By Mark Abendroth

With a forward by Peter McLaren. Published by Litwin Books. ISBN 978-1-936117-06-2.

Confidence in neo-liberalism has been seriously shaken by the worldwide financial crisis and so it is a good time for re-appraising Cuba’s National Literacy Campaign in 1961 and determining what can be learned from it regarding an alternative model for human development. The Literacy Campaign has been studied before, but Mark Abendroth uses a new analysis based on his theory of critical global citizenship.

The Literacy Campaign is undeniably among the world’s greatest educational accomplishments of the 20 th century. Before the Campaign almost a million Cubans lacked basic schooling due to race, class, gender and geographical isolation. A total force of 308,000 volunteers worked with 707,212 illiterate Cubans and helped achieve a first grade level of reading and writing. Cuba’s overall illiteracy rate was reduced from over 20% to 3.9% in just one year.

Volunteers included popular educators, workers from factories and 100,000 students between the ages of 10 and 19 who carried in their knapsacks a pair of boots, two pairs of socks, an olive-green beret, a blanket, a hammock, a lantern, and copies of a teacher’s manual and a student primer). The volunteers lived and worked with their students during the day and taught them in the evening. This Campaign broke down barriers between urban and rural areas and challenged discrimination against women and Black people. Red flags were hung over doorways signalling Territories Free of Illiteracy. The end of the campaign was celebrated on 22 December 1961 with a Rally of the Pencils outside the National Library at the Plaza de la Revolucion in Havana.

An understanding of the Cuban Revolution and its Literacy Campaign requires a careful study of Cuba’s long history of struggles against colonialism, slavery and illiteracy. Abendroth traces this history back to Cuba’s first revolutionary Hatuey, the Taino warrior who led a resistance against Spanish invaders in 1510. Cuba’s First War of Independence started on 10 October 1868 and freedom fighters such as Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Maximo Gomez and Antonio Maceo paved the way for Cuba’s most celebrated national hero, Jose Marti, and his struggle for Cuban and Latin American independence. Spanish colonialism was replaced by US neo-colonialism in 1898 and the legacy of this still exists today in the US military base at Guantanamo Bay.

The triumph of the Revolution in 1959 built on these early struggles for independence and Fidel Castro was the latest in a long line of freedom fighters. The seeds of the Literacy Campaign were sewn by the Rebel Army which conducted literacy drives, initiated by Che Guevara. After Batista was ousted in January 1959 the new government began to formulate the National Literacy Campaign early in 1959. Education and ideas would become the primary weapons for defending the Revolution.

Military barracks were converted into schools and 10,000 new classrooms were opened. The Agrarian Reform Law was implemented in June 1959 and campesinos suddenly became owners of the land they worked. Foreign owned factories were nationalised and this put Cuba on a collision course with the US who imposed a trade blockade on the island which exists to this day despite annual UN resolutions, carried by huge margins, calling for it to be lifted. The US backed an attempt to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 and this led Castro to declare the socialist nature of the Revolution, which was increasingly influenced by Soviet and Chinese thinking. Abendroth reminds us of the importance that Lenin and Mao attached to education in the building of socialism.

The National Literacy Campaign took place at a critical stage of the Revolution when Cuba was faced by increasing US hostility and the threat of invasion. It is argued that the Campaign succeeded in 1959 because it followed the Revolution’s 1959 triumph. Conversely, the Revolution likely would not have survived without the success of the Literacy Campaign. On 26 September 1960 Fidel Castro made the following promise at the UN in New York: ‘In the coming year, our people intend to fight the great battle of illiteracy, with the ambitious goal of teaching every single inhabitant of the country to read and write in one year.’ The Cuban government declared that 1961 would be the Year of Education.

On 5 January 1961 counter-revolutionaries assassinated Conrado Benitez, an 18 year old volunteer teacher in the mountainous Escambray region. Before long, all literacy instructors who left their homes to teach in rural zones became known as Conrado Benitez brigadistas. The National Literacv Commission had four departments ? Technical, Publicity, Finance and Publication ? which worked together to support the volunteers and manage the logistics of the campaign. The manual Alfabeticemos and the primer Venceremos (We will triumph) were the central texts of the campaign. They were tools for literacy instruction and also civics textbooks for the Revolution. Themes of nationalism and internationalism together supported the growing idea of a critical global citizenship.

The Conrado Benitez brigadistas had an average age of 15. They were given seven days training before embarking on their journey to a remote rural region. Over 105,000 instructors had been trained by August 1961. But between July and August a census identified that there were 250,000 more illiterate people than had initially been estimated at the start of the campaign. More instructors were recruited into what became known as Homeland or Death brigades, named after a slogan coined by Fidel Castro. On 5 November Melena del Sur became the first municipality to declare itself free of illiteracy. Tragically, another young teacher, 16 year old Manuel Ascunce, was murdered on 26 November together with the father of his host family, Pedro Lantigua. Like Conrado Benitez, Ascunce became a martyr who inspired Cubans to finish the work of the campaign.

Over 1.25 million Cubans participated in the Campaign either as an instructor or student. Abendroth identifies three themes which ran through the campaign and which are central to his focus on critical global citizenship: civic engagement of youth; popular education; and critical global education. Many of the Cubans who Abendroth interviewed spoke passionately of their sense of global citizenship while remembering their work as instructors or students in the campaign; and it is the testimony of these Campaign participants which forms the most powerful chapter of the book. Here are just three statements, from the many which Abendroth quotes, which sum up the Campaign and its legacy:

‘When I was 17, I couldn’t read or write. When my children were 17, they had finished high school. My daughter is an economist.’

‘Socialism has given us life and has taught us that with work and struggle we can live well with all that we need.’

‘The Literacy Campaign helped instil in me a sense of solidarity with other people.’

This is the essence of critical global citizenship. There are many global problems that will not be resolved until a critical mass develops a conscience of them and a political will to mobilise against them. The Literacy Campaign was one of the greatest achievements of the Revolution. It enabled the development of a free education system, from nursery schools to universities. Everywhere in Cuba there are school buildings and education centres which can be identified by a bust of Jose Marti which stands outside of them. The Literacy Campaign also enabled the development of a thriving publishing industry in Cuba, which is unique among developing countries. This, in turn, enabled book shops to sell books at very affordable prices and there is a passion for books and reading in Cuba which is evident at the annual International Book Fair held in Havana. The Literacy Campaign also enabled Cuba to develop a comprehensive network of public libraries, which are the envy of many developed countries.

The Cuban people have become critical global citizens who will never again be easily subjugated by neo-liberalism or by any other nation. A Battle of Ideas is the latest phase of the Revolution to engage young people in the construction of socialism. Cuba is a giant school in which learning goes far beyond the four walls of a school. Participatory democracy is a reality in Cuba through a local, municipal and national electoral system known as Poder Popular. Cuba continues to send thousands of doctors and teachers to countries in need, and the Yes I Can literacy teaching method has been adopted by 15 countries and has been recognised by UNESCO.

The Literacy Campaign made all of this possible; and the Literacy Campaign was made possible by the Revolution. But the Revolution is still threatened by US aggression, which continues under the Obama administration. Abendroth concludes by setting us all a challenge to sustain the Cuban Revolution and become critical global citizens: ‘People around the world can be moved to pressure the US government to end the blockade and to let Cuba live in peace. This is a worthy project for critical global citizens.’

I would like to begin by saying that Bob Usherwood has always been one of my very few library gurus and heroes. He has been an inspiration to me throughout my career, both as editor of a very radical Assistant Librarian, and as a consistent champion of public library values. Bob was still teaching race and class when these concepts were deemed to be long past their sell by date. I like to think that professionally we have a very similar genetic make-up – a 99.9% DNA match – and many of our differences are of nuance rather than substance, of emphasis rather than outcomes, of journey rather than destination. When I became a Fellow of the Library Association I had the additional honour of this being conferred on me by Bob who was President of the LA at that time. I regard Bob as not just a fellow traveller (if you will excuse the pun) but a comrade. Another comrade is John Vincent who manages the Social Exclusion Network. John, like Bob, was at one time the Lambeth chief librarian – there must be something in the water in south London which produces progressive librarians. As a result of my review in CILIP Update of Bob’s important and well argued book, Equity and Excellence in the Public Library (1), I was approached by Ashgate Publishing to write a book with John Vincent about libraries and social justice. My presentation tonight is a good opportunity to rehearse some of the arguments which we will be presenting in our book.

