ALA and Israel

One example of the leftist bias that exists in ALA is that organization's hostile attitude towards the state of Israel. In one particularly egregious incident from 1997, two ALA representatives met with that heroic statesman, Yasser Arafat. Courtesy of the Conservative Lib discussion group, this October 28th article from The Jewish Press gives a good overview of ALA's anti-Israel bias. The piece is well worth a read:

The very name of the American Library Association suggests to me an association, or group of people, involved in, employed by, and/or concerned with libraries and librarianship in the U.S. Thus, I assumed that ALA would be involved in furthering the visibility and the interests of the profession; that any political involvement would be primarily concerned with library employment, education and infrastructure, and ensuring that collections are balanced in perspective and accessible to all.

I did not expect to find that this professional organization had extended its purview beyond addressing issues directly relevant to the profession. Library staff who wish to be political activists should, by all means, enlist in any or many of the political organizations that are congruent with their beliefs and interests. This does not include bending a professional organization into a political arm of either the Liberal Left or the Reactionary Right.


Librarians Against Israel Revisited