My friends and colleagues,
OK, I HAVE to ask:
What exactly does President Helmick support when she publicly identifies as a Republican while speaking as ALA President?
Which policies, if any, affecting libraries, cultural institutions, and /or artistic life does she endorse-and which does she oppose? Trump has clear policies. He is the head of the Republican Party. The membership is entitled to an answer.
This is NOT NOT NOT about policing private belief or stifling free expression! Every librarian can vote or think as they please. But when the public face of our Association signals alignment with a party actively dismantling the IMLS, promoting censorship, attacking educators, and undermining public trust in cultural institutions, that is no longer private opinion. It is institutional signaling.
Freedom of expression does not absolve institutional responsibility. Silence, ambiguity, or appeals to bipartisanship in this context are not neutrality-they are abdication of leadership. Librarianship is a public trust, and the ALA President speaks for the profession in moments that matter. We deserve clarity: which values will she defend, which attacks will she oppose, and how will she act to protect libraries and cultural life?
This is about accountability, not partisanship. When the Presidency of ALA is invoked to align symbolically with forces actively undermining our profession, it is the membership's right and duty to demand clarity.
-Mark Rosenzweig
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Mark Rosenzweig