Boom and Bust

One of the themes which we will be exploring is that of Boom and Bust, which is very topical in the current economic climate. We want to understand why there have been waves of progressive librarianship which have not been sustainable. For example, the Boom of community librarianship in the 1970’s was followed by the Bust of Thatcherite library policies in the 1980s. Since 1997 we have seen a Boom of activity around libraries and social exclusion, but this looks likely to be followed by the Bust of a Cameronite government. Like Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, we want to understand how this cycle of Boom and Bust works and attempt to break it, if possible. One thing is for sure, adherence to high professional standards (which is my definition of Excellence in this debate) did not prevent this cycle of Boom and Bust, and may even have contributed to it. Equity on the other hand (which I define as social justice), offers a better chance of breaking the cycle, or at least of future proofing the service when the going gets tough. Excellence, in the form of outdated professional practices, attitudes and behaviour has contributed to the steady decline in the use of public libraries, and a new approach based on Equity is needed to halt and reverse this decline. Being Excellent for a dwindling number of traditional library users will not safeguard our future. Instead we need to develop new audiences, widen access and participation, and become more relevant and, dare I say it, more popular, by which I mean more relevant to the lives of local communities. Populism does not have to be the enemy of Excellence; but Excellence can be the enemy of Equity. High professional standards can be received and perceived as cultural elitism. The problem with the Boom and Bust of progressive librarianship is that the Booms are never very high or long lasting; while the Busts are very low, and go on for years, with 1979-97 being the most recent and painful example. One reason for this is that lip service is paid to Equity when it is expedient to do so, and then it is dropped when it is no longer necessary. Equity is not embedded in our professional culture and sometimes Excellence and professional standards are used as an excuse or smoke screen for not pursuing social justice objectives and outcomes. One of the main reasons why Equity is not mainstreamed in our profession is that we do not employ the right man (or woman) for the job, which leads me into my second theme.

The right ‘man’ for the job

The right ‘man’ for the job? The role of empathy in community librarianship (2)was a research project carried out by Kerry Wilson and Briony Birdi at the University of Sheffield. Like many other very important pieces of research, this report was launched in a blaze of publicity, articles were written in the professional press, but it has now disappeared without trace. No doubt it is collecting dust on the shelves of many librarians who are themselves are not the right man for the job. Every Chief Librarian in the country should read this report and implement its recommendations immediately. But it does not make for comfortable reading. It points out that library staff are strikingly homogenous in terms of gender, age, ethnicity and social class and yet the communities they serve are increasingly diverse. The older, female, white, middle class librarian is a reality and not a stereotype. To compound this there is a strain between the traditional skill set of the librarian and the more generic skills which are required to meet community needs. To quote the research, this mismatch in skills has ‘raised some debate over the role and value of accredited library qualifications and professional status for library staff working in community based and social inclusion roles…a library qualification is not a prerequisite for effective community based library services.’ The research also found that ‘those who wish to preserve professional status at all levels of public library service, and within all aspects of service provision, feel that within a social inclusion context, libraries are starting to provide too many ‘non library’ services, and that the service is going too far in destabilising traditional roles and concepts of the profession.’ In other words they see Equity as an enemy of Excellence. Wilson and Birdi point out that ‘such perceptions could be very damaging to the social inclusion offer from public libraries within modern society.’ Library staff do not show empathy to library users who do not reflect their background and values. The evidence suggests that there is strong resistance to cultural change in libraries, to certain traditionally excluded groups, and to the social inclusion agenda as a whole amongst public library staff. Older librarians in particular are more likely to be resistant to cultural change and objectionable towards the targeting of excluded groups and communities. This lack of motivation to develop Equitable services is also reflected in their lack of knowledge and interest in social inclusion and community librarianship. Social exclusion has become a common expression and concept since it was first introduced from France by New labour in 1997. The term is used widely in the media and there have been a raft of reports written about the subject, most notably Open to All? Public Libraries and Social Exclusion (3) which was published in 2000. Yet when Wilson and Birdi carried out their research in 2006, over 50% of library staff claimed to be only partly aware of national social exclusion policy and debate, and the qualitative data suggests that awareness is considerably lower than this. Lack of appropriate training is partly to blame for this and another factor is the ‘tick box’ approach to equality and diversity which demonstrates lip service to these issues and engenders cynicism among staff. Social inclusion services are regarded as add- ons rather than part of the core library offer. One of the recommendations proposed by Wilson and Birdi is that less emphasis should be placed on professional skills and more stress should be put on communication skills, listening skills, influencing relationships, reflective practice, improved confidence and assertiveness, negotiation skills and dealing with conflict. I would argue that this is an Equity skill set and that it should replace those skills traditionally associated with professional Excellence. But in the last resort staff can only be enabled to show higher levels of empathy towards members of all communities if they are willing – and have some natural capacity – to do so. As Wilson and Birdi conclude ‘the future recruitment of the right man for the job will be intrinsic to the effectiveness of public libraries contribution to the social inclusion agenda, and should be an absolute priority for the future of community librarianship.’ But having the right workforce in itself is not enough if Equity is to triumph over Excellence. We also need the right strategies, structures, systems and cultures and this takes me onto the third theme, Developing a Needs Based Library Service.

Developing a Needs Based Library Service

In 2003 I wrote a book called Developing a Needs Based Library Service (4) which was published by NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) in their ‘lifelines in adult learning’ series. It is interesting to note that this book was commissioned by the adult learning sector rather than the public library sector. However, since I became Head of Libraries and Adult Education in Lincolnshire I have realised that the same debate about Equity and Excellence is raging within the professional world of Adult Education. Put quite simply a Needs Based Library Service is based on that good Marxist principle of ‘from each according to their ability, and to each according to their needs.’ In practical terms this means developing a library service which has the strategies, structures, systems and culture which enable it to identify, prioritise and meet community needs. In order to identify these needs all sections of the local community have to be actively engaged in the planning, design, delivery and assessment of library services. As Wilson and Birdi have demonstrated, issues of Equity tend to exist at the margins of professional practice and are rarely mainstreamed. The starting point for developing a Needs Based Library Service would be a vision and strategy which has Equity as its core value. This strategy should itself be developed by using an inclusive approach which engages all key stakeholders in the process. A typical community is made up of 20% active library users, 20% passive / lapsed users and 60% non users. Traditionally most effort is put into engaging active users, some effort is put into engaging passive or lapsed users and little or no effort is put into engaging non users, yet they are the majority of our communities. Once an Equity based strategy has been developed the staffing and service structures need to be aligned with this strategy to ensure that they are fit for purpose and able to deliver the new strategic objectives. Staffing structures need to be made flatter, less hierarchical and less professionalised. As Wilson and Birdi observed, professional skill sets need to be replaced with more people and community focused skills. The service structure also needs to be aligned with the Equity based strategy and this means putting library services where people can access them easily and conveniently. The age of the standard alone library is over and we now need to collocate public libraries with other services and adopt the multi use and one stop shop approach. I am no fan of the private sector but we have much to learn from bookshops and other retail operations in terms of creating a quality library experience. In doing this we should not adopt the transactional / customer based approach of the High Street, but build on our greatest strength which is that public libraries are democratic and accountable. Similarly, systems and procedures need to be aligned with the Equity based strategy and this will require the ditching of many professional practices which do not meet any community needs but which provide safe and secure comfort zones for librarians. Many of these procedures are barriers to access and in my view every public library service should scrap the following processes tomorrow: the requirement to show proof of address and identity before joining a library; fines and charges; overdue notices; fixed issue periods; limits to the amount of books which can be borrowed; and library counters and desks. Finally, the organisational culture needs to be aligned with the Equity based strategy. Culture has been defined as ‘the way we do things around here’ and it is manifested in the attitude, behaviour and values of library staff. An Equity based strategy requires an inclusive culture and this takes us back to having the right man for the job. Culture change can be accelerated by service planning, performance management and workforce development. But ultimately, as Tom Peters once said, ‘if you cannot change the people, then you have to change the people.’ And that takes me onto my final theme of Co-Production.

Co-Production

My definition of Co-Production is ‘handing over the keys of the public library to the local community.’ It is sometimes said that public libraries should return to their historical roots of helping the ‘deserving poor’. Setting aside for this evening the social change or social control debate which goes with this notion of the ‘deserving poor’, I would argue that we should go even further back in history to the time when local communities ran their own libraries. Some communities continued to do this right up until the Public Libraries Act was passed in 1964. In these communities all aspects of library provision, including staffing and stock selection, were managed by local people. At some point public libraries were hijacked by the middle classes who came to dominate both the running and the use of public libraries. We need to give public libraries back to local communities by actively engaging them in the planning, design, delivery and assessment of library services. To date this has been mostly in the form of using volunteers, but this approach is much too limited. Volunteers tend to be middle class and part of the problem rather than the solution. Also, volunteers have no power, which remains in the hands of middle class professionals. For Equity to assert itself over Excellence this power has to be shifted from librarians to the community. This should not mean that cash strapped local authorities simply dump the libraries which they cannot afford to run on the local community. Instead the transfer of power should be in keeping with the principles of Co-production. Good examples of Co-production are patients’ self help groups and time banks, where members swap free services that can range from baby-sitting to legal advice. The word was coined in the 1970s and the application to public libraries is obvious. A central concept is ‘the core economy’ – the vast fund of goodwill and bright ideas at grass roots level, which in reality is what keeps services, families and communities going. Co-production is supported by a wide range of organisations including UNISON, the Cabinet Office, the New Economic Foundation (NEF) and Compass. As Lucie Stephens from the NEF explains ‘Co-production is not more passive choice. Co –production is action taken. We need to re-focus on the relationships between individual people at the frontline, working as facilitators to release huge assets in the community – skills, talents, networks, social capital, reciprocity. One-way transactions create dependency’ (5). In other words, we must stop treating library users as mere consumers of ‘choices’ provided from above by library professionals. Instead we must share power and resources with local communities. UNISON point out the need ‘for people to have meaningful control over their lives and the services they receive’ (6) and Compass believe that it is the ‘alliance between public servants and members of the public that will provide the strongest and most durable basis for effective, responsive and popular public services’ (7). The NEF are clear that local communities must be encouraged to ‘use the human skills and experience they have to help deliver public services, broadening and deepening those services so that they are no longer the preserve of professionals, but shared responsibility. This is a challenge to the way professionals are expected to work. By shifting professional practice in this way, the basic objective shifts as well. Delivering public services ceases to be merely about tackling symptoms and immediate needs. It depends on reaching out into surrounding neighbourhoods to build the social networks that can tackle the underlying causes and increase the capacity of the core economy’ (8) I would like to end with some dictionary definitions of Equity and Excellence because language is the basis of culture and if we change the professional language which we use then we can also start to change the professional culture. The dominant paradigm for a long time has been Excellence which one dictionary defines as ‘cleverness’ and ‘superiority.’ Equity, on the other hand, is defined as ‘acting fairly or justly’. In my view it is time for cleverness and superiority to be replaced by fairness and justice. The age of Excellence should end and a new era of Equity should begin.

