Salute to David Durant, the Heretical Librarian
David Durant has brought his Heretical Librarian blog to an end, at least for the moment. My impression is that he will be fulfilling a military obligation over the next year and a half.
David's site was one of the few blogs maintained by a conservative librarian. As he noted in an earlier posting, there are not many librarian blogs written from a conservative perspective. Fortunately, David will keep his site up, and I will therefore keep my link to his site, as it is a valuable resource for researchers. David has excelled most particularly in documenting human rights abuses in the Islamic world, but I also enjoyed his skewing of some prominent individuals within the American Library Association who have at times been politically doctrinaire, and have not always demonstrated tolerance of dissenting views, particularly with regard to Cuba.
David has worked as head librarian of government documents and microform of East Carolina University. In the Sept. 30, 2005 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, he commented on "the stifling left-wing orthodoxy of modern American librarianship":
"The problem is not that most librarians have liberal or leftist views. It is that the overwhelming prevalence of such views has created a politicized atmosphere of groupthink and even intolerance, in which left-wing politics permeate the library profession and are almost impossible to avoid.
"In conversations with colleagues, on library e-mail lists, and at professional conferences, liberal and leftist attitudes are shoved in your face. Because most librarians are left-of-center politically, they automatically assume that you are as well. After all, only benighted Red State theocrats could possibly have voted for Bush. You quickly learn to keep your opinions to yourself, except among colleagues whom you know well..."
Needless to say, his article was not too well received within certain quarters of the American Library Association.
My best wishes and appreciation go with David Durant.
David's site was one of the few blogs maintained by a conservative librarian. As he noted in an earlier posting, there are not many librarian blogs written from a conservative perspective. Fortunately, David will keep his site up, and I will therefore keep my link to his site, as it is a valuable resource for researchers. David has excelled most particularly in documenting human rights abuses in the Islamic world, but I also enjoyed his skewing of some prominent individuals within the American Library Association who have at times been politically doctrinaire, and have not always demonstrated tolerance of dissenting views, particularly with regard to Cuba.
David has worked as head librarian of government documents and microform of East Carolina University. In the Sept. 30, 2005 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education, he commented on "the stifling left-wing orthodoxy of modern American librarianship":
"The problem is not that most librarians have liberal or leftist views. It is that the overwhelming prevalence of such views has created a politicized atmosphere of groupthink and even intolerance, in which left-wing politics permeate the library profession and are almost impossible to avoid.
"In conversations with colleagues, on library e-mail lists, and at professional conferences, liberal and leftist attitudes are shoved in your face. Because most librarians are left-of-center politically, they automatically assume that you are as well. After all, only benighted Red State theocrats could possibly have voted for Bush. You quickly learn to keep your opinions to yourself, except among colleagues whom you know well..."
Needless to say, his article was not too well received within certain quarters of the American Library Association.
My best wishes and appreciation go with David Durant.
posted by Stephen Denney | 12:31 PM
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