The Conservatives Among Us

I’m not comfortable describing myself as a conservative. After a rough start as a doctrinaire leftist, I now strive to be happily post-partisan in my political and social views. But as a recovering liberal, I plead guilty to harboring superficial and prejudiced views of conservatives. I also regretfully acknowledge that many librarians are pleased to see conservatives marginalized in our profession, and that far too many librarians are content to remain blissfully and culpably ignorant of conservative views that might challenge their own preconceptions. 

 Given our professional values, this is more than a dereliction of duty. It’s a betrayal of the classical liberal principles that have guided our profession. These principles — tolerance, thoughtful criticism, and respect for the individual — are also shared by most American conservatives. Yet our profession not only refuses to acknowledge this shared heritage, it often refuses to extend the benefits of these principles to our own conservative colleagues.

Although librarians have been confronted with silly stereotypes, more often they have enjoyed a trust and affection not usually granted to public sector employees. We were not granted this trust because we are the cool kids, or because we are au courant with the latest technology, or because we are the human face of the ACLU. We were granted this trust because we are viewed as level headed and fair minded custodians and public servants. This is not quite like how some of us would like to see ourselves, but this trust is hard earned and non fungible. We are well advised to honor and cherish it, stereotypes and all.

However, our profession’s susceptibility to unreflective partisanship has created a newer and, sadly, more accurate stereotype, seemingly made to order (by us) for use in right wing demagoguery; namely, the supercilious liberal safely ensconced in a cozy government job. If we let this stereotype become a reality, libraries and the values they embody will continue to lose ground. And we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

 Great article. Would that this kind of thinking  spread to other institutions, and yes, I am speaking of the aptly named "bleeding heart liberal" groups, who are blind to the direction our ‘super-liberal’ President is taking us.

This election was a godsend for our country and this article is a godsend for our libraries.  Now, if they would only read it.

I agree totally with the comment about credibility.  I was a member of ALA until about 8 years ago and I seriously doubt I will ever join/support it again.  ALA is the most hypocritical organization I’ve ever known.  Promoting any political party (left OR right) violates it’s own Code of Ethics, and yet I can’t imagine anyone having the audacity to claim ALA is center/unbiased.  Conservatives are very much in favor of small government and this aligns completely with freedom to read/intellectual freedom and privacy and yet our opinions are CENSORED through intimidation and ostracism.  ALA has been so busy promoting all it’s liberal agendas (unrelated to the core ideologies of libraries) that it’s not even publishing accurate information.  I have found the information (staff #s, etc.) in the library listings in the American Libraries Directory to be wrong - they aren’t simply outdated - the four or five libraries that I have personal, factual information about are wrong.  If you want accurate information about any library, go to the NCES website.

Does anyone else think that Will’s language here is a little patronizing toward conservatives? It’s the same old "We have no clue why they are the awful way they are but we love ‘em anyway and will try to correct their thinking" attitude that caused me to leave the Unitarian Universalist church.  I am also amazed at the number of false stereotypes perpetuated about anyone to the right of center by the liberals on this blog. Gosh, if I thought I was the gun-totin’, gay-hatin’, earth-killin’, intellectual freedom suppressin’, Limbaugh-lovin’ redneck they think I am I’d probably off myself. My advice to folks on the left is don’t believe what you’re being told about us by the likes of Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann.  You have no idea how wrong you are.

Will, I think a second column is in order- one that actually expresses respect, not mere tolerance of those who are different.

To paraphrase a parable, it is more difficult for a conservative college professor to earn tenure than it is for a rich man to get into heaven.

