Family Friendly Libraries (fwd)

[Publib Poster]

Sender: Donna Reidy Pistolis <U64591 at UICVM.CC.UIC.EDU>
Subject: Family Friendly Libraries

As many of you know, I attended the Family Friendly Libraries (FFL)
Conference on October 21, in Cincinnati.  Below are my thoughts, feelings
and impressions after attending.

I counted approximately 55 attendees, the majority from Ohio and Indiana,
with a few from Michigan, Illinois and other states.  During the course of
the day, a number of the attendees commented on how they were looking to
FFL for advice on how to be more effective on the local level.  Each person
who commented seemed to be in the midst of a local battle.

The conference began with a welcome from Phil Burress, Clermont County (OH)
public library trustee and founder of Citizens for Community Values (CCV).
During his welcome, Phil made the statement that at the moment, FFL was not
a national organization - they were holding this conference to see what
kind of interest there was in this issue and were going to decide at the end of
the day whether to start a national group.

The actual "meat" of the conference began with an overview by Karen Jo Gounaud
of why "family friendly" libraries are needed.  To prove her point, Gounaud
outlined five points reflecting what she believes libraries and librarians are
not doing, or are doing poorly; these points provided the rationale for
starting this movement.  The five points are:
1. Treating parents as adversaries rather than partners;
2. Treating patron suggestions and concerns as intrusions and "censorship"
3. Abdicating responsibilities to be part of a community effort protecting
   children from hurtful or dangerous influences;
4. Openly promoting the most "politically correct" and radical philosophies,
   while claiming to support "opposing points of view on all controversial
   topics;" and
5. Failing to maintain collection of distinguished historical books and other
   basics.  (This argument aligns FFL with the Family Research Council's
   report, entitled "Discarded Images: Selected Classics and American
   Libraries,")
These five points also formed the basis of Mrs. Gounaud's response to ALA
President Betty Turock's letter to theh editor regarding Focus on the Family's
attack onn Banned Books Week.

The next speaker was Buddy Smith, Vice-President off the American Family
Association (AFA), who told the audience about the dangers of pornography
in society, which is the key issue for AFA.   Several audience members
"confessed" to being pornography addicts or had spouses who were pornography
addicts.

Following Smith, was Hal Schell, former librarian  (Professor Emeritus of
Library Administration, University of Cincinnati Central Library), former
homosexual, and an ALA life member.  Schell spoke about homosexuality
and the possibility of recovering from homosexuality.  More importantly,
he told how ALA, through its policies has done a great deal to promote
the homosexual agenda in libraries.   Homosexuality and the availability
of homosexual materials in libraries, especially for children, seemed to
be a major concern  for a great number of people in attendance.

The final speaker before the first break was Helen Biehle, who wrote "The
Seduction of the American Public Library," which was part of the registration
materials for the conference.  Biehle began her presentation by passing
around the audiocassette of Two Live Crew's "Nasty As They Wanna Be" to
exemplify the type of materials  available to children in libraries.  She
then elaborated on her piece attacking ALA, OIF and Judith Krug, director of
the Office for Intellectual Freedom.  She tried to make the argument that
since Krug has served on the ACLU Board of Directors, ALA/OIF are nothing
more than a sister tool of the ACLU.

The first three speakers, in my opinion, were carefully selected to outline
the three enemies that FFL wants to Take on:
1. Homosexuality and the availability of pro-homosexual materials in
   libraries, especially being made available to children.
2. Pornography, or more specifically, what they perceive as pornography,
   being available to children.
2. ALA and OIF.

After we returned from a break, the speakers concentrated more on the specifics
in one of the above topics.  The first speaker was Cedricia Wilson, (former
school and public librarian from Jackson, Alabama) who began by telling a story
about her promiscuous teenage years, in which she became pregnant at a very
early age.  She blamed both her promiscuity and early pregnancy on the
influence of a book.  The purpose of her presentation was to show that
some librarians have tried to persuade their boards to remove materials,
but were unsuccessful.  Wilson eventually resigned from her position after
taking a request (to remove a book) to her board several times.

The next speaker, Mr. Marthalar (a fill-in speaker), a librarian and
self-proclaimed evangelical Christian, talked about censorship and selection.
His presentation was about how librarians are self-censors (to the left) and
use the term "selection" as a guise to include materials they want in
libraries.

After Marthalar, Karen Jo Gounaud took the podium again, to explain to
audience members how to be taken seriously by their boards; and then Phil
Burress concluded the morning session by explaining how he felt that ALA's
strangehold on trustees in something that is promoted by library directors.

After lunch, Burress announced that, due to the discussion at his lunch
table, (John Berry of Library Journal and Stuart Whitwell of American
Libraries were at that table) FFL would like to start a dialogue with
librarians as to why  FFL's concerns don't seem to be a priority for libraries.
To serve this purpose a panel was established.  Members included Biehle,
Gounaud, Schell, Dan Grave (a prison librarian), Patsy Hansel (Director,
Williamsburg (VA) Regional Library), and John Berry.  The first three were
to represent the FFL perspective, the last three the librarian's perspective.

It is my feeling that the original agenda for the afternoon was abandoned
when the discussion at Phil Burress' lunch table led the leaders of the
group to believe that there were a number of people attending the conference
who did not agree with their position.

The panel discussion began with a member of the audience asking why libraries
cannot, or will not, restrict children's access to materials they perceive as
dangerous or harmful.  Hansel responded and I think she did a good job.

Next, a question was asked of the panel:  Why can't the library use technology
already in place to allow parents to use the borrower's card to select
which materials a child would be allowed to check out?  Hansel and Berry
both pointed out the logistical problems with this and Berry also pointed
out that  children's access to materials is a pressing issue for libraries
and one, he feels, that ALA is most vulnerable in trying to defend.

The panel discussion continued along these lines for the rest of the afternoon.
At the end of the discussion, Burress announced that he felt there was enough
stimulating discussion to warrant the formalization of FFL as a national
organization, and asked for members to serve on a steering committee.

If you have any questions about Family Friendly Libraries, or the conference
please contact me.   Donna Reidy Pistolis -- Associate Director, Office for
Intellectual Freedom -- 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL  60611  --
donna.reidy.pistolis at ala.org--312-280-4221 or 800-545-2433, ext. 4221.