Bowing to pressure from Above, American Libraries will stop running weekly polls in AL Direct, its new newsletter. I’m sure the Authoritarian Librarians’ Guild (which requires a loyalty oath for membership) is shaking its collective booty in a happy dance, but I’m rather disgusted. Needless to say, the polling came under attack on the Council list. Heaven forbid anyone disrupt Council’s delusions that it knows the pulse of the organization.
Fortunately, LISNews isn’t under that kind of gun. Maybe Blake can run a poll asking if AL should have stopped polling.
Posted on this day, other years:
- Jenny and Michael Feeling Their Oats - 2005
- Well-Deserved Pat on Head for SJCPL Blog - 2005
- Review: Small Pieces Loosely Joined - 2005
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The conversation on the ALACouncil list did get a bit heated on all sides. And, if you read the comments you will find that this is an issue on which Karen and I disagree. (And it appears that I am going to be a bit long winded here.)
Just to be up front here, as I have tried to be all along, my attention was brought to the “AL Direct” polls when the Cuba question was posted on the IFFORM list. I could not believe that such a bad poll came from ALA and set about to prove that it did not only to find out that I was incorrect.
Ok, now on Cuba, since it seems to be the detractor here. Yes, I voted for the ALA statement on Cuba in 2004. Yes, I did not vote for Karen’s resolution. These two things do not express my real feelings on this issue, though I have stated my feelings in many other places. The ALA statement is not as strong as I would like it to be. I would have liked to have seen a resolution against the imprisonment of political dissidents in Cuba, and anywhere else. I did not want our decision to be based on the bullying of one individual but no matter what was done there was no way around it. And, I am amazed by how many people who think that ALA should stay out of the political realm and stay away from foreign affairs want ALA to take a stronger position on this issue.
I am not a member of the Progressive Librarians Guild mentioned in Karen’s post, though I frequently admire things they have done. I am often out of step with them on a number of issues including Cuba.
Ok, that is out of the way so on to the real issue, or what I think is the real issue. “AL Direct” is a new publication from ALA. It is a publication I really like. It is a great publication for sharing with my Board and others interested in what is happening in the library world. If you read enough news pieces and e-mail it probably doesn’t have a lot that is new but it is a very nice format.
I think that “AL Direct” staff thought having a poll would be fun. I agree. I like participating in these kinds of polls. I even participate in Harris on-line polls just for fun. I have considered putting polls on our library blog – but with a great deal of hesitation, which is why there isn’t one there. However, I think AL staff did not put together a good poll for a professional journal. It was maybe ok for USA Today but not for a professional association.
Some of the problems I saw could have been fixed and made it a bit better poll. It was formated so that anyone, not just ALA members, could take the poll. Anyone could respond to the poll as many times as they wanted. There were only two possible responses, not even a “maybe” or a “not sure.” The poll still would have been inaccurate but better if some changes had been made in these areas.
I would have liked more of an explanation about what would happen to comments one made.
I did vote “No” on the Cuba question but I explained why, which was not because I was against a new resolution but because the question did not give any information about the current ALA position (like a link to the document), the hours of time, discussion and heated disagreement behind the position. I think I would have liked to at least seen an addition to the poll that asked if the voter had read the documents.
I had the same kinds of problems with the question on going to New Orleans and the one on raising dues.
We all know that these kinds of polls are inaccurate. Unfortunately the “AL Direct” poll immitated the worst in these kinds of polls. I was looking forward to seeing if they could make changes for a better poll. I was not suggesting that they get rid of the poll but it really doesn’t matter to me if they do withdraw it. I say this because I didn’t even notice the poll in the first 4 issues until the poll was brought to my attention.
I am not sure why it is a problem for ALA Council members to make comments on this issue. We were not voting on anything. There was no formal action being taken. It was a few noisy voices and perhaps I was one of the noisiest. Certainly not even a majority of ALA Council chimed in. It was a more insignificant number than the number of people that voted on the polls. I think we have as much right to express our opinions as anyone else.
And this is the end of my diatribe.
Today’s AL Direct has a survey – Should public libraries auction naming rights to their library on Ebay? (If your town has a name like Womelsdorf, you just might!)
I’ve been racking my brain to try to come up with any reason for Council to object to these polls. What, pray tell, is the reason or reasons why they insisted it be stopped? Inquiring minds want to know.
Roy, the official reasons are that the polls are “unscientific”–I guess, as opposed to Council’s typical deliberative style, which is to choke down a bunch of resolutions without any serious background information and discussion and then quickly vote.
I had looked to see when my comment would be posted. Not that it is a great post but just out of curiosity. I figured there was a technical problem and didn’t feel like taking the time to question it.
By the way, there are no “official” postions on the ALACouncil discussion list because it is just that – a discussion list. No votes can be take or are taken. Like most discussion lists far more people are subscribed to the list then ever post. Any of you who want to slog through this or any other discussion on the ALACouncil list can go to http://lp-web.ala.org:8000/ and then to http://lp-web.ala.org:8000/reguser/listutil/ALACOUN (registered user) or http://lp-web.ala.org:8000/guest/archives/ALACOUN/log0602/ (guest user). The discussion starts with 17054 and show up every day or so after that but with varying subject headings. Have fun. (See very evil grin here)