ALA Pulls Controversial Web Link
Anti-Defamation League calls Nation of Islam anti-Semitic, says Web site doesn't belong on ALA list
Staff -- School Library Journal, 11/1/1999
After a complaint from an anti-bias organization, the American Library Association has removed a controversial link from one of its Web sites for young people. At the end of September, the division that oversees the "700+ Great Sites" for children, parents, and teachers (www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/) took down a link to the Nation of Islam (www.noi.org) that had appeared under the heading "Religions of the World." The link was removed after a complaint from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL--www.adl.org), a Jewish organization that combats anti-Semitism and racism. ADL's letter, sent to ALA Executive Director William R. Gordon, did not point to anything specific on the Nation of Islam Web site but said the group's leader, Louis Farrakhan, and his colleagues have espoused intensely anti-Semitic views. Gordon referred the complaint to the Association for Library Service Children, which created the 700+ Great Sites list nearly two years ago. According to Caroline Ward, president of the Association for Library Service to Children, a task force set up to maintain the site reevaluated the Nation of Islam link. "We just didn't feel it would stand up to our criteria, particularly [the one about] not putting in any racially or religiously biased sites," Ward says, adding there was no pressure from Gordon or other ALA executives to take down the link.
