Susan Maret has an article in the latest issue of Progressive Librarian titled Formats are a Tool for the Quest for Truth: HURIDOCS Human Rights Materials for Library and Human Rights Workers. It is an interesting overview of the well-developed documentation system for human rights abuses.
Students of media consolidation and market censorship are well aware of the importance of small, independent and alternative publishers in providing balanced viewpoints in libraries. In our practice as librarians we know that there is an array of institutional challenges to learning about, acquiring and making available literature from these hidden corners of the publishing … Read more Resources for the Alternative Press
SRRT Statement to ALA Council, 6/28/06 The Action Council of the Social Responsibilities Round Table made the decision that we could not leave New Orleans without issuing a statement bearing witness to what we have seen, heard and experienced while here during ALA’s annual meeting. We have witnessed that the spirit, hospitality and creativity of … Read more SRRT Statement on New Orleans
ALA Annual 2006 Report to SRRT By SRRT Councilor Al Kagan Having our meeting in New Orleans after Katrina was strange, sad, and even heartbreaking for those who saw the worst of the devastation up-front. But those who volunteered to put libraries back together and gut houses came away with a great sense of satisfaction. … Read more Al Kagan’s Council Report to SRRT
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.
Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past, by Roy Rosenzweig, originally published in The Journal of American History Volume 93, Number 1 (June, 2006): 117-46, and republished on the web by The Center for History and New Media. This article discusses Wikipedia from an historian’s point of view, and provides … Read more Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past
The New Orleans Times Picayune published an article on Sunday about Madeleine Albright’s appearance at the ALA Conference. The article was focused on Albright’s comments about the Cuban “independent librarians,” which really only amounted to a couple of sentences, and provided background on the situation from an anti-Castro perspective. Clearly Robert Kent got to the … Read more Ann Sparanese’s letter to the Times-Picayune
Interesting post in if:Book, about the new book coming out in France, Quand Google d?ɬ©fie l’Europe : plaidoyer pour un sursaut, by Jean-No?ɬ´l Jeanneney. Jeanneny, who is the director of the French National Library, is one of the most prominent critics of the Google Book project, and is worried about the project leading to an … Read more if:Book – Google and the myth of universal knowledge: a view from Europe
Here is an article in Salon by novelist Susan Straight, reflecting on the situation in New Orleans after her appearance at the conference. I think most of us who were there for the conference share her feelings and made some of the same observations. “Louisiana is still devastated, and its people — black and white, … Read more Flooded and Forgotten
Councilor James Casey prepares a nice report after each conference and shares it publicly. Here is his report on ALA Annual 2006: AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING – New Orleans June 23-28, 2006. Notes by James B. Casey Only some 10 months after the Katrina hurricane devastated many neighborhoods of New Orleans and forced tens … Read more Jim Casey’s notes on ALA Annual 2006
Over the next few days I’ll be reporting on aspects of the ALA Conference that just took place in New Orleans, and talking about some of the things that ALA as an organization has been working on. It seems to me that ALA members like me who are very involved in the association could do … Read more Conference reports coming up
The school board in Miami, Florida just voted to remove a book from the school’s library – “Vamos a Cuba / A Visit to Cuba” – because they consider it ideologically incorrect. This story has been developing for a while, but today’s news is about the actual vote of the school board. One school board … Read more Ironic Dade County
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an informative article on Jo Ann Pinder’s firing.
On this day we celebrate the Barnette decision. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on flag day, 1943, overturning a law which made it compulsory for students to salute the flag and recite the pledge of allegiance. (The law made parents and guardians … Read more Happy Flag Day
Jo Ann Pinder, a completely mainstream librarian and longtime head of the Gwinnett County, Georgia, library system, was recently fired from her job by the library board, with no explanation given, after a local conservative organization set up a website that aimed to “harmonize [their] library system with the conservative values of Gwinnett County families.” … Read more Conservative campaign forces Georgia librarian from post
The Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards were announced in late April of this year. The award is described thusly: “The Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards are given annually to the children’s picture books and longer books published the preceding year that effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of … Read more Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards
Issue 154/155 of the SRRT Newsletter is just published. It has a report from the Midwinter meeting, a message from the Coordinator, updates on Task Force and member activities, and a feature article by Fred Stoss on the situation facing the EPA Library Network.
Check out Barbara Fister’s thoughts on Library 2.0 and the culture of reading in her posting on the ACRL blog. She refers and links to a discussion in the mainstream press which I have been neglecting, about how the medium of the web is affecting reading and book culture. This discussion involves Kevin Kelley, Lee … Read more Barbara Fister on Library 2.0 and the culture of reading
The Wall Street Journal published an article on Monday claiming that science journals routinely manipulate impact factors by encouraging contributors to cite heavily prior articles from the same journals. (The link goes to a login-free copy of the article as found on the Stay Free! blog.) Now, I think it’s true that because many journals … Read more WSJ claims STM journals rig impact factors
Fred Stoss of the SRRT Task Force on the Environment has an editorial in the Spring 2006 issue of Electronic Green Journal on the threatened defunding of the EPA National Library Network. It’s an informative article with a useful webliography at the end.