This is not my perspective at all, however I don’t think it’s tough to see where these people are coming from. I’m not sure if the linking to fee-based database articles locked behind a password entry page is intentional [see links under the words “been scandalous”] but it has an inadvertent side effect of driving home the opposing viewpoint: we learn and understand through free exchange of information. What that exchange is limited through fees, accessibility, or censorship, we all learn a little less. [thanks steven]
Category: libraries
In case you thought it wasn’t happening – GLBT proscription
The Left2Right blog discusses Hillsborough County [FL] and their legislation requiring that government agencies — including the West Gate library — “abstain from acknowledging, promoting, and participating in Gay Pride recognition and events”
[M]andated silence on the topic seems antithetical to what libraries are about. Libraries are for learning stuff, and displays don’t have to take sides. That’s why I say proponents and opponents of gay rights alike ought to agree that the county blew it, in a big, bad, awful way. The real divide here is between those fond of vibrant democratic debate and those opposed to it. So I’d let the library mount a display airing all sides of the dispute. Indeed, I’d encourage them to. Precisely because there is ongoing controversy about gay rights, and because we think (don’t we?) that both sides have legitimate views, no reasonable observer would take a library exhibit’s inclusion of critics of gay rights as silently scornful. The county’s measure makes it seem like they think the very topic of gay pride is unspeakable, indecent — something that must remain deeply closeted. That position, and not any measured view on gay marriage or civil unions or antidiscrimination laws, is reprehensible.
libraries for sale? how commerce affects public services
Knowledge for Sale: Are America’s Public Libraries on the Verge of Losing Their Way? [pdf] Utne reader article by Chris Dodge former Hennepin County [MN] librarian and current Utne Reader Librarian. Very very good. You might also recognize a familiar face or two [hi Jenna!] in an articfle in the same issue The New Monastic Librarians [pdf]. What do they mean by monastic? Dodge Explains
Like those who once copied texts as a way to save them for a more enlightened time, a cadre of “new monastic individuals” must take up the task of protecting the knowledge they love.
how we got to know what Google/Umich agreed to
Why is the Google/UMich contract being posted in the first place? Doesn’t it say CONFIDENTIAL all over it? Well, if you’re a public university, you can’t just make confidential agreements without them being subject to freedom of information laws. More on the Google Watch site, and a little more over at the LibraryLaw blog in the form of a letter from the guy who filed the FOIA request.
Clark Atlanta library school closes, follow-up meeting planned at ALA
Clark Atlanta University School of Library and Information Studies graduated its last class of students and is now closed. The former library school is having a meeting at ALA Sunday, June 26, 2005, 5:30-7:30pm for people to talk about Clark Atlanta and discuss the school’s legacy. The Black Caucus of ALA has a bit more information. The loss of one of the only library schools at a traditionally black university is another blow against increasing diversity in the library profession. If you’re interested in this issue, you might want to keep an eye on Save Library & Information Studies. They’ve got a good collection of required reading and, it appears, a good designer. [thanks tim]