Library group hit on Cuba stance

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The American Library Association (ALA) is under fire for inviting Cuban government librarians to its upcoming annual convention, while ignoring colleagues from independent libraries in Cuba who were recently sentenced to prison terms of up to 27 years.

"After years of silence, double talk and coverups by the ALA, the current vicious attack gives the ALA no excuse for failing to take action," said Robert Kent, founder of Friends of Cuban Libraries and a librarian at the New York Public Library.

Until a recent crackdown by the government of Fidel Castro, a network of independent libraries offered a variety of titles, such as George Orwell's "Animal Farm," that implicitly criticized Cuba's one-party communist government.

The ALA -- which represents public, college and other libraries in the United States and has 64,000 members -- is run by an elected board of 175 councilors.

The latest criticism of the group was triggered by a decision to invite Cuban government librarians to speak at its June 19-25 convention in Toronto.

Betty Turlock, a professor at Rutgers University, a former ALA president and current international-relations chairman responsible for inviting the Cubans to speak, said the program was planned 18 months ago, before the crackdown in Cuba.

"I have never known the ALA not to take the side of intellectual freedom," Miss Turlock said.

In March, Cuba arrested 75 opposition journalists, librarians and dissidents.

Many were sentenced to more than 25 years in jail. At least 10 were directors of independent libraries, who lent books from their homes.