Here’s a good article about the Bush administration’s habit of picking and choosing what science by gov’t agencies gets published and what doesn’t, according to its political litmus test. The Bush administration and its supporters are the biggest users of the word FREEDOM, pounding fists on tables when they say it and saying it loud, … Read more Bush & Co. Censorship of Science It Doesn’t Like
I always loved doing that “quote for the week” and I miss it. Here’s a link to a nice collection of politically-related quotations. A lot of them relate to media and culture, but aside from that they’re rather far-afield. I am hereby giving myself, and by extension, you, my readers, permission to indulge in non-library … Read more Non-library quotations
The Bush administration is preparing to introduce sweeping new intellectual property legislation, called the The Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006. Among other things, this bill would create a new Federal crime, punishable by ten years in prison, for attempting to commit copyright violation; it would give the Justice Department new powers to prosecute “IP … Read more Scary New Intellectual Property Bill
Censoring Culture: Contemporary Threats to Free Expression, edited by Robert Atkins and Svetlana Mintcheva and just coming out from The New Press, is about a range of new and subtle forms of censorship of artistic expression. I’m excited about this book and expect to be of special interest to librarians.
In some back-and-forth with Rick Anderson in the comments on my posting about him from March 14th, I recommended three articles from Progressive Librarian that I think illustrate how the Progressive Librarians Guild represents a counter-trend in opposition to what he has been up to. It occurs to me that those three articles also relate … Read more Three articles for thinking about tech
Perhaps the most pressing issue facing librarianship is one that is unlikely to receive serious scholarly attention. It is, to put it simply, a battle presently being fought between two camps of librarians. Some may cite generational conflict as the primary conflict in librarianship today; baby-boomers representing traditional knowledge of librarianship as well as bibliographic … Read more Geeks and Nerds Battle for the Soul of Librarianship
This major announcement from LC just began circulating yesterday. It may have serious implications for access to works by series.?Ǭ† Some Library Juice readers are more up on cataloging issues than I am.?Ǭ† What do you think about this? The Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Announces the Library of Congress’s Decision to Cease Creating … Read more LC to Cease Creating Series Authority Records
Glenn Greenwald, in “A ‘Pulitzer Prize for Treason,’” talks about the Bush Administration’s attempts to weaken investigative reporting through “criminalizing its basic functions.” Their interest is in maintaining a high level of secrecy and controlling public perceptions – hiding the truth. Greenwald talks about how their public spin on these efforts makes cynical use of … Read more Glenn Greenwald on Bush Administration Attacks on the Free Press
This juxtoposition is not intended to make a specific point; you can draw your own conclusions: This year’s Pulitzer Prize winners for Journalism. Project Censored’s picks for the top 25 “censored” news stories from last year.
At Ohio State, Mansfield there’s a controversial situation shaping up concerning the library. It isn’t being talked about on listservs much, probably because at first glance it might seem to involve a conflict between gay rights and intellectual freedom. At Ohio State they’re doing the “every reader, one book” idea for incoming freshmen, the idea … Read more Anti-gay book controversy at Ohio State, Mansfield
George Washington U. to Receive Jack Anderson’s Papers — but FBI Wants to See Them First By Scott Carlson Chronicle of Higher Ed, April 18th, 2006 During his life and career as a muckraking journalist in Washington, Jack Anderson cultivated secret sources throughout the halls of government — sources who passed on information that allowed … Read more Government wants first crack at late journalist’s papers
By John Buschman, Library Philosophy and Practice Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring 2006) The American Library Association (ALA) Committee on Professional Ethics is undertaking a several-year review of the Code of Ethics, nominally for reasons stated in various Annual Conference announcements: “Relevant or relic? Does [it] live up to the challenges of the new millennium?” … Read more On Not Revising the ALA Code of Ethics: an Alternate Proposal
Two articles worth reading from issue 25, the second to most recent issue of Progressive Librarian: “Tabloid Ethics, News Reporting On the Iraq War & the Simulacrum of Objectivity,” by Frank Louis Rusciano “Information Criticism: Where is it?,” by Jack Andersen
The Library of Congress Professional Guild writes… In “The Changing Nature of the Catalog and Its Integration with Other Discovery Tools,” Karen Calhoun recommends the elimination of Library of Congress subject headings and the establishment of “fast turnaround” time as the “gold standard” in cataloging. In his critical review of the Calhoun report, Thomas Mann, … Read more LC’s Thomas Mann on LC-commissioned report recommending elimination of LCSH
The person behind the LibrarianActivist.org blog (whom I have communicated with by email but who blogs anonymously) has stopped blogging and is looking for someone to take over the project. I would say that that blog has been somewhat unique among progressive library blogs for its Canadian perspective and somewhat anarchist sensibility. (If the blogger … Read more Librarian Activist blog looking for a new blogger
After searching through hundreds of current titles, the Amelia Bloomer Project of the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association honors 30 titles for the fifth annual Amelia Bloomer List. The criteria used by the Amelia Bloomer Committee in selecting books include: Significant feminist content Excellence in writing … Read more 2006 Amelia Bloomer List
Today is National Library Workers Day, which is shaping up to be a sort of a Secretary’s Day for library workers, judging from these celebration ideas offered by the sponsoring ALA/APA Allied Professional Association. Some hoped that this would be more of a day centered around worker organizing and union activity, but that doesn’t seem … Read more “Create humorous awards for the staff”
A friend writes… Colleagues- This just in from the Library of Congress. It’s about time. CATALOGING POLICY AND SUPPORT OFFICE SUMMARY OF DECISIONS, EDITORIAL MEETING NUMBER 13 Vietnam War, 1961-1975 The heading “Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975” is being revised to Vietnam War, 1961-1975 on this list. Changes to references on headings for individual battles and operations … Read more Good News from LC
The Smithsonian Institution has made an exclusive deal with Showtime Networks, Inc., allowing the cable TV content company to create a private cable station for documentaries that use footage from the Smithsonian’s collections. Part of the deal is that any documentarians using any Smithsonian footage will be limited to this new Showtime channel as the … Read more Smithsonian Sellout
From the March/April 2006 edition of FAIR‘s Extra!, “Fear & Favor 2005?¢‚Ǩ‚ÄùFAIR’s Sixth Annual Report” gives an informative run-down on how the news media was compromised by money last year. Important reading for an understanding of the latest developments in media monopoly and for getting a good reminder of how our “free press” is constrained … Read more Fear & Favor 2005?¢‚Ǩ‚ÄùFAIR’s Sixth Annual Report