I promise to get back to writing up my thoughts on the NASIG conference. It’s been a busy two weeks. As you can see, I ran out of what I had written while at the airport and I haven’t had the energy or time to get back to it.
Meanwhile, I read Karen’s thoughts on the latest Gormangate episode, and they became the final tipping point in a decision I’ve been trying to make. As a result, I bring you my open letter to ALA, which I also sent to them by email this afternoon:
Dear ALA,
Some years ago, I let my membership lapse because my income and expenses were such that I couldn’t afford to continue it. Since that time, I have found myself in a better paying job and I have been thinking about re-joining the association. However, I have been unimpressed by president-elect Michael Gorman and the anti-technology, anti-progress statements he has been making publicly in the past several months (re: bloggers, Google Print, etc.). Since he is the future leader of the association, I have to wonder if ALA is right for me.
I have concluded that if the majority of members would choose a leader who prefers the past to the present, much less the future of librarianship, then it’s not an organization that I need to be a part of. For now, I will participate professionally in other areas of librarianship, and perhaps reconsider membership in the ALA sometime after Gorman’s tenure.
Respectfully,
Anna Creech
You tell ’em! Yeah!
I’m really curious to hear more thoughts of yours on Google Print. I’ve been very interested in the world of copyright for the last few years, and I’m very into the idea of a strong interpretation of Fair Use. But for all that, I tend to think that the copyright holders who are concerned with Google Print have a reasonable complaint.
Have you already blogged on this? If not, do you take requests? 🙂
*YMB*
Anna–I encourage you, and others who don’t renew, to address your reasons for not renewing to the Executive Board, in addition to posting open letters. I hope that we, as ALA members, will pay more attention to our candidates in future elections. A lot of us are disappointed in the choice we made about ALA leadership.
You maybe interested in an article on him in the UK Lib Ass magazine UPdate http://www.cilip.org.uk/publications/updatemagazine/archive/archive2005/june/gormanjune2005.htm