Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007)
Kurt Vonnegut died last night, at the age of 84. At one point he wrote, “Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information.”
Category: People In Focus
Saad Eskander
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
Ed D’Angelo responds to John Pateman’s review of Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library
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
Progressive Council Candidates
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
John Rendon – the Goebbels of our era
My friend John Gehner just told me about this watershed piece of investigative reporting by James Bamford, an article from Rolling Stone that won the 2006 National Magazine Award in the “Best Reporting” category: The Man Who Sold the War. It is about John Rendon, who heads the “perception management” firm that was hired by … Read more John Rendon – the Goebbels of our era
Jesse Shera on academic librarians’ professional values
Here is an excerpt from Jesse Shera’s 1936 article in The Bulletin of the American Library Association, “The College Library and its Future.” (Vol. 30, pp. 495-501.) A PROFESSIONAL CREDO Having seen that technologically librarianship has made significant progress, and that investigatory activities have already achieved impressive beginnings, we now turn our attention to a … Read more Jesse Shera on academic librarians’ professional values
More on What’s Going On at the Library of Congress
Thomas Mann at the Library of Congress has written an update to his critical summary of changes there: More on What’s Going On at the Library of Congress, published through the Library of Congress Professional Guild, AFSCME 2910. The cover page lists these topics in the 24 page document: Series authority records Integrating the Web … Read more More on What’s Going On at the Library of Congress
Library Director resigns over WiFi irradiation risks
Rebekah Azen resigned from her post as the director of the library at Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, because she believes that exposure to WiFi emissions is a health hazard and got no response from administrators after complaining. Library Journal covered this story yesterday. The Council on Wireless Technology Impacts, a group that … Read more Library Director resigns over WiFi irradiation risks
NETFUTURE is back
Stephen Talbott’s NETFUTURE: Technology and Human Responsibility, the electronic newsletter he has edited since 1995, is back in publication after a fifteen month hiatus. I wondered if it would ever resume publication, and I am very glad that it has. In Talbott’s words, NetFuture is an electronic newsletter with postings every two-to-four weeks or so. … Read more NETFUTURE is back
Lawrence Lessig on the political process
Lawrence Lessig has an editorial in last month’s Wired Magazine about how money distorts the political process, with a specific tie-in to the recent legislation concerning network neutrality: A Costly Addiction.
Christopher Hitchens reviews David Nasaw’s book on Andrew Carnegie
Whatever you think about Christopher Hitchens, I think you’ve got to appreciate his iconoclasm. His review of David Nasaw’s book about Andrew Carnegie gives me the slight feeling that he wishes he had written it himself, or at any rate that he appreciates it very much for the many-sided story that it tells. It is … Read more Christopher Hitchens reviews David Nasaw’s book on Andrew Carnegie
On the importance of alternative literature in libraries
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
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
Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s memorable comment
“The real culture of America is not corporate monoculture and television. It’s the writers, teachers, universities, libraries and librarians. That’s the mainstream culture of America.” – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, announcing the finalists for the National Book Awards, in his City Lights bookstore in San Francisco last week.
Historian Tony Judt’s talks in NYC cancelled due to ADL pressure
NYU historian Tony Judt is a strong critic of Israel and a proponent, along with Noam Chomsky and the late Edward Said, of a secular, binational state as the solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Washington Post has a nice article, dated Oct. 9, about how a couple of his talks in New York City … Read more Historian Tony Judt’s talks in NYC cancelled due to ADL pressure
Data Smog
Kim Leeder at Envirolibrarian has a brief review of the 1997 book by David Shenk, Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut, which says that the amount of information easily available to people ends up harming more than helping civic participation. It sounds like an interesting book; I wasn’t aware of it. Since that book Shenk … Read more Data Smog
The Nation takes an admiring look at librarians
The Nation magazine posted a web-only article yesterday by Joseph Huff-Hannon titled, “Librarians at the Gates,” which takes an admiring look at American librarians. It discusses librarians’ responses to anti-immigration legislation (with a link to REFORMA’s website); our responses to the USA PATRIOT Act, responses to censorship attempts, four paragraphs about the National Security Archive … Read more The Nation takes an admiring look at librarians
Interview with Barbara Tillett
Many Library Juice readers who are familiar with Sanford Berman’s work on LC subject heading reform have read or heard the name Barbara Tillett. Barbara Tillett has for many years been the chief of the Library of Congress Cataloging Policy and Support Office, and thus has figured into Berman’s career-long crusade to reform LC’s subject … Read more Interview with Barbara Tillett
Dr. Toni Samek profiled in U. of Alberta article about teacher-librarian crisis
The University of Alberta’s Express News today features an article titled “Librarians are freedom fighters, says author,” about professor Toni Samek and her recent advocacy of school librarianship in Alberta. Samek has written extensively on librarians as activists for intellectual freedom and human rights. Dr. Samek has a book coming out soon on Chandos Press … Read more Dr. Toni Samek profiled in U. of Alberta article about teacher-librarian crisis
Proud to Swim Home: NOLA after Katrina
Librarian Karen Coyle (who has so often been excellent on tech and privacy issues) has an article online, with lots of good pictures, titled, Proud to Swim Home: NOLA after Katrina. Link from Jessamyn West’s collection of post-conference links.