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A Question for the Liberry Peeps Out There
Should I rejoin ALA? My membership expired during the three years I worked in a school library, but now that I’m back in the public library world, I’m wondering if I should become a member again. My new employer doesn’t have the budget to pay for personal ALA memberships for its employees, so I’d have to shell out the money myself, and it ain’t cheap.
More to the point, I’m not sure if it’s worth the money. ALA is supposed to be the professional organization that fights for better wages for librarians, but if my paycheck is any indication, they’ve been doing a lousy job of it. Moreover, the Association has recently been taking public stances on issues that, to my mind, have little if anything to do with librarianship.
I mean, seriously: does anyone give a fuck what librarians think about torture? Of course they’re opposed to it. Other than moral pygmies and registered Republicans, who does favor torture? The point is, should a professional organization be spending its energy and political capital passing resolutions that have nothing to do with the advancement of the profession it ostensibly represents?
These are controversial issues within the library community, and I’m probably stirring up a hornet’s nest just by asking these questions. The ALA takes plenty of strong stands on political topics that do directly affect libraries (filtering, censorship, intellectual property, the Patriot Act, etc) and far more often than not, I agree strongly with their stances. I’m just wondering if the organization is spreading itself too thin by tackling every issue under the sun, and if that “mission creep” weakens it.
I’m wondering if I’d be wasting my money.
