'The Fight of Our Generation'
"The budget cuts loomed over the conference. Keith Michael Fiels, executive director of the ALA, said the budget shows the administration is cutting library funding to upgrade the country’s nuclear arsenal -- a reference to the proposed increase in defense spending.
“The scary thing is that this could actually happen if no one does anything,” Fiels said. “Only a small band of brave individuals stand between this insanity and reality. Who are these brave heroes? They’re us.”
He, like other speakers, implored attendees to call their representatives. “This is the fight of our generation,” he said.
Author Roxane Gay devoted 15 minutes of her Thursday keynote to reflect on life in the “age of American disgrace,” a talk she has given in the months following last year’s presidential election.
“We’re at a really unexpected time where we have to defend factual information and the research that supports this information, and what’s shocking is that this kind of thing is under attack from the executive branch,” Gay said.
Carla D. Hayden, who was confirmed to a 10-year term as librarian of Congress in July, steered clear of politics in her closing keynote. She dodged a question about copyright law and did not address the proposed budget cuts except to say that the Library of Congress is “working on being America’s library, and that can’t be denied.”"
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