There’s been a growing movement to ban library workers from the American Library Association. Here’s the 2024 legislative rundown + places where membership is prohibited.

Very scary…..

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What begins at the local level moves to the regional level, then onto the state level when it comes to book bans. School book bans shift to public library book bans (despite claims made otherwise by those book banners), and then those bans find their way into the city or county level. In too many cases over the last four years, those city or county-level issues bubble to the state level, leading to legislation that does precisely the opposite of what the local-level regression seeks — local control is ceded to the state or country. This perspective is crucial for context as to why, in 2024, several states proposed legislation that would ban affiliation with the largest professional organization for library workers, the American Library Association (ALA).

Data shows that librarians are ranked among the most trustworthy professions by parents. Unfortunately, this trust is being tested and questioned.

Library workers are seeing their ability to be affiliated with their professional organization challenged. This is fueled by misinformation peddled by the far right, who see the ALA as some kind of machine that encourages librarians to fill their shelves with “pornography,” “obscenity,” and “inappropriate material,” as well as one that trains library workers how to undermine parents through diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. As outrageous as that sentence sounds — do we see the same kinds of arguments lodged at, say, police professional organizations, despite the fact they, too, seek to educate law enforcement officers about diversity, equity, inclusion, social-emotional learning, and so forth? — it underscores what these book bans are actually about. It’s not the books.

It’s about eliminating anything outside the far-right Christian agenda from American democracy.

So when the book bans themselves are not enough to get the job done, ALA is a prime next target. By demonizing a professional organization, these individuals and groups are able to further damage the actual professionalization of the field — one that goes back to 1876. Disaffiliation is harmful to the libraries themselves, too, as the ALA provides grants and projects that are available only to those who are affiliated with the group (something pretty standard across all professional organizations, as membership dues help fund these things). ALA also helps libraries follow policies, procedures, and standards to ensure that these institutions are strong stewards of public money, that they follow ethical and legal guidelines, and that they actually serve the whole of a community. ALA lobbies on behalf of its members, too, ensuring that libraries are being funded and respected as one of the few democratic institutions in America.

As bills seek to ban or revoke access to the ALA, they are only damaging themselves, which is, of course, the end goal.

A couple of weeks ago, I rounded up the state-level legislation that aimed to criminalize library workers.

This week, I’m highlighting the 2024 state legislative bills that aim to ban library worker affiliation with the American Library Association and the associated punishment.

It is very important to note that these bills use language that many then weaponize against library workers and those reporting on the dangerous censorship happening in libraries.

These bills specifically spell out that taxpayer money cannot be used to pay for affiliation.

The problem is that library workers are themselves underpaid, and one of the few perks of working in libraries is that membership into the professional organization is paid for by these institutions (not to mention these bills make it illegal for the libraries themselves to affiliate, which begs the question of then who would pay for it if not the taxpayers already funding the library). This kind of “well, actually” of professional affiliation does not happen to other professions.

It also deeply and purposefully misses the point.

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Alabama

  • House Bill 425 took aim at several aspects of library work. Section 3 specifically would prohibit any entity that received money from the Legislature, “including the state and any library in this state,” from affiliating with the American Library Association. For the purposes of this bill, “affiliating” means becoming a member, as well as receiving any training or certifications from the organization. This bill did not proceed following its proposal in early April, as the state legislative session concluded May 14, but it is very likely we’ll see an iteration of this again next session.

Georgia

  • Senate Bill 390 passed out of the Senate and into the House but ultimately died at the conclusion of the state legislative session. This bill amended part of the Georgia code such that it would be prohibited for library workers in public libraries or public institutions of higher education to use taxpayer funds for “materials, services, or operations” offered by the ALA. It would prohibit attendance at American Library Association-affiliated conferences with taxpayer money or privately donated funds, and it would have dissolved the certification board for libraries at the state level. It would further prohibit acceptance of a bid for proposals made by the ALA in the state.

This is the literal opening paragraph of the bill, worth sharing because of how out of pocket with reality it is:

The General Assembly finds the following: (1) The bureaucracy that has developed around the certification of librarians has become heavily intertwined with and influenced by the American Library Association; (2) The President of the American Library Association has declared herself to be a Marxist; (3) The American Library Association has used the librarian certification process to promote its ideology; (4) The vast majority of residents of this state do not want their tax dollars to directly or indirectly support such an ideology; (5) Other states have begun reducing the influence of the American Library Association; (6) The Georgia Library Association is an affiliate of the American Library Association; (7) The Georgia Library Association should no longer be an affiliate of the American Library Association; and (8) The Georgia Council of Public Libraries is well suited to assume responsibilities concerning the certification of librarians and related duties.

Louisiana

While “only” three states attempted to pass anti-professional affiliation bills this year, these did not occur in a bubble. They’ve been popping up throughout the country, starting first at the municipal/county level and then moving upward toward the state. Here are some of the places where libraries and library workers are not allowed to be part of the American Library Association because it has been prohibited by legislation and/or because they have “taken a stand” against the association for reasons like the right-wing talking points laid out in the Georgia bill:

Why would county-level politics play a role or have interest in the professional organizations of library workers, you might wonder. This is because such deprofessionalization serves commissioners in two ways. First, they can claim they ended a woke agenda pervading local institutions. Second, they can claim they saved taxpayers money. They win on playing into the rhetoric of a small but loud constituency and toward a larger group with their spinning of this as “fiscal responsibility” (never mind they do not elaborate or clarify that responsibility is at the expense of one of the few institutions of democracy still left in America).

It’s worth noting that oversight of State Libraries is often at the state legislative level, meaning that even if a state governor or other legislators cannot pass state-wide bills banning affiliation with ALA, they can enact that at the state library. That’s why you see so many listed above — it’s a petty act of power but one with a real chilling effect.

The above is likely an incomplete list — but it emphasizes the newness of the deprofessionalization movement; the flimsy logic as to why such decisions are important; and more, an ill understanding of the purpose, structure, and organization of the American Library Association.

Source Literay Activism  email alet 24 May 2024

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