References

• Bob Usherwood (2007) Equity and Excellence in the Public Library, Ashgate Publishing
• Kerry Wilson and Brony Birdi (2008) The right ‘man’ for the job? The role of empathy in community librarianship, Arts & Humanities Research Council
• Dave Muddiman et al (2000) Open to All? Public Libraries and Social Exclusion, LIC Research Report 84
• John Pateman (2003) Developing a Needs Based Library Service, NIACE
• Laura Swaffield (2008) Users and staff together can revive public life, Library and Information Update
• Shaping the future: Unison’s vision for public services (2008), UNISON
• Zoe Gannon and Neal Lawson (2008) Co-production: the modernisation of public services by staff and users, Compass
• Co-production: a manifesto for growing the core economy (2008), New Economics Foundation

Tottenham,

England.

Ronald Elly Wanda

I first discovered The Marcus Garvey Library at Philip Lane in Tottenham almost a decade and a half ago and have remained a frequent visitor ever since. It is host to a number of controversial hard and paperbacks and many activities that other public libraries dare not entertain. It is, to say the least, ‘Radical’. For a start, it is named after a gentleman who once observed that:

For man to know himself is for him to feel that for him there is no human master. For him Nature is his servant, and whatsoever he wills in Nature, that shall be his reward. If he wills to be a pigmy, a serf or a slave, that shall he be. If he wills to be a real man in possession of the things common to man, then he shall be his own sovereign. When man fails to grasp his authority he sinks to the level of the lower animals, and whatsoever the real man bids him do, even as if it were of the lower animals, that much shall he do. If he says “go.” He goes. If he says “come,” he comes. By this command he performs the functions of life even as by a similar command the mule, the horse, the cow performs the will of their masters. For the last four hundred years the Negro has been in the position of being commanded even as the lower animals are controlled. Our race has been without a will; without a purpose of its own, for all this length of time.

Marcus Mosiah Garvey, the renowned fiery Jamaican writer, anti-racist, social and political justice crusader who famously advocated Pan-Africanism as a solution for many problems (primarily racism and slavery) that plagued Africans especially those outside of Africa. He led the largest organized mass movement of people of African ancestry ever. Garvey has come to be best remembered as a champion of what singer and Rastafarian philosopher Bob Marley, also inspired by Garvey’s enterprise, once tunefully termed the “exodus” movement. The movement sought to inspire all Africans in the diaspora to “redeem” Africa, and for the European colonial powers to leave Africa. At one time, he also said: “I have no desire to take all black people back to Africa; there are blacks who are no good here and will likewise be no good there”.

He was born on the 17^th of August 1887, the youngest of his father’s 11 children in St. Ann’s Bay, in countryside Jamaica. He was a bright student from the start; he attended infant and elementary schools in St. Ann’s Bay later receiving private tuition from his godfather Alfred Burrowes, a Printer, whom he later became apprenticed to. His passion for social and political activism is said to have been triggered at an early age by his love of books from his father, a skilled mason, and Mr Burrowes, who were both widely read and had private libraries. Although born in Jamaica, he lived for years in New York City, the Caribbean and London, making study visits to Panama, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, Venezuela and other parts of what was then British protectorate or the so called “Empire”.

“Everywhere”, noted Garvey in his travel journal, “Black people are experiencing great hardships”. His appeals to the colonial administrators, following the distressing situations in Central America, Europe, America and Africa itself were ignored. Convinced that unity was the only way to improve the conditions for black people, he returned to Jamaica on the 1^st of August 1914 and launched the Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Association and African Communities League (UNIA). He then led the association with the motto “One God! One Aim! One Destiny!” It sought to unite “all the people of African ancestry of the world into one great body to establish a country and Government absolutely their own.” In 1928 he presented a Petition to the League of Nation (now UN) in Geneva, on behalf of black people around the world. The petition outlined the abuses that black people around the world face and sought redress through the Organization. One other important aspect of the petition was its exposure of the barbarity of the South African regime and its unfitness to govern Namibia.

To say the least, Marcus Garvey was a successful publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and international crusader for Black Nationalism. He achieved his aims of promoting a positive spirit of pride and love, assisting the needy, reclaiming black empowerment, and establishing universities and colleges for purposes of educating the ‘black child’. From 1935 until his untimely death, owing to poor health, in June 1940, he lived and worked in London. In November 1964, his remains were extracted from Kendal Green Cemetery in London and finally returned to Jamaica, having been proclaimed Jamaica’s first National Hero; he is rested at the National Heroes Park.

Today, the rights and freedoms that the ‘black man’ partially enjoys are immensely owed to the bruising battles that were fought by Garvey and others like him, the courage they took and victories they secured we must never forget.

In the past, the problem of the momorialisation of slavery was the absence of memorials. In 1988 for example, the then managing director of Heritage Projects Limited dismissed the very idea of a Museum of Slavery as being “unacceptable” to the British Public. Although speaking for himself, he exemplified the fact that for slave-holding and slave trading nations, remembering the facts and redressing the legacy of African slavery across the Atlantic remains a controversial and fraught exercise. Henceforth, it is heartening to see such despicable attitudes slowly changing and Garvey’s memory and other significant anti-slavery crusaders kept alive worldwide; from ‘The Marcus Garvey library’ in England to ‘The Marcus Garvey Pan-Afrikan Institute’ in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, his spirit and inspiration continues being memorised in all cultural corners of the world.

Upon entrance to the contemporary building hosting The Marcus Garvey Library in Tottenham, one is fittingly greeted by a foundation stone of Marcus Garvey that was planted by Marcus Garvey Jnr. on the 7^th of August 1987 to commemorate a century since his birth. The stone, noticeably scripted entirely in capital letters, critically announces:

“IT COMMEMORATES THE CENTENARY OF THE LIFE AN`D WORKS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE BROTHER MARCUS MOSIAH GARVEY THE AFRIKAN BORN IN JAMAICA W.I ON THE 17^TH AUGUST 1887, THE PEOPLE OF HARINGEY AND INDEED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD HONOUR HIS LIFE COMMITMENT TO HIS PEOPLE IN REGENERATING BLACK PRIDE SELF RELIANCE AND CONFIDENCE”.

A message, (as I discovered), that resonates with you throughout your entire period at the library. On 30^th July 2008, following a short visit to the centre, a helpful senior librarian Lee Francis agreed to engage my hazy enquiries, the transcript of which follows below:

Ronald Elly Wanda (hereafter, R.E.W): When did this library open?

Lee Francis (hereafter, L.F): Well, the complex has been opened since the 1980s but the library itself (Marcus Garvey library) hmm, it became operational, about 1993!

R.E.W: You have less material covering ‘black literature’. Is it because of fewer readers or for that matter less demand for this division?

L.F: New books come in all the time. I order them. I also look after the ‘black literature’ section, and I usually order books as and when they are requested by our readers. We usually use one supplier throughout the Council (Haringey Council), however we have started branching out, especially now that internet technology (and IT) has advanced and made many things possible. There are some books (especially those of Black interest) that I cannot sometimes find through our local supplier, when this arises I usually order them using Amazon (the internet supplier), I find them much quicker and reliable, given the fact that we have ordering deadlines, for instance a book shouldn’t take us more than 10 days once an order has been made etcetera. Also there is high demand for some books in the black literature section, which is why we have labelled many of them ‘reference only.

R.E.W: I’ve noticed you have a large section dedicated purely to Marcus Garvey…

L.F: Yes we do. We have a large section upstairs dedicated to Marcus Garvey. We have books and speeches by him as well as books and essays written about him. The very latest is a biography that came in last week. We also have a vast selection of materials on the slavery subject.

R.E.W: Great man he was!

L.F: Yes, I agree.

R.E.W: I once tried ordering a book through Waterstones by Dani Nabudere that was published in Lusaka, Zambia. It took the bookshop almost 2 years to tell me they were giving up trying. Do you face similar problems in ordering books published elsewhere in the world, least of all Africa?

L.F: No. Usually if a book is written in English, it is easy for us to try and get hold of it than say if it is in another language. Place of publication, I do not think is very much an issue. Here in Haringey, we have more than 100 spoken languages; as learning provider, we are trying to reflect on this diversity, but I think it would be impossible to stock all books in all these languages, some of which include Vietnamese, Latino, Afrikaner, Welch, Japanese, Swahili and so forth. We also have a large collection of DVD programmes in many languages that reflect the diversity of our community.

