Crosspost of something I put on the info-commons web site: Neal Stephenson “interviewed” by Slashdot where he touches on some book and publishing issues near and dear to many librarians.
Author: jessamyn
who holds the copyright to the universe?
Who holds the copyright to the Universe? Back cover image of the inaugural issue of the Public Library of Science’s second magazine PLoS Medicine. [mathowie]
meet the anarchist librarians
My friend Chuck0, perhaps the best known anarchist librarian has posted the notes from a post-ALA talk he gave in June: Meet the Anarchist Librarians. Chuck is a very good writer and he’s thought about these topics a lot. Even if you’re not into the whole radical politics thing, I think you’ll enjoy his article.
Speaking truth to power is something that anarchists are good at. We are excellent gadflys, iconoclasts, critics, curmudgeons, activists. We criticize, we challenge the powerful, be it the state, the rich, or the guys who speak too much in a meeting. We are also good at criticizing our comrades, which often gets us into trouble with leftists who discourage dissent amongst comrades. Being able to speak your mind freely is important. Self-censorship among library colleagues exists and it is a problem. [lisnews]
for an example of self-censorship, see….
What does he mean by self-censorship? Check out this ISP example from Copyfight
public forums in libraries – where objectivity meets balance
Another post on the subject of public fora. Aaron has finally told the story about the cancelled showing of Farenheit 9/11 that was supposed to happen at his library.
The current political climate is hindering free speech. Not wanting to participate in a conversation is one thing, but to prevent the conversation from taking place is another. There are many people who do not want conversations taking place in which criticisms of the current administration might be found.Friday night from 6:45-7:00 I’ll be sitting on the bench outside of the library explaning to dissapointed patrons how their freedoms of speech and thought were violated. Public libraries are one of the last potential public fora. Let’s do our best to keep them that way.