It’s no secret that libraries — public, academic, special, and school — have taken a sharp left turn in recent years. As more and more young people have graduated with degrees in library science, the profession has taken on a far more radical, activist turn than ever before. This is hardly surprising, given that colleges and universities are among the most radical and left-leaning institutions in the country, infecting every discipline taught. North Carolina has seen its share of examples.
The change in libraries did not happen overnight as I’ve shared before. It’s been 50 years in the making. But in the last five years, the radical left now controls most library organizations. The current American Library Association president, Emily Drabinski, described herself in a now-deleted tweet, as a Marxist who believes in collective power. She eagerly sought to change libraries in her image.
Astonishingly, librarians in the rank and file were quick to oblige, filling library shelves with age-inappropriate materials and leftwing propaganda. From Pride displays to transition-friendly books, American libraries are now Hamlet-like, with “neither the interior nor the exterior resembling that which it was.”
Once the proverbial cat was out of the bag, states withdrew from ALA, including some in the Carolinas. Florida, Texas, Missouri, Wyoming, Alabama, and others have severed ties with ultra-left ALA. Other states are seriously considering it. Why all states have not, including some red states, is an oddity without explanation.
Can anything be done? The answer is a resounding yes, and here are five things that conservatives can do to hasten the demise of ALA’s stranglehold on libraries.
- Volunteer to serve on any local library or state library boards. Unfortunately, many library boards are staffed by either left-leaning individuals or moderates who find it difficult to believe that libraries are working to undermine their community values. Unless conservatives take over these boards, however, left-leaning flapdoodle will continue to mark library collections going forward.
- Write to your state and local politicians about this nocent trend. Many elected officials remain unaware, not because they do not care, but because they are overwhelmed with other pressing matters. Unless changes are made (including withholding funds to libraries) generations of library users will be fed leftwing propaganda.
- Stress library neutrality. A decade and a half ago, libraries followed neutrality on controversial issues. When a controversial issue arose, libraries did not take sides but provided information on both sides of the argument. That is hardly the case now. (Try getting your local public library to buy books that argue against gender transitioning and see what happens). Remind officials that the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is an excellent starting point for “cleaning up” library collections.
- Work now to promote the Association for Library Professionals (ALP), for more information, see here. A fledging association that will launch its website later this month, ALP seeks to return libraries to neutrality while stressing that libraries purchase age-appropriate materials. Unfortunately, many children’s library collections are now populated with sexual materials so explicit that they cannot be read aloud in public gatherings.
- Lastly, (and this is more of a long-term goal) work to overturn the left-leaning politics that dominate colleges and universities across the US. Talk to your representatives to curb their funding or shut it off completely. Colleges and universities are among the most left-leaning institutions in the country and no discipline (including mathematics and science) is immune to the leftward propagandizing of nearly every individual in the professoriate.
None of these things by themselves will produce long-lasting change. But together, when applied by a concerted electorate, it might well be enough to overturn the radical shift that now ensnares libraries everywhere.
If we do nothing, we may as well close the book on libraries.