R.E.W: How about some out of print books?

L.F: We sometimes loan books that we are unable to get from a publisher, from the British Library for a three week period. Also, and increasingly so, we are buying second hand books from Amazon (the internet bookshop), and it only takes 10 days!

R.E.W: This library is buzzing with activities for all ages!

L.F: It certainly is! The Marcus Garvey Library is not only a library but an interactive forum, where the community meets to discuss relevant issues and problem that it faces. This library actively engages and liaises with the local further and higher education providers such as the College of North East London (CONEL) and Middlesex University (MU) and their students. They (students) tap into our resources when researching their discourses and often offer us suggestions such as new materials and books that we can order, these are sometimes specialist books and other relevant resources that the community can make use of, they include books and DVD software on hairdressing, Criminology, Business, and Management etc. That said, there are between 12 and 13 other agencies that tap into our resources and are constructively engaging with our local community as well. Next month (August) we will be launching ‘Books on Therapy’, an initiative that we have come up with in association with local GPs (General Practitioners), it was a pilot scheme that initially started in Cardiff, that we have also embraced. Most of this information is on the leaflets titled “What’s on in Haringey Libraries” that is also available on the Council’s website. There is also Black History month coming up in October; where we usually have lectures by invited guest speakers, plays and dances, new book launches and many more exciting things!

R.E.W: Thank you Mr Francis.

L.F: Thank you!

What Haringey Council seems to have achieved at number one Phillip lane in Tottenham is a redefinition of the library for our modern age. The Marcus Garvey library has become a template for what can be called a ‘civic outcome’, the library as a place of respect, mutuality, and enlightenment in our increasingly antagonistic multi-racial, multi-cultural society. And it is a model which other libraries in the surrounding boroughs (in particular the newly launched Enfield central library) have begun desperately to follow. Enfield Central library like Haringey’s Central library in Wood Green also opens on Sundays, from 12 noon to 4 pm. For those with strong religious inclinations, this increasing popularity of the library can be seen as a miserable indictment of Britain’s post-Christian age. Instead of attending churches, wretched secularists seek some kind of spiritual fulfilment amid the ‘written word’; where readers unlike worshippers have a far more appealing menu full of classics such as Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things fall apart’, Ngugi wa Thiongo’s ‘Decolonizing the Mind’, Ben Okri’s ‘The famished Road’ or even good old pamphlets on contemporary local issues such as ‘Community Justice News’, that immediately serves a practical purpose for the user. Reading, says Alberto Manguel in his latest book ‘The Library at Night’, has become a “ritual of rebirth” which both invigorates the reader and awakens old books to new life and freedoms.

That said, Marcus Garvey Library has played a key role in extending ‘learning’ to disenfranchised members of the community on matters ranging from the civic to the domestic, thus in a sense transforming them from unapprised into informed citizens, equipped with the capacity to modify, if so they wish, their society.

For if society is allowed to exploit and oppress certain individuals, by say, striping them off the possibility to get an education, to learn spiritual values, to harmoniously develop their diverse abilities, then freedom for such a people becomes only a “spectre or an unrealistic ideal or dream”, because the virtues of freedom and democracy cannot truly be enjoyed without an education.

As indeed we are reminded by Aristotle in his book ‘The Politics’ (also available at the library) that for as man is best of all animals when he has reached his full development, so he is worst of all when divorced from law and justice. “Injustice armed is hardest to deal with”, says Aristotle, “and though man is born with weapons which he can use in the service of practical wisdom and virtue, it is all too easy for him to use them for the opposite purposes”. Dependence on the ‘radical library’ and at the same time active participation in its continued transformation ought to be the real objective of us all as librarians, library users, writers, educators, students and community members.

Finally, slavery as a subject, at last seems to have caught the public’s attention. Last year alone, I recall three major BBC films that went on to offer three hours viewing into the squalid corners of the Atlantic slavery, perhaps cunningly put to commemorate the so called 200^th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007. Yet even more remarkable is the way slavery was so marginal to mainstream intellectual and popular interests until relatively recent. For the political and ruling establishment here in Britain, slavery has long seemed a distant phenomenon; something that unfolded in Africa, the Americas or in the Atlantic. The fact that the British orchestrated much of the slavery in the Atlantic by the mid-18^th century has generally gone unnoticed. Today, that is no longer true and historians are recognising the centrality of African slaves in the shaping of the modern world by, say the late 18^th century. Marcus Garvey library is a store full of information that brings this forgotten history to the forefront of historical discourses for both the native and diasporic library user.

Ronald Elly Wanda MCIJ is the president of Pan African Society (UK) based in London

Notes:

I am grateful to Lee Francis at Marcus Garvey Library for all the help he gave me whilst touring the Library.

‘Man Know Thy Self’ an essay by Marcus Garvey. For an in depth, including commentaries on this essay and many others please access http://www.marcusgarvey.com/wmview.php?ArtID=565// accessed 31st July 2008.

For a detailed discussion on this topic see Francis Fukuyama, the End of History 1991 cited in R. E. Wanda’s “The Immigrant and ‘Britishness’ in Britain” that can be accessed on http://libr.org/isc/issues/ISC24/A32-Wanda.pdf

Aristotle, ‘The Politics”, by T.A Sinclair, 1962, Penguin Books, London. P.39.

By Ronald Elly Wanda

On Thursday the 3^rd of July, I was the only member of the Press caucus to attend the funeral of one of Britain’s latest knife-crime victim. Abiodun Olubukunola Ilumoka aka Abby was buried at the East Finchley Cemetery, following a well-attended mass at St. Stephen’s Church at Cannonbury Road in Islington where the 41 year old had lived near her mother all her life. Her horrific death did not arouse the interest of any national media perhaps because another white teenager Ben Kinsella, less than a mile away from Abby’s murder scene had also been knifed. Like most individuals who knew her well, I still find it difficult to understand what provoked her former boyfriend (that has since been charged with her murder) to commit such a cowardly and gruesome crime.

Not much is known of her killer boyfriend except that he was a 32 year old unemployed illegal immigrant from Ghana that was subsequently homeless. He had previously worked as a Barber somewhere in Islington but was then sacked at around March of 2007. Abby is said to have met him at around the same time and fell pregnant soon afterwards, she then sheltered, clothed and fed him.

On that fateful Saturday 14^th of June, she was supposed to have gone to her mother’s house for dinner, as was her routine, -just two streets off Annett Crescent, where she’d lived. It was not to be. At around 6.45 pm Islington Police and London Ambulance were called to her house following reports of an earlier fracas, only to discover Abby, who was seven months pregnant, bleeding heavily from sustained head injuries and multiple stab wounds in the stomach. She was then rushed to Royal London Hospital, where Doctors fought hard to try and save her and her unborn baby. At around 10.15pm, Abby and her unborn baby girl were pronounced dead…

“She was a really nice girl. It’s a pity the manner in which she went!” said Mrs Maria Akinfe, an old friend of Abby’s mother during the funeral proceeding. “I still can’t believe it! It is a real tragic…I fear for the future of my children”, said another woman, wiping her tears, also at Abby’s funeral. In spite of the government’s insistence that violent crime and in particular knife-related attacks have reduced, the outlook of most people especially at Abby’s funeral seemed to have a contrary reflection.

Although Abby’s death was resultant of a domestic-argument-turned-violent that later escalated to a horrific and brutal murder; it exhibits an overall epidemic of fatal knife attacks in London executed largely by teenagers on the “teen-community”. From Ben Kinsella in Islington to an orphaned Ugandan university student in Walthamstow to a Somalian gang-member in Camden to a prospering Harry Potter Actor in Kent; these are just some of the 21 teenagers that have died a violent death since the beginning of this year, and it is anyone’s guess that this number is likely to increase.

As if to reassure, a recent edition of The Economist hurriedly observed: “one might think that deaths by the blade were becoming more common”. Adding, “That isn’t the case”. It went on to argue that “Last year there were 258 people killed by sharp instruments, a number that has barely changed since the turn of the millennium. As a proportion of total homicides (which have been rising slowly for decades), death by sharp instruments is no more frequent now than it was ten years ago, though knives”, it warns, “remain Britain’s favourite murder weapon” (The Economist, 31^st May 2008).

The truth in part, lies in this powerful Observer editorial for it rightly notes that there is a criminal sub-culture in Britain into which the political establishment does not seem to have an insight to. Says the Observer: “It will remain impenetrable unless politicians can mobilise a wide social coalition, crossing party lines, involving teachers, parents, children, police, ex offenders, charities, religious and cultural leaders to consult on policy. The sad fact is that not only has there been no action to get tough on the causes of crime, there has been tragic weakness of resolve fully to understand what lies behind crime” (Observer, 6^th July 08).

These days one thing that people remember most of the former Prime Minister Tony Blair (his illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq aside) has to be his pledge of “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”. To the man on the street, it seems that the Labour administration has found it easier to honour the first part of that promise than it has the second. The two (crime and its causation), it must be said, go hand in hand. As such one must address both simultaneously, otherwise it would be like a doctor offering a prescription to a disease that he does not fully understand and cannot adequately inform of any subsequent side effects.