I will confess, I am a "non-liberal" librarian.  I look at our catalog and realize we have hundreds of copies of anything by Michael Moore or Al Gore, but only 5 copies of anything by Sean Hannity or Mark Levin.  Heaven forbid that librarians even consider objectivity.  When was the last time you saw a librarian actively purchase anti-gay material?  What about any anti-homosexual material?  How many librarians have actively sought out Tea Party groups to meet in their library but think nothing of encouraging Students for a Democratic Society or MoveOn.org to use their facilities.  When was the last time a library had FoxNews on the monitors in the library instead of CNN, MSNBC, etc.?  We as a profession are liberal; as someone who is non-liberal, I know that, but I also see these lofty statements of "equality" and "balance" and know from looking at our collections we fall far short of that goal.

As a cataloger, I see items come across my desk that are neither "fair" nor "balanced."  When I worked as a selector, I was told that books on "the creation theory" would not be ordered for the library as they did not represent "accurate facts" or "accepted scientific views."

What is so "horrible" about having someone like Sarah Palin at an ALA conference?  Is that any more different than Barack Obama who at the time was a United States senator?  When was the last time you saw a speaker at an ALA conference who challenged your viewpoints rather than pander to what you believed?  It is so difficult to sit at a "keynote speaker" session and listen to a journalist who routinely presents their side of the story, eschewing the point that there maybe another side to the story.

We all try to be "unbiased" in our work, but to ignore our feelings also does a disservice to our users; as librarians we have an obligation to present both sides of an issue.  A statement from the collection development policy at a university I worked at said that library materials should inform, enlighten, and at times offend users.  Without exposure to new ideas we stop growing, and that is never a good thing.

Yes, thank you very much for writing this article.  I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.   I am in library school, currently working in a para-professional capacity at a middle school library, active in my university’s ALA student chapter, and, yes, I am conservative.  Until today, I have always sat uncomfortably at the table when classmates, professors, and fellow attendees at annual conferences have very  publicly blasted, or applauded while an author bashed non-liberals.  When that happens, I am immediately deflated and saddened.  I understand that there are people that may not care that I am deflated and saddened by this.  I don’t feel comfortable when anyone is made to feel uncomfortable-me, you, or the person across the room. Especially when we are all sitting in the same room as librarians or soon-to-be librarians. 

It doesn’t matter to me what nationality you are, what your sexual preference is, whether your from the city or from the country, rich or poor, liberal or conservative, married or single, famous or not, or whether you speak the same language as I do.   I want to hear your story.  I am interested in who you are, what I and others can learn from you.  I want to know more about you.  I’m sure we have some things in common.  How can we work together to help our profession, those we serve, and our society in general?  To like me, hate me, or judge me just because of where I fall on a spectrum doesn’t seem right (no pun intended). 

When a group of diverse people are publicly demonized and stereotyped in a setting I would otherwise expect to be safe,  it is unsettling.  Just as there is a huge range of liberal people who don’t agree on everything, there is also a huge range of conservative people who don’t agree on everything. When we (as librarians) stereotype people, we potentially alienate a lot of people. Please be careful. Rise above the need to do that. We’re all people trying to do what’s best.

Thank you,

Jamie Renton

Oh Will, how can you be so naive?  You don’t want to be the Neville Chamberlain of American librarianship, do you?  How could you not know that contemporary conservatives want to privatize most public sector employment, and do away with guaranteed state pensions?  That is what they really mean when they talk about "fiscal responsibility."  They are not interested in exchanging ideas with liberals; they are intent on defeating them.

Thank you so much for your article.  I think  maybe there are more conservative librarians  than we think.  I know there are many hard working, conscientious librarians that have just learned to keep their beliefs to themselves.  My guess is we are the backbone of the profession.  We  do our jobs and work to provide the best and most balanced services and information to our patrons without much hoopla.  But it is still nice to be mentioned, so thanks again for the article.

         I was thinking about this recently and came to the conclusion that we can’t all get along because we can’t all get along.  But it wouldn’t hurt to try.

