Sites and Soundbytes

The Village Voice: The Abandoned Librarians by Nat Hentoff

This article concisely explains the plight of the Cuban librarians who have been jailed because they provided Cubans with banned documents like the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Sadly, it also tells of Karen Schneider's gutsy effort to get an amendment added to the final report on the proceedings of the mid-winter ALA meeting. She proposed that the ALA join with other human rights organizations in calling for the release of the imprisoned librarians. Makes sense right?

Not for the leadership of the ALA. They overwhelmingly refused to add the amendment.

One of the philosophies that drew me to librarianship was their emphasis on human rights and the basic right of the freedom to read. That must not have been a factor in why ALA leadership became librarians. What a sad day for librarians everywhere.