Whilst it is not clear whether the government’s much publicised prescription – the so called ‘Youth Crime Action Plan’ or for that matter the Conservative’s ‘Hug a Hoodie’ and ‘Responsibility revolution’ prescriptions will prove effective, or yet again end up disappointing and wasting millions of tax payers money. One thing clear though, is that the ‘real’ remedy may not lie with the political establishment but instead with the cultural institutions.

The latest research has found that of 90 families linked to Fips (a government sponsored experimental programme); the proportion showing widespread anti-social behaviour fell from 61% to 7%. There are plans to extend the programme’s reach to 20’000 families. A think-tank aiming at shaping the debate on the role of fathers called Fatherhood Institute recently also noted that “there was a need to intensively engage with vulnerable families”. Its chief Executive, Duncan Fisher, said “I think we have got engagement with families wrong in some ways, and this is the panic that follows that. I believe this issue has arisen because we haven’t invested to a significant extent in support services for parents, particularly struggling families”. As a point of interest, at the last census, almost 60% of all afro-Caribbean families with children had a lone parent; whilst the figure was only 25% for white British families (The Guardian, 19^th July 2008).

Whilst these figures do not necessarily mean that all single parent homesteads are a breeding ground for future gangsters, criminals and murderers; it is fair to point out that there seems to be a correlation sandwiching fractured families and violent and often drug-related crime. Lest we not shy away, may the debate on ‘parenting or lack of it -in relation to crime’ commence, even if it has been (regrettably) started by a pampered old Etonian.

Ronald Elly Wanda MCIJ is a political scientist based in London.

Reference and Technical Services Librarian

Columbia County Public Library

308 NW Columbia Ave

Lake City, Fl 32055

(386)-758-1018

cheris.carpenter@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Research into ‘Web 2.0 accessibility’ for people with disabilities has recently gained momentum in library and information science studies. This is due to the unique problems disabled individuals face because they must rely on digitized formats. People with disabilities who use assistive technologies are often restricted by incompatibility issues involving software and hardware when retrieving Web content because they have been constructed without consideration for disabled user access. The result has been a new dilemma emerging for many information centers and libraries regarding how to provide access to Web 2.0 technologies which are not designed for persons with disabilities and are incompatible with many assistive technologies. Careful consideration must be given in the development stage of web design to the layout, navigation and compatibility of different assistive technologies used to view the site.

Making Web 2.0 Accessibility Mainstream

The global nature of Web 2.0 technology has offered unlimited potential for many people with disabilities when accessing web resources. Web 2.0 communication technologies present viable opportunities for disabled persons to collaborate online without being affected by the many preconceived stereotypes about disability. [Arrigo, 2005] But, despite the abundance of new opportunities there are significant technological barriers for those who: •May not be able to see, hear, move, or process some types of information. •May have difficulty reading or comprehending text. •May not be able to use a keyboard or mouse. •May have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet connection. •May not be able to speak or understand fluently the language in which the document was written. •May have an early version of a browser, a different browser, or a different operating system. [Craven, 2007]

Research into ‘Web 2.0 accessibility’ for people with disabilities has recently gained momentum in library and information science studies. [Craven, 2003] This is partly due to the unique problems disabled individuals face because they must rely on digitized formats. [Gerke, 2004] In this paper, ‘Disabled’ is a general term which includes individuals who may not consider themselves disabled under the standard legal definition. However, these individuals do have “limitations of sensory, physical or cognitive functioning, which affects access to the Web. These limitations may be injury-related and/or aging-related conditions and they can be temporary or chronic.” [Burgstahler, 2002]

Disabled individuals use computer ‘assistive technologies’ to access the Web, in conjunction with graphical desktop browsers, text and voice browsers, multimedia players, and plug-ins. [Craven, 2007]

Examples of Assistive Technologies: •Screen readers that can only read and navigate basic ASCII and HTML text, not images. •Alternative keyboards or switches. •Screen magnification which enlarges all or part of the screen. •Braille Bars which represent six-dot tactile code of Braille electronically and respond to the text presented on screen. •Talking Web browsers which convert web pages directly into speech. •Speech input, which allows the user to speak commands or to dictate to the computer rather than using the mouse and keyboard. •Visual notification [Craven, 2007]

In the United States, the two most common screen reader products are JAWS from Freedom Scientific and Window-Eyes from GW Micro. [Adobe, 2006] Screen readers enable disabled users to hear, rather than read, the contents of a web page; however, a screen reader can only read text, not images or animations. [Craven, 2007] Users with mobility impairments may need to rely on the keyboard instead of the mouse to navigate web pages. This would include individuals with paralysis, nerve damage, arthritis, or repetitive motion injuries who may employ touch screens, head pointers, or other assistive devices. In these cases it is critical that the essential components of a website are navigable without a mouse. [Adobe, 2006]

Web 2.0 Accessibility

“Web 2.0 Accessibility” is defined by the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) as, ‘…when people with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to individuals without disabilities.’ [WAI, 2004]

Web 2.0 accessibility essentially means that a person with a disability can interact, navigate, and contribute to the Web. [EDNER, 2002] A multitude of accessibility issues have arisen with Web 2.0 applications because they have been constructed without consideration for disabled user access. People with disabilities who use assistive technologies are often restricted by incompatibility issues involving software and hardware when retrieving Web content. [Moonan, 2007] The result has been an increasing number of disabled individuals who have access to computers and utilize assistive technologies to access the Internet, but are unable to actually retrieve online resources. [Craven, 2007]

The concept behind Web 2.0 Accessibility attempts to address two issues. First, how disabled users access electronic information; and second, how web developers enable web pages to function with assistive devices used by individuals with disabilities. [Adobe, 2006] For the disabled user, the dilemma has been identifying tools that provide the most convenient access to web-based and other electronic information; and for the web developer, it has been removing barriers that inhibit web accessibility tools from functioning effectively. The proliferation of digitized resources produced by information centers and libraries has erected new barriers for disabled individuals who rely upon computer assistive technologies to access resources on the Web. The result has been a new dilemma emerging for many information centers and libraries regarding how to provide access to Web 2.0 technologies which are not designed for persons with disabilities and are incompatible with many assistive technologies. [Adobe, 2006]

Is Web 2.0 Accessibility Important?

Because the World Wide Web has become an essential resource in most aspects of life due to the digitization of public services such as education, commerce and government; the accessibility of Web 2.0 resources for the disabled has become a dominant social issue both in the United States, Canada and Europe. [Thompson, 2003] Over the past few years, the United States, Canadian and European governments have acknowledged this issue and responded by enacting legislation and legal requirements for the certification of accessible resources on the Web for the disabled.

In 1995, the United Kingdom’s ‘Disability Discrimination Act’, made it “illegal to discriminate against disabled people by refusing to serve, by deliberately not providing a service that is normally offered to other people, by offering a lower standard of service, or by treating the disabled person less favorably”. [EDNER, 2002] In Canada, equal access is ensured by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and in the “duty to accommodate” as an operational requirement in federal and provincial human rights laws.[EDNER, 2002] In 1998, when the United States Congress significantly strengthened Section 508 of the ‘Americans with Disabilities Act’’, its primary purpose was to provide access to and use of Federal Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) by individuals with disabilities; and in 2001, the US Congress officially applied guidelines for the “Web Accessibility Standards” segment of Section 508. [Thompson, 2003] The W3C guidelines adopted by Section 508 set the requirement for WAI compliance for all US government and public agencies at the minimum level of web accessibility. The United Kingdom Cabinet Office e-Government Unit further extended e-Accessibility legislation for WAI compliance. UK law states all web accessibility guidelines must adhere to a level slightly higher than the minimum required by the WAI to be in compliance with all government and public services websites. [Craven, 2007]

A far-reaching statistic to consider when assessing the accessibility of Web 2.0 web technologies by disabled people is the study by the US Census Bureau in 2000, which reported that out of 54 million disabled Americans, 8.7 million of them were poor. [Stewart, 2002] Since most Web 2.0 technology depends upon the speed of a person’s Internet connection this statistic would seem to indicate that there is a significant portion of disabled persons who may be unable to financially afford the cost of high-speed Internet. This is one area where the responsibility of libraries and information centers to overcome accessibility barriers on the Web becomes apparent. If a disabled person is poor, then they are more likely to use the public library to access the Internet and other online resources. Therefore, a library simply providing screen reader technology or enhanced vocalized software on their computers is insufficient to meet all of the needs of their disabled patrons.

It should be noted that Web accessibility tools also benefit non-disabled people or those individuals who may be temporarily disabled due to illness or injury. [Thompson, 2003] For example, technical support for screen reader software not only can benefit blind users, but also users who occupied with other tasks; while captions for audio not only benefit deaf users, but can also increase the efficiency of indexing and searching for audio content on Web sites. [Burgstahler, 2002]

“Web 2.0 Accessibility” is essentially a two-pronged issue: the first being the “readability” of content on the site by assistive technologies and the second is the “usability” of the site by the disabled. Recent research has shown that disabled users face significant usability problems when trying to navigate around web sites. This was evidenced by CERLIM’s NOVA project which identified significant navigation problems for visually-disabled users when they attempted to maneuver around a site using assistive technologies. [Craven, 2004] Their research discovered that because the Web is designed for parallel or non-serial navigation, which offers non-disabled users multiple options within one page (i.e. frames, tables, drop-down menus, etc.); this has caused problems for disabled users who are navigating a site using assistive technologies (e.g. Screen readers).