Robert Fletcher, Issaquah, WA, retired school librarian

It was interesting to read everyone’s comments. Several people suggested that conservatives should be invited to speak at an ALA Conference, but several said it should be someone other than Limbaugh or Palin. Limbaugh or Palin ought to be invited first to demonstrate that ALA doesn’t tolerate politically motivated censorship of speech. Anything less would be viewed as hypocritical. 

Everyone has summed this article up well, saying what I wanted to say. I was an ALA member while a MLIS student, but couldn’t decide whether to renew after graduating because of the cr*p I took during school for being a conservative person. At one point I went onto the library school’s Facebook page and suggested they add a core course of "Tolerance" to their curricula, because, whereas students would tolerate Muslums, gays, athiests, and liberals, most students could not abide Christians, straights, and conservatives. The school needed a class to teach up and coming librarians the full rounded meaning of "tolerance". Because of the article, I have renewed my ALA membership for one year with hopes that the conservative voice will be allowed to be heard. We shall see, won’t we.

I moved from a very very very liberal city to a very very very conservative town for my first library job. I was stunned by the "conservative" staff at the library. They were just awful - anyone who was brown was referred to me because I spoke Spanish, one of the staff claimed that another staff member only had her job because & then pointed at her skin, gay was used in a derogatory sense. The concept of having diversity training of any sort was deemed as evil political correctness.

The Tea Partiers who hated government intervention and the waste of government spending seemed to forget that they worked for a government agency & were going to have a government funded pension.

Liberal or conservative - I don’t care. I’ve discovered that most people are out for themselves only.

So face it we’re screwed by a bunch of very stupid people liberal & conservative - some of whom work in libraries and are ALA members.

Kudos to Will Manley for the commentary, "Conservatives Among Us" in October’s "Will’s World."  He is right when he speaks of the lack of respect that librarians, ‘guardians of free speech,’ sometimes have for people whose views differ from theirs. It surprises me that many people cannot differentiate between ‘conservative’ and ‘right-wing.’ Not every conservative is a gun-toting, bigoted yokel ready to do the Macarena on the First Amendment.  They and their families are our patrons, and deserve our consideration as well as more liberal ones.

I consider myself a moderate-to-liberal middle of the roader.  I would also welcome a dialogue; however, I find the stringent and strident "we will tell you how to live your life and it must be as a Christian planet-killer" tone of the conservatives frightening.  Being Jewish, I feel that Rush & Co. are just waiting for their chance to set up concentration camps for me, Muslims, gays, etc.  I really fear this, folks.  Palin and her "death panels" (clearly lies, not misstatements) in the health care debate is another…has anyone seen a loved one die of cancer and not wish for a better dialogue with doctors?  Been there, done that.

Liberals can be wishy-washy and reward people inappropriately for not taking personal responsibility for their lives.  I think that’s wrong.  But I think it is far worse to want to destroy the environment for short term gain, to deny a gay teen access to information about his search for identity, to tell me that this is a "Christian" country and I’d better get with the program.

I hope there is room somewhere for dialogue between these extremes.  But unfortunately I just don’t see it.

Thank you Will and all the other conservatives and middle ground people who have commented on this article.  I am tired of being talked at by ALA as if I am wrong for not agreeing with them.  I find myself wondering why I am a member of ALA and have seriously considered dropping my membership.   Until today I was hanging on to it so I can put it on my resume when I am looking for a new job.

Aside from politics, I think a lot of these comments are from people who miss card catalogs and the good old days.

You’re right that I don’t speak up much and consider myself a conservative. It don’t think it’s from fear, but that the liberals I know seem to like to argue and I just don’t think it’s worth my time to argue over the internet. I would love to see more conversative authors speak at conferences though. Rush Limbaugh is a bit in the extreme and tends to give conservatives a bad name. Maybe some Christian fiction author such as Ted Dekker or Frank Peretti.

The library profession may well be “overwhelmingly liberal,” but within the ALA leadership and its progressive wing there is at least one strong strain of conservative thinking, evidenced in the their consistent response to the suppression of the freedom to read in Cuba.  See a 15-point analysis of this ALA faction’s right wing attitudes at http://groups.google.com/group/Cuba451Letters/web/right-wing-tendencies-of-the-ala-left.

