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.
INFORMATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE (ISC) ISSN 1364-694X CALL FOR PAPERS (Feel free to foreword this message to friends and colleagues.) The summer 2007 issue of the online journal Information for Social Change (ISC) will focus on the urgent theme of library and information workers as political actors in times of war, civil war, military occupation, … Read more Call for Papers: Information for Social Change
Here is a bit of depressing but not surprising news. Kathleen de la Peña McCook was thrown off of the Higher Education Service Learning discussion list for addressing a bit of Bush administration disinformation. Dr. McCook is not some unhinged anarchist who goes around trying to stir up trouble on discussion lists. She is a … Read more Kathleen McCook thrown off HE-SL discussion list for addressing disinformation
I’ve put three articles from the latest issue of Progressive Librarian, issue 26, up on the web. They are: Towards Self-reflection in Librarianship: What is Praxis? by John J. Doherty The Context of the Information Behavior of Prison Inmates, by Diane K. Campbell REVIEW ESSAY: Adult Literacy Practice and Theories ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù the writings of George … Read more Three from Progressive Librarian 26
Steve Lawson at See Also, which is an interesting blog, has created an informative Reading list for Library 2.0 skeptics.
“The ‘IPPY’ Awards, launched in 1996, are designed to bring increased recognition to the deserving but often unsung titles published by independent authors and publishers. Established as the first awards program open exclusively to independents, over 1500 ‘IPPYs’ have been awarded to authors and publishers from throughout North America and around the world. This year’s … Read more 2006 IPPY Awards
Free Expression Policy Project at the Brennan Center for Justice has just released a major public policy report on internet filtering that “explains the effects of CIPA and then analyzes nearly 100 tests and studies that demonstrate how filters operate as censorship tools.” It is interesting that this think tank produced such a major report … Read more Free Expression Policy Project Report on Filtering
The Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force of ALA/SRRT has a new web page collecting resources for libraries in providing service to poor people. We could all do a better job serving poor people, couldn’t we?
Library 2.0 is a powerful idea that finds itself in an awkward predicament. It is an idea that has emerged out of what amounts to a separate discourse within librarianship, that of younger, web-centric librarians who have often have a sense that they are remaking the profession from the ground up for the digital future … Read more The Central Problem of Library 2.0: Privacy