Category: People In Focus

Shiraz Durrani anthology – Information and Liberation

by RoryLitwin

Just published: Information and Liberation: Writings on the Politics of Information and Librarianship Author: Shiraz Durrani Price: $45.00 (or £22.00) ISBN: 978-0-9802004-0-9 7″ by 10″ 385 Pages Printed on acid-free paper. Information and Liberation is a retrospective collection of Shiraz Durrani’s articles and conference papers on the politics of information. The book documents the struggle … Read more Shiraz Durrani anthology – Information and Liberation

Barbara Fister on Google and OA

by RoryLitwin

ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy had its annual retreat this month. Barbara Fister, frequent poster to the ACRL blog and a librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, presented a talk there called “Open Access and Books in a Digital World – What Role Should Libraries Play?” Her talk is an interesting exploration of … Read more Barbara Fister on Google and OA

David Wahl of the Wix Library (Special Libraries)

by RoryLitwin

Here is a link to the March, 1959 issue of Special Libraries, which is Volume 50, Number 3. I’m posting the link because there’s an article in it by my maternal grandpa’s cousin, David R. Wahl, about the then-new Wix Library at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, of which he was the founding … Read more David Wahl of the Wix Library (Special Libraries)

Obama’s letter on the EPA

by RoryLitwin

President-elect Obama’s letter declaring intentions regarding the EPA, including EPA libraries: October 20, 2008 John Gage National President American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO 80 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 Dear President Gage, I am writing to share my views with you regarding the importance of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in an Obama … Read more Obama’s letter on the EPA

Archives of Dissent – video of conference

by RoryLitwin

From Lincoln Cushing to the PLG list: The “Archives of Dissent” panel held at U.C. Berkeley 9/18/2008 can now be seen on YouTube: It includes presentations by: • Julie Herrada, Labadie Collection Librarian, University of Michigan, and curator of a “1968” special exhibit. The Labadie Collection is an internationally renowned archive of social protest materials. … Read more Archives of Dissent – video of conference

Marie Benoit on Gaetan Benoit and Eugene Morel…

by RoryLitwin

Marie Benoit is the widow of Gaëtan Benoît, author of the posthumously-published Eugène Morel: Pioneer of Public Libraries in France. She wrote the following paragraphs describing her husband and the process of writing the book, which was originally his thesis for Fellowship in the Library Association (UK), in the 1970’s. —————————– I must confess that … Read more Marie Benoit on Gaetan Benoit and Eugene Morel…

Lewis Lapham on education and intellectual life in the postmodern USA

by RoryLitwin

Kevin Arthur has posted a few paragraphs from recent article by Lewis Lapham on the education and intellectual life in the United States. Kevin picked out a few choice parts that concern the place of the humanities in the technological age (this being the focus of his blog), but Library Juice readers may be interested … Read more Lewis Lapham on education and intellectual life in the postmodern USA

Emanuel Haldeman-Julius and his Little Blue Books

by RoryLitwin

From the current issue of The Believer, an article by Rolf Potts on Emanuel Haldeman-Julius, publisher of those 5-cent “Little Blue Books” that educated the masses in the 1920s: “The Henry Ford of Literature.” Here’s how it starts: …Selling for as little as five cents and small enough to fit in a trouser pocket, these … Read more Emanuel Haldeman-Julius and his Little Blue Books

Some good listening

by RoryLitwin

Wisconsin Public Radio’s To the Best of Our Knowledge has an hour-long program this week on libraries, books and reading. Interviewed are Maryanne Wolfe, author of “Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain” (which has some pessimistic things to say about the internet); Geraldine Brooks, who talks about the rare … Read more Some good listening

Call for contributions: Celeste West Festschrift

by RoryLitwin

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO A CELESTE WEST “FESTSCHRIFT” BOOK PROJECT Co-editors Toni Samek and KR Roberto are seeking articles, stories, poems, photographs, letters, thought pieces and other individual and collective memories of Celeste West, lesbian, feminist librarian, publisher, and activist, for a festschrift to be published by Library Juice Press in 2009. Celeste passed away … Read more Call for contributions: Celeste West Festschrift

Nancy Kranich on Sarah Palin, would-be censor

by RoryLitwin

Former ALA President Nancy Kranich has an editorial in the current issue of The Nation magazine, titled, “What’s Daddy’s Roommate Doing in Wasilla?” Kranich is writing about Sarah Palin’s attempt to censor books from the library in Wasilla when she was governor, and her subsequent attempt to have the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, fired, … Read more Nancy Kranich on Sarah Palin, would-be censor

Rafael Capurro: Interpreting the Digital Human (video)

by RoryLitwin

Interpreting the Digital Human (video in Realplayer format) This is a video of a presentation by Rafael Capurro, head of the Interntational Center of Information Ethics. Capurro was the Senior Information Ethics Fellow in 2007-08 at Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR) at the School of Information Studies at UW Milwaukee. This video is of … Read more Rafael Capurro: Interpreting the Digital Human (video)

Ruth Rikowski on the WTO and intellectual property rights

by RoryLitwin

A Marxist Analysis of the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (PDF) Policy Futures in Education Volume 4 Number 4, 2006 RUTH RIKOWSKI London South Bank University, United Kingdom This article examines the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). There are many WTO … Read more Ruth Rikowski on the WTO and intellectual property rights

Intellectual Freedom advocacy in a Huxleyan world

by RoryLitwin

A favorite debate of pessimistic sophomores, or perhaps sophomoric pessimists, is as to whether our society and its future is more like George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. It’s such a common juxtaposition and so simple to talk about it that I bring it up at the risk of terribly oversimplifying things. … Read more Intellectual Freedom advocacy in a Huxleyan world

Book: The Dumbest Generation

by RoryLitwin

A book of interest: Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation. What it says is that the under-30 generation is so removed from books and reading that it is shockingly ignorant, and we should all be worried. Bauerlein blames the internet. The Chicago Tribune published a decent review a few days ago. The students at the university … Read more Book: The Dumbest Generation

Saad Eskander’s open letter to the Hoover Institution

by RoryLitwin

Open letter from Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archives, June 21, 2008 An Open Letter to the Director of Hoover Institute I have read Mr. Sousa’s letter to Mr. Mark Greene, President of the Society of American Archivists (dated 06-06-08), Mr. Al-Jaberi’s statement (dated 27-04-08) and the article published by Stanford … Read more Saad Eskander’s open letter to the Hoover Institution