If you wonder why increasingly "irrational" conservatism is gaining strength, consider that they only have themselves to talk to, and that they share issues, often personal, that underlie these seemingly irrational opinions.  So let’s create fora where people can really listen to each other, not just talk (and shout).  (If you can’t speak the other person’s language, you can’t persuade them.)

Creating structures where society can practice genuine "I" point-of-view-sharing is more important than any particular point of view.

Thank you for acknowledging the strengths of conservatives.  I am a conservative and have been a librarian for over 20 years.   The library field is intolerate of conservative views and we are definitely in the minority.  I believe our country is growing more liberal each day.   I am glad to see someone like Will Manley acknowledge the benefits of conservative views.  

Thank you for extending a hand to those of us who are not politically liberal, and yet still are librarians.  I, too have felt the pressure from liberals who assume that if you are a librarian, you must also embrace those views.  One can be a conservative and still believe in freedom of speech.  The liberal bias has at times been so loud, obnoxious, and all-pervasive, that I have considered changing professions to get away from it.  I have unsubscribed to several blogs that were supposedly about library topics, but political statements were always forthcoming.  When I deigned to comment on this, I, too, was blasted and in at least one case my comment was not posted—I was censored by someone who claims not to believe in censorship.  I, too, have found that most liberal librarians are not interested in an intellectual discussion, or listening to any opposing viewpoints.  However, we conservatives are just supposed to listen ad nauseum to unprofessional and demeaning comments.  Thanks for letting us know we’re not alone, and that we are all in this together, so it would behoove us to find common ground rather than participating in divisive rhetoric.

 > What profession does more to protect First Amendment rights than the library profession? Our profession’s First Amendment emphasis may differ from the conservative movement’s emphasis, but here at least is a place to start a constructive give and take of views.

I think as a profession we have considerably room for improvement on this point.

> At the Washington meeting of the ALA, there were counterdemonstrators with such signs as "Defend the Cuban Revolution!" and "’Independent’ Libraries Are A FRAUD!" One passerby — wearing an official ALA identification tag — looked at the Freadomistas signs, refused to take a flyer and snarled, "I am on the other side." - Nat Hentoff, http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff072307.php3

As someone who lists their political viewpoint as "Reagan Conservative" on their Facebook profile, I have never been that shy about expressing my opinion. I just find it disheartening that not all of us feel that they have that luxury.

Will, I also thank you for a great article.  You have summed up well the hostility that exists among the ranks of librarians of American.  As one of those conservatives I survived thirty-three years as a school librarian.  I walked a fine line in the public schools of Illinois regarding book selections to give my students BALANCE, making the most out of extremely limited budgets and feeling  as if my political or religious views were never acceptable by my professional colleagues in ALA.  However, I agree with all the points you identified.  My conservative colleagues and I have fought for our students to have access to balanced and fair resources (of which there are few), worked with teachers to train students to search for appropriate and relevant materials that present truth, and we have lobbied with legislators who are too set on their personal agendas to think of the "greater good" when it comes to funding.  (And living in Illinois, we can certainly testify that we lose more money under democrats than republicans!)  Be that as it may, I am still grateful to live in America where we can all still voice our opinions — at least for the moment.

While I would not *particularly* care to hear from Ms. Palin or Mr. Limbaugh, there are intelligent, thoughtful conservatives out there who might serve as excellent conference speakers.  George Will, for all that he is a conservative, sometimes surprises by going against the current of polarized and polarizing political thought on the Right.  Kathleen Parker, conservative but not necessarily beloved by all on the Right, is also thoughtful and insightful.