Screen readers restrict disabled users to searching one frame at a time on a web site. [Craven, 2003] This causes the screen reader to ‘read out’ each hypertext link on a page one by one; a process which is both confusing and time-consuming for the disabled user. These issues were researched further in a 2004 study of Internet accessibility by researchers at City University in the UK who found that out of a sample of 196 respondents, 20 percent of them were visually or physically disabled. [Pilling, Barrett, Floyd: 2004] The results of the study revealed that disabled users would like Web sites to have the following: •Guides on the home page informing people about the site’s contents. •Less cluttered pages •Fewer graphics and advertising •Links to be clearer and fewer •Print size and colors to be easily changeable •Greater standardization of assistive technology formats •Search to be more clearly marked and more precise •Better accessibility for voice recognition system user [Pilling, Barrett, Floyd:pg.34-36]

Physical Barriers to “Web 2.0 Accessibility”

Currently, most Web 2.0 applications have physical ‘accessibility barriers’ that make it difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities to use them. Previous studies have indicated that although adaptive software can aid someone who is physically or visually disabled access the Web, many Web 2.0 technologies are incompatible with the current adaptive software. [Ryder, 2004] People who use assistive technologies also cited problems they experienced when accessing the Internet as primarily being related to distorted screen reader magnification and lack of support and training using assistive technologies. [Pilling, Barrett, Floyd: 2004]

Other physical barriers to Web 2.0 Accessibility include: •Keyboard access involving the use of shortcut keys, tab navigation, and/or keyboard navigation when the site has been designed to be navigated using a mouse. Most Web 2.0 technology depends upon the speed of a person’s Internet connection while the majority of disabled or elderly persons use dial-up and may be unable to financially afford Broadband or DSL. [Craven, 2007]

•Dynamically created websites using PDF, FLASH, Ajax and JAVA are inaccessible. Ajax is being used on an increasing number of web systems, (e.g. Google Apps and Gmail), while JAVA is predominantly used in business applications. [Craven, 2007]

•The increased use of video and graphical displays on most websites which assistive technologies have a difficult time translating. Videos and graphics are being used more and more to augment web content without providing textual alternatives. [Epp, 2006]

•Incompatibility across assistive technologies. Ideally, all Web pages could be read by all screen readers. However, most assistive software and hardware systems are not compatible with each other. [Epp, 2006]

•Security issues arise when disabled users, in particular the visually impaired try to logon to certain websites. Websites try to prevent ‘bot’ attacks by requiring sighted users to type in an encrypted display of letters or numbers to verify login authenticity. This is a measure used to prevent ‘bots’ from reading the characters. These characters are deliberately made ambiguous and it is almost impossible to see them if you are visually impaired. [Zajicek, 2007]

Universal Accessibility

The term ‘Universal Accessibility’ has been defined by the WAI as, “the ability to make the Web available to all people, whatever their hardware, software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or physical or mental ability.” [WAI, 2002] The W3C Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) submitted techniques and guidelines which provide technical recommendations for ‘Universal Accessibility’ on the Web. [Adobe, 2006] These guidelines include descriptions of accessibility solutions for web authors and developers and are widely considered the international standard for Web accessibility. While most of these guidelines focused on the needs of people with visual disabilities, they also addressed the needs of people with hearing, learning, and physical disabilities. [WAI, 2002] The W3C and WAI have provided an important framework for ensuring accessible Web design development, and assessment.

Current WAI guidelines for Universal Web 2.0 Accessibility are as follows: [WCAG, 2008]

Guideline One: •Provide text alternatives for all non-text content. •Provide synchronized alternatives for multimedia. •Ensure that information and structure can be separated from presentation. •Make it easy to distinguish foreground information from its background.

Guideline Two: •Make all functionality operable via a keyboard interface. •Allow users to control time limits on their reading or interaction. •Allow users to avoid content that could cause seizures due to photosensitivity. •Provide mechanisms to help users find content, orient themselves within it, and navigate through it. •Help users avoid mistakes and make it easy to correct mistakes that do occur.

Guideline Three: •Make text content readable and understandable. •Make the placement and functionality of content predictable.

Guideline Four: •Support compatibility with current and future user agents (including assistive technologies). •Ensure that content is accessible or provide an accessible alternative.

Design-for-All

“Design-for-All” is defined as “the process of planning for access to electronic resources as they are being developed to ensure that they are accessible to people with a wide range of abilities or disabilities.” [W3C, 2008] Careful consideration must be given in the development stage of web design to the layout, navigation and compatibility of different assistive technologies used to view the site. This type of ‘forward-thinking’ web development forms the basis for the principles of ‘Design-for-All’. The overall idea behind the concept of Design-for-All is inclusiveness in the design of Web 2.0 technologies wherein every possible audience member regardless of ability can access, navigate, and contribute to the Web. Website designs which follow this concept are far less expensive to implement than developing accommodation strategies once a person with a disability requires access.

One development that appears promising in assisting web developers interested in utilizing the Design-for-All method is a combination of the commonly used web application ‘Ajax’, DOM scripting, and basic HTML mark-up called, “Hijax”.[Keith, 2006] “Hijax” was developed by a British web developer named, Jeremy Keith. Keith, who is also a member of the Web Standards Project, a group which advocates for the advancement of “web standards,” developed the “Hijax” code to facilitate web accessibility on any site published on the Internet. Jeremy Keith used his expertise in web development to design a code that utilizes existing Ajax applications and also adds a layer of progressive enhancement. [Keith, 2006] The specifics of his research go far beyond the scope of this paper, but simply defined, “Hijax”: •Uses (X)HTML to mark up content on a web page. •Uses CSS to describe how the content should display. •Uses DOM Scripting (JavaScript and the Document Object Model) to describe how it should “behave”. [Keith, 2006]

Keith’s method ensures the ‘degradability’ of a web page or web application by using unobtrusive JavaScript applied to Ajax. [Keith, 2006] The main objective behind using “Hijax” is to ensure that web pages and web applications work for disabled people who don’t have JavaScript or ActiveX on their browsers. [Keith, 2006]

Principles of Design-for-All

When creating accessible electronic resources, the principles of Design-for-all should be employed. [8] The WAI published a comprehensive list of guidelines to aid in the production of accessible web sites which adhere to this concept of “design-for-all” and the guidelines are available in three categories: accessibility of Authoring Tools (ATAG), User Agents (UAAG), and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or (WCAG). [Craven, 2007] The primary recommendations for ensuring the Design-for-all of Web 2.0 resources are: [Craven, 2007] 1.Create unobtrusive JavaScript.[WebAIM, 2005] 2.Page organization: for layout and style be consistent whenever possible by using Cascading Style Sheets or Extensible Stylesheet Language. [Craven, 2007] 3.Images and animations: provide meaningful descriptions using the ALT text tag.[WebAIM, 2005] 4.Sound files: provide captioning for all sound files. [Craven, 2007] 5.Colors: must be contrasting with consideration for people with visual impairments.[WebAIM, 2005] 6.Fonts: use plain fonts because they are easier to read, avoid italics and heavily scripted fonts.[WebAIM, 2005] 7.Font size: the most readable font size for visually impaired persons is 14pt-this size can be adjusted to suit the individual user.[WebAIM, 2005] 8.Tables: make sure text can be clearly read line by line and cell by cell. [WebAIM, 2005] 9.Frames: must be labeled properly or ideally the site should include a No Frames version. [WebAIM, 2005] 10.Hypertext links: use meaningful text to describe a link, avoid vague instructions like “click here”. [WebAIM, 2005] 11.Charts, graphs, and statistical information: use the “D” link or “Longdesc” attribute. [WebAIM, 2005] 12.Check your work, validate,-use tools, checklist, and guidelines at: http://www.w3.org/WAI/Resources. [Craven, 2007]

A comprehensive list of the guidelines are available on the current WCAG 1.0 working document which has been the standard used the past few years, however, the new WCAG 2.0 recommendations were released by the WAI in April 2008 and will soon become the next standard working document. [WAI, 2008]

The current working draft for version 2.0 consists of four design principles: [WAI, 2008] •Content must be perceivable. •Interface elements in the content must be operable. •Content and controls must be understandable. •Content must be robust enough to work with current and future technologies.

Each WCAG 2.0 design principle is given with a number of check points which should be applied independently of the technology used for the Web site. WCAG 2.0 represents an important shift in paradigms since the implementation of WCAG 1.0 because WCAG 2.0 now evaluates web accessibility from the end user’s standpoint. [Craven, 2007] This means that web accessibility is no longer evaluated by the information sent by a web server, but whether or not the information is retrievable to the end user.

