply oozes with critical race theory platitudes.
The mission of the ALA division United for Libraries, which is composed of trustees and members of library “friends” groups, is “to become a real, united force to be reckoned with at the local, state and national levels. Its past president David Paige (2020-2021) is now a New Hampshire State Representative who was the prime sponsor of the state’s so-called “Freedom to Read” bill that would have rendered parents’ objections to inappropriate material in school libraries futile. Unlike similar legislation that was vociferously supported by the ALA and passed in New Jersey and Maryland this year, New Hampshire’s bill fortunately failed.
To enable its members to become activists who support its political agenda, the ALA website provides free access to a “State Legislative Toolkit” on its “Advocacy and Issues” webpage. This “toolkit” provides resources intended to help members “prepare for legislative session, maintain advocacy infrastructure, track legislation and media, build partnerships and coalitions, engage with legislators, and address adverse legislation.” The American Library Association itself affirms its lobbying role, declaring that “Advocacy is central to everything ALA does.”
While the political agenda of the American Library Association is obvious to anyone who peruses its website, this organization deflects attention away from its own beliefs by disguising them in the agenda of other organizations with which it is closely tied. A copyright notice at the bottom of the home page of the organization Unite against Book Bans, for example, clearly indicates that the information on the site is the intellectual property of the ALA and that Unite against Book Bans is indeed “An Initiative of the American Library Association.” The site, like that of the ALA, provides an “Action Toolkit” to counteract the “small but vocal group” that “is driving the current flood of book bans in school and public libraries across the country.” The site provides access to the 40-page PDF booklet, “Unite against Book Bans Toolkit.” This coming October 19th, Unite against Book Bans (a.k.a., the American Library Association) will be sponsoring a nationwide “Freedom to Read Community Day of Action” with the purpose of fighting “voter apathy” and supporting “pro-library, anti-book banning candidates.”
The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) is another non-profit legal and educational organization affiliated with the American Library Association. FTRF purportedly “protects and defends the First Amendment to the Constitution and supports the right of libraries to collect – and individuals to access – information.” It is particularly supportive of the sort of so-called “Freedom to Read” model legislation that has been proposed this year in states including New Jersey, Maryland, and New Hampshire.
There is also another innocuous enough sounding organization called EveryLibrary. However, a memo from 2012 regarding the establishment of this PAC and addressed to the Executive Board of the American Library Association reveals a concerning affiliation. The memo describes EveryLibrary as “the first nation-wide Political Action Committee for libraries.” Its mission is intended to be “supporting local library ballot committees and PACs as they conduct voter outreach and get out the vote efforts.” While the ALA could not legally provide direct support to EveryLibrary, this memo reveals an effort “to make sure that ALA members with a comprehensive understanding of ALA’s mission and advocacy goals are involved in EveryLibrary mission development, governance and ongoing work,” and that EveryLibrary’s activities “complement” ALA’s work.
EveryLibrary Institute is a branch of EveryLibrary that provides policy and model legislation and, unlike its parent organization, can accept tax-deductible donations. I was unable to see what model legislation was provided because I did not have the necessary login credentials as a “donor” might. I suspect, however, that this material would resemble the sort of “Freedom to Read” bills that have recently been passed in New Jersey and Maryland. Among EveryLibrary Institute’s free resources is a journal called The Political Librarian “dedicated to expanding the discussion about library advocacy and activism,” a policy brief, “Opposing Attempts to Criminalize Librarianship through State Obscenity Laws,” and a report on how “Project 2025” will impact libraries.
Considering the ALA’s undeniably biased political agenda and its affiliation with related left-wing groups, public support of this lobbying organization must stop. Georgia, the first state to propose legislation to prohibit funding of the ALA, has provided an example that all states should follow. But numerous state library boards and commissioners including those in Montana, Texas, Florida and Alabama have already defunded ALA, foregoing its so-called “benefits” such as discounts on “professional development” (indoctrination) and the sort of woke books that are highlighted in my previous Substack article
(“Have Yourself a Marxist Little Library”). These “benefits” are simply not worth the cost of supporting this organization that has hijacked America’s libraries with its insidious political agenda.
GraniteGrok.com is a reader-supported endeavor, and we can’t continue without your support. Please consider a monthly subscription donation. It goes a long way to helping offset the rising cost of everything. One-time donations are also always welcome. If you would like to donate by check, email me at steve@granitegrok.com.