Some of the most closed-minded, hostile people I know are liberal folk who do not wish to hear from anyone but, say, Ralph Nader or Bernie Sanders—both of whom, by the way, I have heard and liked.  (Yes, Nader *can* show evidence of a sense of humor!)  This applies in other areas of life, including the Church of which I am a member and a priest, i.e., the Episcopal Church.  There is no admission, anywhere, that anyone but the Lefty-est people around possess any kind of wisdom.

So…a little balance in the library profession, please.  It would be a pleasant change from the norm.

 I fought censorship by omission my entire career. I bought books and magazines to give the other side of every political issue — because they weren’t on the shelves when I arrived. When Bush 2 was elected and someone in California suggested that we might invite Laura to speak at a conference, the liberal herd shifted the cud to the other side of its mouth and all mooed together loudly that she must not come. The intolerance of liberal librarians is glorious to behold and burns more brightly today than it did 37 years ago when I began my career.

I agree that more dialog with conservatives is a good idea, including speakers at conferences.  However,  it would not be productive to ask inflammatory demagogues like Palin & Limbaugh, spreaders of misinformation & negativity.  There are plenty of thoughtful conservatives who could be asked — people like William Bennett, George Wills, Thomas Sowell, some of the Supreme Court justices — people like the late William Buckley.  I disagree with all of them on many issues, but at least they don’t have the flavor of malice and negativity that some of our current radical "conservatives" radiate, like those you mentioned.  It’s one thing to invite dialog; it’s a different thing to provide another platform for the likes of Limbaugh. Palin, or Glenn Beck.

Thanks, Will, for voicing something long overdue. 

I’ve never liked ‘labeling’ and don’t care for the tags pundits put on people who think about certain things in certain ways.

But if we have to wear such a tag, then mine is (cover your eyes, colleagues) "conservative."

And I’ve not appreciated having my opinion and attitude and voice smothered by the machinery of ALA, which often chooses to speak out on political and social and spiritual issues way beyond the realm of librarianship.

I think there’s room in the profession for people with conservative, Christian values – and we shouldn’t be marginalized — or even demonized — for our beliefs.

You’re fearless, Will.  And I appreciate your guts.

Jeff Salter

By saying what I’ve said, I realize some readers will want to write a flaming rebuttal.  Okay, but please don’t make it a personal attack on me.  I didn’t attack any of you folks personally.

Will’s piece is a beginning.  For an organization full of absolutists on their version of free (leftist) speech, the inherent value of "diversity," and so on, ALA has become a concrete fortress against free expression and (forgive me) different, even patriotic thinking.  I view the ALA election as something of a poll of membership: the % of voters within a 66K member organization is pathetic.  I believe it is a "oh no, not that blah blah blah again" response by members to the endless stream of "I’ll bring diversity to my position at ALA,"  "I’ll fight global warming in my posituion at ALA," "I’ll read the New York Times, fight for Islam, and block Fox News from my Library and home while serving ALA," and so on.

I hope that ALA invites quality speakers and not the Rush Limbaughs and Sarah Palins. How many women can never forget that Rush Limbaugh said "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."? That is not quality entertainment and if ALA invited such a speaker, that would be an insult to this professional librarian. As for Sarah Palin, I listened to her recent statements about the separation of church and state and I am convinced that a vigourous dialog with someone of her ilk would be fruitless. I certainly would not sit still and listen to that anti-American rhetoric.

I am a student currently in a library school in the midwest, and I have to say that I have definitely encountered this attitude in the classroom.  I am culturally if not politically conservative, and especially in the area of family values and enabling parents to guide their children’s reading choices, I often find myself facing an onslaught of overwhelmingly liberal thinking.  I understand the advocacy for children and teen access to information, but find that it to be hypocritical to tell parents that they need to be monitoring their own children while preventing them from having tools and access to information about books which may have material which they would want to discuss with their children before or during reading.  I’m not saying that we need to go as far as labeling material according to MPAA guidelines, but by all means, empower and inform parents about popular children and YA fiction, make suggestions about discussion points, etc.  But if I were to bring up this idea in one of my classes, I would be shot down as censoring books and blocking access for children to information and entertainment.  It really is discouraging to hear my values and concerns put down and ignored so widely by the profession.

