An Arizona librarian was fired after he called for libraries to
be apolitical spaces.
In July, Arizona librarian Ron Kelley received an email from the
American Library Association—the largest librarian association in
the world—soliciting individuals to join the Black Lives Matter
movement. Kelley, who had served in his position for nine years,
replied to the list-serve with an email titled “Keep Politics Off
This Discussion Group,” in which he argued that libraries should
remain neutral and apolitical. Following two complaints to the
Flagstaff Library regarding his email, Kelley was fired from his
job.
Prior to Kelley’s removal, the American Library Association
released material instructing employees to embrace “critical
librarianship,” which asks libraries and librarians to analyze how
they “consciously and unconsciously support systems of oppression.”
Its core tenet is that neutrality harms oppressed groups. As one
Portland librarian
put it�in the American Libraries magazine, remaining neutral as
a librarian “upholds inequality and represents indifference to the
marginalization of members of our community.”
Kelley told the Washington Free Beacon that this idea was
wrongheaded.
“Our job as librarians is to provide access to information from
all points of view, and let people make up their own minds,” he
said. Critical librarianship is “rejecting neutrality in the
library. This goes against what the premise of a free society and
what a library should be.”
Under the auspices of “critical librarianship,” the American
Library Association has in recent years attacked “the gender
binary” as an outdated, oppressive concept. The organization also
promotes “drag queen story hours” across the nation and calls for
maintaining “queer and trans of color archives” and “naming and
calling out microaggressions.”
Kelley told the Free Beacon he was perplexed that a drag-queen
story hour can take place in a public library but that defending
viewpoint neutrality leaves him without a job.
The Flagstaff Public Library could not be reached for
comment.
The post
Arizona Librarian Fired for Push to Keep Politics Out of
Libraries appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.
