I recently received an email asking for clarification about my alleged;

” …going around and trying to get other librarians who publicly post their own (admittedly progressive/liberal) political opinions out on the Internet in trouble by emailing their bosses and causing a stink."

This while enjoying the privilege of anonymity. Wow, when did I stop beating my wife?

Should I dignify this rumor with a response?

Because the emailer said that he/she had heard this secondhand, and seemed sincere in their question, I decided to respond publicly to avoid having to cut and paste my denial for any others wanting clarification. (to the emailer, I hope you understand my reasoning here) Anyway, here goes.

Everything I post regarding library "stuff" can be found in two places, LISNews and my web page. Both are public and both require that anyone interested in reading take the initiative. I don’t do unsolicited email to anyone (including bosses). The notion has never crossed my mind. If anyone is still unsure, I suggest posting this question over at LISNews. There are quite a few "progressives" over there.

I do find the accusation puzzling. I guess the scenario suggested here would be this anonymous, supposed conservative librarian with the handle tomeboy (who may in fact be nothing more than a disgruntled peanut vendor with a bad GRE score) somehow has the ear of “progressive” librarian supervisors? “Hello, my name is tomeboy and I’d like to speak to you about your employee’s web site.”

Please.

To the emailer, thanks for the note and I do plan on “rocking in the free world”.