Thanks for taking a quick look at this issue and asking us some important questions.

I’m not conservative, politically, but I’ve noticed many examples of the intolerance that you write about, even in my library school’s "ethics & diversity" class. You make some good points here, especially about connecting some of those essential values that "conservatives" and librarians share.

It’s a strong reminder for all of us: the library is the PLATFORM, not the ideas. =)

My personal politics fall fairly close to the middle I guess.  My conservative friends claim I am too liberal and my liberal friends claim I am too conservative.  But in my25 year+ career I have observed that liberal does not equal public funding and conservative does not equal funding cuts.  In the states where I have worked republicans have been more committed to funding public libraries than democrats.  I’ve only worked in three states so my experience is hardly significant, but in each case library funding grew under republican governors and was seriously cut by their democratic successors (sometimes the successor who got my vote).  I learned early on that when it comes to funding I could never make assumptions.  I agree with your comments about the need for dialogue and would encourage people to keep an open mind and not to associate  potential library funders or supporters with one political viewpoint or party. 

As a conservative librarian I agree with will Manley, the library community as a whole is not very tolerant of viewpoints other that liberal. As for conservative speakers – don’t forget the terrible reaction that General Powell received at the 1999 ALA conference in New Orleans. The audience reaction was nothing short of hostile and the pages of American Libraries were filled with letters to editor vilifying the General.  As for conservative attributes, let’s not forget the value of limited government and local control.  Public libraries are a great example of this - we exist only because of the will of the voters in our local city, village, township or district. This also extends to supporting the will of those local voters who may elect boards that endorse unpopular policies such as Internet Filtering. ALA could learn a great deal from conservatives.

Though I do not count myself among the librarian conservatives, I’m always interested in hearing another point of view. Thank you for your perspective, and particularly your points about how libraries could continue to be supported by a conservative ideology. I certainly think I’ll find myself using those very points when trying to defend this most American of institutions to the powers that be.

Thank you for this article. Perhaps more conservatives will come forward and let their voices be heard.

Conservatives are not the enemy of Libraries.  As a conservative and a Librarian, I have been a champion of libraries for as long as I can remember. For all the reasons and more that you mention above, I am a Librarian.

As a foe of big government, I opposed the plans to allow government to ‘snoop’ on library users in the name of ‘security’.  That said, however, I cannot join the ALA or it’s smaller counterparts, given their ultra-liberal political stances and issue/candidate support.  I once made a comment on the FLA list-serv in support of George W. Bush and Librarian First Lady Laura Bush, and was soundly smacked down — and very publicly — in the resulting threads. Needless to say, I did not renew my membership.

I have been warned by liberal directors NOT to talk about politics in the library, as it might offend the patrons, yet they do not hesitate to strike up conversations themselves in which they blast conservative politicians and issues. The level of hypocrisy is amazing.

I think liberals may be amazed to find out how much they have in common with conservatives when it comes to Libraries and library funding. I fully agree with Isaac Asimov when he stated "When I see how funding for libraries is being cut, I cannot help but think that America has found one more way to destroy itself".

Happy reading.

There are many "conservative" librarians indeed.  ALA might find more participation if it were truly inclusive.  "Conservative" librarians are not intellectually inferior or less progressive than librarians pushing their favorite political agenda on the profession.

"When was the last time that a big name conservative thinker or politician was invited to speak at a high-profile library conference?"

Answer: Robert Spencer, but after being invited, the ALA must have realized he did not fit the liberal agenda you mention, so he was forced out and the ALA refuses to this day to invite him back.  See ALA is Duplicitous and Fraudulent, Censors Whomever It Wants, Suppresses Intellectual Freedom, and Joins the Jihad.