Simple Evaluation of Web 2.0 Accessibility

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) in the United Kingdom issued a report of the findings of a study they conducted in 2004. The study conducted accessibility assessments of 1,000 web sites and found that over 81 percent were non-compliant with the most basic WAI WCAG requirements. [DRC,2004] The DRC study also reported that the visually-impaired and other disabled individuals who rely upon screen-readers were the most affected by poorly designed Web sites. [DRC 2004] The report suggested that this was due to pervasive misconceptions of cost, lack of knowledge and interest, and “perceived commercial obstacles” by Webmasters. [DRC, 2004] In 2004, a similar, study was conducted of 175 Webmasters in the United States and they gave coinciding reasons for non-compliance with Web accessibility guidelines. [Craven:2007]

Although, misconceptions are prevalent among Web developers that accessible sites are unattractive, boring, or expensive; it is possible to develop visually appealing, dynamic, interactive web sites without extraordinary cost or sacrificing accessibility. [DRC 2004] Web developers who want to build and maintain accessible web sites can access inexpensive – and sometimes free – applications. Likewise, web authoring tools have even begun to aid developers in the creation of accessible sites with their “Accessibility Preferences” options built directly into the web design application.

Website Validation Tools

Validation tools check a site for compliance with WAI guidelines and accessibility standards. [A-Prompt, 2008] One example of this is A-Prompt, which was created through the joint efforts of the University of Toronto’s Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC) and the TRACE Center at the University of Wisconsin. [A-Prompt, 2008]

A-Prompt, is a licensed software tool which enables Web authors to create Web pages which are more directly accessible by disabled users. A-Prompt also provides Web authors the ability to make repairs and are compatible across different assistive technologies. [A-Prompt, 2008] Other free web-based validation tools which provide valuable checks on potential accessibility problems have been produced by WebAIM and the W3C. WebAIM’s product is the WAVE 3.0 Validator and the W3C tool is the HTML Validator; both application check whether web pages are accessible to people with disabilities and are validated to accepted standards. [W3C HTML, 2008]

Assessments of web accessibility can be done using a variety of methods, but this is only a part of the overall process of assessing web site accessibility. Results from automated testing are often misinterpreted and do not provide a complete analysis of web site accessibility. [Craven, 2007] It is recommended that combination of measures should be utilized as suggested by the W3C section “Evaluating Websites for Accessibility”. [Craven, 2005]

The suggestions included: •Semi-automatic and automatic testing using validation tools (which validates markup) and accessibility checking tools (to validate accessible mark-up has been used). •Manual evaluation using relevant criteria for assessment such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) checkpoints and priority levels. •User testing of specific features of a Web site; this should include people with a mixture of disabilities, different technical abilities, and users of assistive technologies. [W3C, 2004]

Implementing Basic Web 2.0 Accessibility

Before an information center or library can make their website accessible, they must understand accessibility, be committed to ensuring accessibility, learn how to implement accessibility, and understand their legal obligations. [Epp, 2006] Information centers and libraries should follow a six-step process to provide accessible content on their Web sites:

1. Adopt a Web accessibility policy.

2. Develop a plan to implement that policy.

3. Broadly disseminate the policy and train anyone developing Web pages, including faculty and students.

4. Include a reasonable timeline in the plan for implementation of Web accessibility.

5. Include measures for enforcement in the plan.

6. Make training and resources on accessible Web design available to Webmasters. [Epp, 2006]

Conclusion

In response to the legal requirements mandated by the 1990 ‘Americans with Disabilities Act’ US public institutions widened doorways, added handicapped parking spaces and built wheelchair ramps; ensuring equal access to information through the design of accessible web sites is an extension of the same process. Web sites, like buildings, can be designed or redesigned to meet the needs of all people, including those with disabilities. Libraries and information centers in the public and private sector are discussing and designing mechanisms for adherence to internationally accepted standards of Web accessibility that facilitate online resource sharing. The implementation of ‘Design-for-All’ principles in the development and procurement of web technologies in information centers and libraries is an important step towards ensuring patrons with disabilities are provided full access to online resources. Information centers and libraries which are actively involved in researching various disability and rehabilitation technologies can contribute a variety of expertise and opportunities for enhancing the implementation of Section 508 and legally pressure producers of assistive technologies to provide more accessible formats. Libraries and information centers are well positioned to be leaders in the development and promotion of policies for the procurement, development, and use of accessible web technologies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. A-Prompt Project

http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca

Accessed: 18 Jul. 2008.

2. Adobe. What is Accessibility? 2006. http://www.adobe.com/macromedia/accessibility

Accessed: 18 Jul. 2008.

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Management of controversial material in public libraries

John Pateman

David Sherman

In the post-9/11, post-PATRIOT Act cultural environment, some institutions have come under criticism by people who feel their openness and accessibility contribute to a vulnerability that terrorists could exploit in order to cause harm. Legislative and regulatory action have sought to limit both access to information and individual privacy, and public opinion seems to have become more accepting of these limits. Libraries, as the most open of cultural institutions, have become a focal point in this controversy. The desire to restrict potentially harmful information is hardly new, however, and questions on whether legitimate restrictions can be placed on the provision of information by librarians involves issues of professional ethics, social policy, and long-standing cultural traditions.

Traditional role of libraries, the Enlightenment tradition, and value-neutrality

The social role of the library has traditionally been envisioned as a place where people can find whatever information they need; libraries are, after all, “storehouses of knowledge from which each reader can draw as he requires” (Foskett 1962, p.10). Since people have complex and varied roles in society and a wide range of informational needs, libraries need to own or have access to large amounts of information on a wide variety of topics. Librarians, as part of their professional function, should provide the information requested by the patron, and should not question the reason a patron is requesting particular information except insofar as necessary to clarify the request. Objectively providing requested information without making judgments on its value or appropriateness is called “value-neutrality”, and it requires dedication and self-awareness on the part of the librarian.

Foskett (1962, p.10) clearly expresses the idea of value-neutrality as it relates to reference service: “During reference service, the librarian ought virtually to vanish as an individual person, except in so far as his personality sheds light on the working of the library”; the librarian should have “no politics, no religion, no morals.” The American Library Association’s Code of Ethics also seems to advance this view, saying, “we distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources,” and “we uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources” (American Library Association (ALA) 1995).

Value-neutrality has its intellectual roots in the ideas of Enlightenment Liberalism. Enlightenment thinkers thought that the fundamental attribute of human beings was their capacity to reason. If people are allowed to develop and exercise this central attribute, these thinkers argued, both individuals and society as a whole will improve, because individuals will ultimately be able to make greater contributions to society. Artificial limits to individual liberty, imposed by the state or other social institutions, would have the effect of stifling the progress of individual growth and depriving society of ideas and creativity necessary for progress to occur.

The concepts of human reason and individual liberty lead naturally to the view that society and individuals function best when they are allowed to express ideas freely. In order to properly fulfill its natural capacities, human nature requires intellectual freedom; in a sense, because of human nature, people have a right to ideas. To limit their access to ideas would be to neglect the central aspect of their humanity.

These views about human nature influenced and were eventually incorporated into democratic political systems that made individual liberty and intellectual freedom central concerns of government and society. Social systems and institutions that evolved under the new political systems also incorporated these views of human nature, and frequently acted to further the values and goals of individual liberty.

One particular social institution that has developed a special role in democratic systems is the library. Particularly with the development of tax-supported public libraries, libraries became a place for all people, regardless of their place in society, to gain knowledge and find information they need. Libraries act as “a place of education…the uplifter of the common person, and…[the] cultural center of the community” (Alfino 1997, p.91). Under this view, “librarians should rededicate themselves to the role of ‘public intellectuals’, leading their communities in the discussion of issues” of social importance (Alfino 2001, p.483).

Since the goal of Enlightenment Liberalism is to promote the progress of society by developing individuals capable of using reason, libraries have a responsibility as public institutions of cultivating self-governing individuals. The library’s resources should be available to educate and enlighten all members of society so that they can better govern themselves, and by extension, better govern society.

Further, the Enlightenment thinkers felt that as people gained knowledge, and became capable of self-governance, they would better be able to make moral judgments because they would have a better understanding of the world. Information, even potentially harmful information, should therefore not be censored, because it allows people to get a complete picture of the world from which to make responsible judgments.

Libraries, as democratic institutions, should be value-neutral in order that they might fulfill their social role as contributors to the development of self-governing individuals in a free society through the provision of information. Swan (qtd. in Wiener 1987, p.162) writes that limiting access to information based on a librarian’s personal judgment would amount to “denying another person’ right to the knowledge necessary for his/her own ethical decision.”

Challenges to the Enlightenment view of librarianship

The value-neutral Enlightenment Liberal view, however, encounters a problem if the patron has motives that are less than pure. Does value-neutrality continue to be valid if the library patron intends to use the information for harmful purposes; and should information be withheld from the patrons if the librarian believes this is the case? Enlightenment Liberalism tended to view human nature in a positive way: human beings were seen as rational, inquisitive, and, when properly educated, having a natural tendency to moral action. However, the intervening years from the Age of Enlightenment to the present day have shaken, many would say undermined, any faith in the power of human reason. World Wars, multiple genocides, psychological and literary exploration of human irrationality, behaviorist and geneticist views of humans as determined actors: all of these developments and others have made the idea of a moral human nature seem somewhat naïve, and provide a serious challenge to a value-neutral stance in reference service.

Hauptman’s analysis of his 1976 experiment reflects this loss of faith in the Enlightenment view. During a period when the United States experienced a number of bombings by extremist groups, Hauptman (1976, p.626) approached reference desks at six public and seven academic libraries and asked for information on constructing an explosive device capable of destroying “a normal suburban house”; he found the results shocking: none of the thirteen librarians he asked “refused to supply the information on ethical grounds.” He concluded that the librarians in the study were completely ignoring ethical concerns about sharing information that is potentially dangerous, and hiding their ethical inaction behind claims of professional responsibilities.

