Since 2016 the American Library Association (ALA) has frequently populated its press releases with this statement: “For more than 140 years, ALA has been the trusted voice of libraries advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all.” Unfortunately, the statement is simply not true. On September 16, the University Press of Mississippi is releasing my next book, In Silence or Indifference: Racism and Jim Crow Segregated Public School Libraries (https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/I/In-Silenceor-Indifference). I challenge my colleagues in librarianship to read it and process these historical facts into the profession’s collective memory. To do anything less will only perpetuate the silence and indifference librarianship has shown to this subject for more than a half-century.
Best,
Wayne
F. William Summers Professor Emeritus of Library & Information Studies
Florida State University