Byron Anderson, compiler of Alternative Publishers of Books in North America, does an annual update to his “Bibliographic and Web Tools for Alternative Publications,” a helpful resource also published in print in the alternative review journal Counterpoise. This five-page document has listings of review sources from many areas of alternative publishing, including zines and small … Read more Bibliographic tools for alternative publications
Regarding the Facebook group, No, I don’t look like a librarian!…. Yes, you do look like a librarian! I am not joining the group – because I think really I do not look unlike a librarian, and I think most of the people who joined that group look like the librarians that they are. And … Read more Yes, you do look like a librarian!
The Globe-Wernicke Vertical File
This is so f-ing typical of the Bush Administration… White House staffers are using private internet domains for much of their work by email in order to avoid the accountability of a paper trail. White House correspondence is supposed to be part of the public record, eventually. Here’s a snippet: “…[I]t is better not to … Read more White House using private email to avoid the accountability of a public paper trail
I think we will be hearing this idea increasingly over the coming years, that the library listserv should go, and we should switch to web-based forums with RSS-type updates instead. That link is to a thread on the Livejournal community, “Libraries.” Personally, I agree, but I have no problem being patient.
Michael Dowling of the ALA Chapter Relations Office has forwarded to the IFLA list a link to an audio version of a PBS interview with Saad Eskander, the new head of the Iraqi National Library and Archives. The interview is about 18 minutes long and extremely interesting. We in the U.S. talk about running libraries … Read more Saad Eskander
The justice department has been abusing a provision in the PATRIOT Act allowing them to issue “national security letters” to obtain information on citizens (140,000 so far) without a court order and with the famous gag order imposed. The Washington Post has published a revealing article by one of these recipients of a National Security … Read more 140,000 National Security Letters
I am going to take another stab at outlining my views on “library and non-library issues.” Last time I did it I was sloppy in the way that I stated my views, and I surprised and disappointed some people who I think would not have been so surprised and disappointed if I had been clearer … Read more Library and non-library issues
The Communist Party of the United States is presently in the news for donating its archive to the Tamiment Library at NYU. As many are aware, this archive was part of the Reference Center for Marxist Studies, the library located in the CPUSA building in New York, which was run by ALA Councilor Mark Rosenzweig … Read more The hidden story behind CPUSA’s donation of its archives to NYU
From PLG’s Braverman Prize committee: Hello – We’re pleased to announce the fourth annual Miriam Braverman prize, sponsored by the Progressive Librarians Guild, for the best student paper on progressive library issues. Below are the guidelines for the prize. If anyone would like an announcement flyer, please contact me directly. Feel free to pass this … Read more Braverman Prize call for student papers
I appreciate John Pateman’s efforts in writing a review of my book, “Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library,” and I think that ultimately our underlying motives are similar. But there are real disagreements, too, as well as misunderstandings that I would like to address. The most important real difference of opinion is found … Read more Ed D’Angelo responds to John Pateman’s review of Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library
March 2007 is Small Press Month. Especially note the ten things to do for Small Press Month for bookstores and libraries. The effort is cosponsored by a range of organizations helping small presses, and special thanks are given to Alice Walker. I read about this on LibrarianActivist.org.
Email to lists from Mark Rosenzweig: —- Dear SRRT members and other progressives in ALA, The PLG Coordinating Committee has compiled the following short list of Council candidates (there may be one or two we missed) we believe are truly worthy of your votes. We urge you to BULLET VOTE for the list, that is, … Read more Progressive Council Candidates
The Presidential Records Act of 2007 is a bill presently in Congress that would overturn Bush’s Presidential Order 13233 of 2001, which was one of many outrageous secrecy measures of the Bush Administration, this one case giving former presidents the power to prevent access to their papers for many years. Kathleen de la Peña McCook … Read more The Presidential Records Act of 2007
At the ALA Midwinter in Seattle, two SRRT task forces were combined into one. The Alternatives In Print Task Force was one of SRRT’s original task forces, and has consistently advocated for the collection of materials from alternative publishers as a necessary part of living up to the Library Bill of Rights in collection development. … Read more Alternative Media Task Force
Kathleen de la Peña McCook has been indexing Progressive Librarian, and has worked through all issues published in the 1990s. The index will be published in Progressive Librarian in a future issue, and can now be found on Kathleen’s blog. Progressive Librarian index, 1990-1999 Book reviews published in Progressive Librarian, 1990-1999 Acronyms used in Progressive … Read more K. McCook indexes Progressive Librarian
John Pateman of Information for Social Change has written a review of Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library, by Ed D’Angelo. Pateman has a Marxist perspective as well as a UK perspective, and explains his disagreement with the book in those terms.
Statement Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director, ALA Washington Office The American Library Association-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) would like to take this opportunity to announce its support of H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act. Formed for the purpose of promoting “the mutual professional interests of librarians and other library workers,” the ALA-APA is a strong advocate … Read more ALA-APA supports the Employee Free Choice Act