Category: November 2006

EPA libraries dumping collections to preempt congressional action

by RoryLitwin

ALA Council’s Bernadine Abbott Hoduski, who has been Council’s leader on the EPA library closure issue, has sent us this article from Yubanet, which begins: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is frantically dispersing its library collections to preempt Congressional intervention, according to internal emails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Contrary to … Read more EPA libraries dumping collections to preempt congressional action

LibrariansForFairness a project of PR firm Rothstein and Memsic

by RoryLitwin

This is from LISNews. It turns out that LibrariansForFairness, the ostensible library group that opposed SRRT’s criticism of Israel a few years ago, is actually a project of the PR firm Rothstein and Memsic, which is connected with Standwithus, a pro-Israel lobby group. The rundown is LISNews, though brief, is very interesting and presents the … Read more LibrariansForFairness a project of PR firm Rothstein and Memsic

Censorship in Iran

by RoryLitwin

The Guardian (UK) published a story on Friday about a new wave of censorship in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Iran. Scores of Western classics, Western bestsellers, and liberal Iranian novels are censored and not being published there. One small thing worth pointing out about this. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code is among the banned books, and … Read more Censorship in Iran

Return of the Press Barons

by RoryLitwin

Journalism has changed in the last few decades because the ownership of most daily newspapers has moved from local, private hands to publicly traded corporations, which have demanded higher profit margins. The main result has been a reduction of reporting staff and a greater need to avoid offending advertisers and connected corporations. Consumers have been … Read more Return of the Press Barons

ALISE Information Ethics Special Interests Group

by RoryLitwin

The Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) has an Information Ethics Special Interest Group (IE-SIG) that has recently completed a Position Statement on Information Ethics in LIS Education. I have been waiting to blog this for news about whether it is going to be officially adopted by ALISE or what authority it has … Read more ALISE Information Ethics Special Interests Group

On the importance of alternative literature in libraries

by RoryLitwin

I think I neglected to emphasize this… Nancy Kranich’s preface to the 6th edition of Alternative Publishers of Books in North America is online. It’s good reading about the importance of alternative literature in libraries, from someone who has been studying the issue for years. Nancy Kranich is a past president of ALA and has … Read more On the importance of alternative literature in libraries

New from LJP: Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library

by RoryLitwin

New from Library Juice Press: Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library: How Postmodern Consumer Capitalism Threatens Democracy, Civil Education and the Public Good By Ed D’Angelo November 2006. 139. paperback. $18 ISBN 978-0-9778617-1-2 Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library is a philosophical and historical analysis of how the rise of consumerism … Read more New from LJP: Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library

Circumscribing the “public” in public libraries

by RoryLitwin

Thoughtul article in the new Marginal Librarian, McGill’s library school student e-zine: Public libraries: who or what is “public”? This article has to do with Montréal’s new anti-homeless policies (that’s anti-homeless, not anti-homelessness), and ties the question of society’s attitudes toward poor people to library service and the way “the public” is operationally defined in … Read more Circumscribing the “public” in public libraries

One Love, One Bank

by RoryLitwin

Bank of America execs exchange their souls for money in front of a camera. Not specifically library related except inasmuch as it paints a good picture of what we’re up against, and gives us a reason to feel good about our chosen career.

Information for Social Change – Call for Papers

by RoryLitwin

INFORMATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE (ISC) ISSN 1364-694X CALL FOR PAPERS The summer 2007 issue of the online journal Information for Social Change (ISC) will focus on the urgent theme of library and information workers as political actors in times of war, civil war, military occupation, and social conflicts worldwide. ISC seeks both contemporary and historical … Read more Information for Social Change – Call for Papers

Liquidation of Iraqi academics

by RoryLitwin

According to the Brussells Tribunal, an international group of artists, intellectuals and activists opposed to the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the intellectual and academic community of Iraq is being destroyed: A little known aspect of the tragedy engulfing Iraq is the systematic liquidation of the country’s academics. Even according to conservative estimates, over 250 educators … Read more Liquidation of Iraqi academics