Sally Yates Urges Librarians To Hold Politicians “Accountable”

“You can debate policies and issues… but those debates have to be based on common facts and truth” Sally Yates told the Public Library Association conference this week

“Imagine the Possibilities!” is the 2018 theme for the annual conference of the Public Library Association (PLA), underway this week in Philadelphia. The possibilities turned out to include a nor’easter snowstorm on the first full day of spring, but the unexpected weather didn’t diminish enthusiasm among attendees, reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.

“This PLA meeting is jammed. After a lightly attended meeting at ALA midwinter in Denver that is just what the American Library Association needed (PLA is a division of the ALA, the largest in fact),” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “The energy here in Philly is high and the program is a winner.”

Opening keynote speaker Sally Yates –  Deputy Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Obama administration from January 2015 through January 2017, and then briefly as Acting Attorney General – emphasized her concerns for law and truth.

“Without mentioning the name ‘Trump,’ Yates still got some shots in, decrying the systematic undermining of trust in our nation’s essential institutions, including the FBI and the free press, as well as attacks on ‘objective truth,’ itself,” Albanese says.

Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.