IFLA and SCECSAL Report to SRRT September 29, 2006 By Al Kagan Diverging from my usual report, this time I am reporting on two meetings held in the summer of 2006. This report includes my usual comments on the conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and also on the SCECSAL … Read more Al Kagan’s IFLA report
In literature and film, we are drawn into a story and care about it because we believe, at some level, in the truth of the narrative. This requires what’s called a “suspension of disbelief.” Of course, we also know about what is actually going on in the world through media that present us with narratives. … Read more Torture
There’s a brief article in Counterpunch about the National Book Festival, which features our very non-warlike First Lady. It is intended as a happier source of news than the complete disaster we have created in the Middle East, from which news consumers and election-hopeful Republicans would understandably like some relief. The main things that Russell … Read more Are you proud of our “National Book Festival?”
Today the Reuters news service is reporting on the message of Prince Karim Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of 15 million Shia Ismaili Muslims, delivered to a group of journalists in New Delhi. His message? That today’s world conflict is not a clash between Muslim and Western civilizations, but a conflict of ignorance, to which … Read more Aga Khan: Not a clash of civilizations, but a conflict of ignorance…
Today is the International Day of Peace, as declared in United Nations General Assembly Resolution UN/A/RES/36/67 in 1981. It is meant to be a global day of ceasefire as well as a day for considering and promoting the ideals of peace…
For years the IMLS has been offering grants for LIS research and the education of librarians not appreciably different the one announced today on the IMLS website, except that this year’s grant program (and last year’s?) is called the “Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Grant,” as though the grant were her idea or funded by … Read more Laura Bush appropriates title of IMLS grant for librarians
From the AP story: WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says. The report, written in 2004, came to light during the Senate confirmation hearing for … Read more FCC study on media ownership ordered destroyed
Really interesting reading about myspace at Valleywag: Myspace: The Business of Spam 2.0 (Exhaustive Edition). This article points out a number of things about myspace that I wish I had known about or noticed much earlier. For example, did you know that Tom Anderson (everybody’s friend Tom) didn’t create Myspace, but was hired for PR … Read more Myspace: the business of Spam 2.0
I’ve replaced the simple one-page placeholder with a true website for Library Juice Press, LLC. Explore the site for an idea of what we’ll be publishing in the next few months. Library Juice Press is accepting manuscripts, by the way.
In a way I think it is unfortunate that this story is about Cuba, because being about Cuba means that a lot of people just aren’t going to want to hear it. But it is something that should be well understood. 10 journalists working for the Miami Herald and its Spanish-Language sister paper were discovered … Read more 10 Miami Herald journalists on US gov’t payroll
Fiction and Fact about the “Independent Librarians” of Cuba: ONCE AGAIN Prepared by Ann Sparanese, MLS ALA Councilor August 6, 2006 THE ISSUE: A version of this paper was prepared for the June 2006 ALA Annual conference. At that time the ALA Council was being pressured by a group of anti-Cuba activists, led by Robert … Read more Fiction and Fact about the “Independent Librarians” of Cuba: ONCE AGAIN