The 2008 Falsies Awards
If you’re like me, you’re a librarian in part because you have a passion for the right to information, and by information I mean truth rather than lies. One of … Read more The 2008 Falsies Awards
Category: Information Ethics
Shiraz Durrani anthology – Information and Liberation
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 … Read more Shiraz Durrani anthology – Information and Liberation
Barbara Fister on Google and OA
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 … Read more Barbara Fister on Google and OA
Obama’s letter on the EPA
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 … Read more Obama’s letter on the EPA
Talk about government transparency and sunshine
It’s a new dawn in more ways than one. One of the things I hated most about the Bush administration, from a librarian’s point of view, was their ever increasing … Read more Talk about government transparency and sunshine
The Ethics of Information Organization – Conference Announcement and Call for Papers
The Ethics of Information Organization – Conference Announcement and Call for Papers May 22-23, 2009 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Information organization (IO), like other major functions of the information profession, faces … Read more The Ethics of Information Organization – Conference Announcement and Call for Papers
The Minerva Controversy (Saad Eskander, Iraq National Library)
Minerva Research Initiative: Searching for the Truth or Denying the Iraqis the Rights to Know the Truth? by Saad Eskander, Iraq National Library and Archives “What has prompted me to … Read more The Minerva Controversy (Saad Eskander, Iraq National Library)
Bibliographic and Web Tools for Alternative Media
For many years Byron Anderson has been producing a bibliography of tools for helping librarians attend to the alternative press. The new edition of his guide is out: Bibliographic and … Read more Bibliographic and Web Tools for Alternative Media
Wikipedia and what we mean by truth
Simson Garfinkel has an article in the new issue of MIT’s Technology Review about Wikipedia, arguing that it is creating troubling implications for the way we view reality: Wikipedia and … Read more Wikipedia and what we mean by truth
A question for Radical Reference
Over time, Radical Reference moved from being simply an experimental virtual reference service for political radicals to being an activist organization sharing the same space as PLG and SRRT, but … Read more A question for Radical Reference
Mother Jones article on Connecticut librarians’ defiance of the PATRIOT Act
Amy Goodman and David Goodman (of Democracy Now) have an article in the current Mother Jones magazine about the great Windsor, Connecticut librarians’ defiance of the FBI and the PATRIOT … Read more Mother Jones article on Connecticut librarians’ defiance of the PATRIOT Act
Reference librarians are authority figures with no jurisdiction
We live in an era (no blame to Baby Boomers intended) when people in positions of authority are often uncomfortable being authority figures. With a keen memory of disliking authority … Read more Reference librarians are authority figures with no jurisdiction
UN says British libel law violates human rights
I’ve always been appalled by British libel law as long as I’ve known about it. Basically it puts a strong onus on defendants to prove that what they have said … Read more UN says British libel law violates human rights
ACTA – Policy laundering IP
Public Knowledge, the DC public interest group, has a very informative discussion of ACTA – the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. ACTA is an international trade agreement now being worked out behind … Read more ACTA – Policy laundering IP
LA Times: “Pillaging Iraqi history”
Jon Wiener has an editorial in Friday’s Los Angeles Times: “Pillaging Iraqi history: Shortly after Baghdad fell in 2003, the Baath Party archives were shipped to the U.S. It’s time … Read more LA Times: “Pillaging Iraqi history”
Rafael Capurro: Interpreting the Digital Human (video)
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 … Read more Rafael Capurro: Interpreting the Digital Human (video)
Electronic journal access found to reduce breadth of citations
Noting an article of interest: “Electronic Publication and the Narrowing of Science and Scholarship” Science 18 July 2008: Vol. 321. no. 5887, pp. 395 – 399 DOI: 10.1126/science.1150473 James Evans … Read more Electronic journal access found to reduce breadth of citations
Intellectual Freedom advocacy in a Huxleyan world
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 … Read more Intellectual Freedom advocacy in a Huxleyan world
Library Journal reviews Questioning Library Neutrality
If you’d like to purchase Questioning Library Neutrality for your library but need to supply a review from a mainstream source in order to justify it, the answer is here. … Read more Library Journal reviews Questioning Library Neutrality
ALA IFC’s Fostering Media Diversity in Libraries, and ALA’s grey literature in general
In my view, one of the most important documents and position statements that ALA has produced in the last few years was its June 2007 report, “Fostering Media Diversity in … Read more ALA IFC’s Fostering Media Diversity in Libraries, and ALA’s grey literature in general