He framed his charge that librarians were acting amorally by not “sensitizing” information, or determining what information is acceptable to share with patrons, as a conflict between professional responsibilities and personal ethical obligations (Hauptman 1996, p.328). Hauptman (1979, p.198) considered the dissemination of information “a rather dubious professional commitment” that should not take precedence over personal ethical decisions. He argued that “protecting and advancing the free flow of information is commendable, but there may be times when it is ethically unacceptable” (Hauptman 1988, p.42).

Hauptman’s view is a clear challenge to the idea of value-neutrality, and his experiment brought about a serious debate over if, and how, information could or should be “sensitized”. His experiment became a model that others replicated, and, although the results were similar, the conclusions reached by other researchers were very different.

Dowd attempted to replicate Hauptman’s experiment in the 1980s, and chose a topical question in the way bombings were topical to Hauptman’s experiment; he made the request: “I want to find out how to freebase cocaine” (Dowd 1989, p.486). Like Hauptman, Dowd found that none of the reference librarians refused to answer the question; he did, however, note two things that Hauptman had not. First, none of the reference librarians had engaged him in a reference interview. Second, “reference aid at these libraries ranged from extensive to minimal,” and, of those that gave minimal assistance, “the sources chosen were not the best possible given [his] unusual information need” (Dowd 1989, p.487, 489). Hauptman’s feeling that librarians should “sensitize” certain information seemed to be already occurring when some of the librarians were asked for information on controversial topics. Whether caused by an insufficient understanding of his informational needs, or simply a lack of comfort in dealing with the topic, the result was poor quality reference service. By not engaging Dowd in a reference interview, it was not possible to understand the intent of his request.

A study in Slovenian libraries returned similar results. Juznic had students in the library studies program at the University of Ljubljana ask for information on one of three “morally disputable” subjects: ways in which to perform suicide, necrophilia, and finding pictures of corpses. The students were asked both to observe the reactions of the librarian, and to “evaluate the appropriateness of the materials or directions” given to them by the librarians (Juznic 2001). Nearly two-thirds of the librarians acted in ways other than “totally calmly” to the requests (responses included: worried, indignant, uncertain, officious, embarrassed, and others), and nearly sixty percent of the students were less than satisfied with the information received (Juznic 2001). The concerns expressed by Dowd were seen in the Juznic study as well: reference librarians sometimes did not make a serious effort to find information they were uncomfortable with.

When a noticeable lack of quality reference service regarding controversial materials occurs, attacks on value-neutrality become serious concerns. Patrons seeking information on controversial issues could be denied information seemingly at the whim of the librarian. If personal ethical concerns are to take precedence over the “rather dubious professional commitment” of providing information, what would be the effect to a patron requesting information on abortion providers from a staunchly pro-life reference librarian? Hauptman (1979, p.198) raises this question, but does not attempt to answer it.

Also, if the provision of information by librarians is only a “dubious professional commitment,” it raises the larger question of what the role of librarianship is at all. Hauptman (1988, p.42) compares the value-neutral stance to “the case of the lawyer who fervently defends an admitted criminal and gets him off on a technicality. The criminal’s rights have been protected, but at the expense of both his or her victims and society.” Again we see Hauptman’s rejection of the views of Enlightenment Liberalism; where the Enlightenment thinkers would see the protection of a criminal’s rights as defending the interests of society by maintaining a strict adherence to the rule of law, Hauptman sees simply a lack of personal ethical behavior. The question raised by these opposing views becomes one of the place of librarianship or others professional commitments: does librarianship advance society, even morality in society, by sometimes engaging in behavior that, outside the confines of professional action, may cross ethical lines; or is society better served by individual conscience acting outside professional guidelines?

Communitarianism as an alternative model of librarianship

One response to the question comes from thinkers who challenge the ideas of Enlightenment Liberalism, and argue that morality is a socially constructed set of rules, rather than moral laws determined by universal principles of reasoning. This view, which Gremmels and Haste label Communitarianism, disputes the Enlightenment Liberal belief that the exercise of reason itself can help people to become moral. Thinkers in the Enlightenment tradition, from Adam Smith’s “impartial spectator” to John Rawls’ “parties situated behind a veil of ignorance,” have emphasized the idea of impartiality and objectivity as a necessary part of determining moral laws or proper ethical behavior. They argue that personal interests and culturally ingrained views must be overcome in order to properly judge a situation.

Communitarians, on the other hand, argue that such objectivity is not possible, and they present a critique of Enlightenment thought as a whole. For the Communitarians, the idea of individualism, one of the core beliefs of Liberalism, is false. They argue that, “people simply are not solitary beings capable of ‘autonomous reasoning’ from behind a veil of ignorance, or in a state of suspended objectivity from one’s cultural context. They are deeply social, embedded in culture and in social practices” (Haste 1998). Values are therefore not the result of moral laws arrived at by human reason; rather, they are created by social interactions. People are unable to completely remove themselves from their cultural and personal prejudices, so pure rationality, and therefore objectivity, are simply not possible. Since objectivity is not possible, value-neutrality essentially becomes an unachievable standard.

Gremmels (1991, p.364-5) argues that librarianship itself is hardly value-neutral; rather, it clearly embraces the values of the Enlightenment: “we believe that information is a useful commodity, a good thing. We believe that it is better to be literate than illiterate. The Statement on Professional Ethics is full of values: freedom of information, freedom from censorship, and professionalism.” She suggests that rather than attempting to maintain “mindless adherence to an impossible standard of objectivity,” librarians should embrace a communitarian view, which would allow reference librarians to place the common good over the information needs of an individual patron (Gremmels 1991, p.367). It “would allow the reference librarian to say no…to Hauptman when he posed the bomb-building question and refused Dowd’s request for the how-to’s of freebasing cocaine” (Gremmels 1991, p.368). The needs and values of the community, in this view, should replace attempts at value-neutrality. Librarianship, and other professions under the Communitarian view, would have it’s purpose and mission defined and controlled by the values of the community.

The problems with the Communitarian view are clear if any attempt is made to maintain the traditional function of librarianship. Communitarian values would have “allowed the reference librarian to say no,” but as Dowd (1989, p.491) points out, they would have said no to two researchers who simply wanted information and had no intentions of doing anything illegal or unethical. Gremmels (1991, p.368) acknowledges that “public interest theory offers no help to the librarian in deciphering the intention of the client”; yet, if it is easier to deny patrons information without any better method of determining the intent of the patron, it is easy to envision a scenario in which community libraries become increasingly provincial in their views because community values are continually reinforced by limiting information through reference service and collections development.

Another potential problem with a Communitarian philosophy of reference service is how to determine or measure community values and opinions. Even in a fairly homogenous community, there will undoubtedly be differences of opinion. Is a simple majority view an acceptable measure of community value? Under that definition, in a town whose primary employer is a military base, it would probably be acceptable to not provide access to Fahrenheit 9/11, or other anti-war films or materials. Or would a library in a town with a single major employer whose products were poorly reviewed in Consumer Reports be acting in the community’s interest by not subscribing to that magazine? The Communitarian view is vague when it comes to defining what public interest actually is, and when that is combined with the fact that community values change, the role of librarianship would not have a standard by which to operate.

Marco provides an alternate view of objectivity as a function of librarianship’s social role that responds to Communitarian objections to Enlightenment Liberalism. Marco (1996, p.33) argues that the debate over professional ethics has become too “expansive,” in that it is attempting to deal with personal morality when that should be an extraneous concern for professional ethics. His “narrow view” of professional ethics is that of a “set of mutual obligations between the profession itself and the society that establishes and maintains it” (Marco 1996, p.33). On the surface, this view seems to be consistent with the Communitarian view; however, there is a difference. He writes that within the societal mission of the profession, there are “role obligations” which define the role of the profession, and personal ethical considerations simply should not come into play: “A person joining a profession accepts its moral system, so there should be no problem for her in obeying the rules of it” (Marco 1996, p.34). Finks (1991, p.86) makes the same point this way: “Librarians are behaving properly (or ethically) when they act in such a way that they fulfill their function.”

Social definitions of reference librarians require that they “give information assistance which is requested, even if possible use of the information by the patron may be personally objectionable to the librarian” (Marco 1996, p.37). Objectivity, then, becomes a role obligation of librarianship. While the Communitarians are correct in pointing out that no individual is free of preconceived ideas, the librarian needs to be aware of their own attitudes and beliefs in order “to keep them from detrimentally influencing professional practice” (Bunge 1999, p.34).

Marco (1996, p.37) does draw limits, however; he writes that if there is a clear and present danger in providing the information, “the librarian has the duty not to impart it.” How, then, is it possible to determine a clear and present danger? Further, how do we set rules or guidelines that prevent the denial of information based on the personal whim or discomfort of the librarian, yet prevent actual harmful action?

Criteria for making judgments on limitation of information

Several factors need to be addressed to begin to make any determination. First, the difference between suspicion of intent and knowledge of intent is important in making any decision to deny information to a patron. Both Hauptman and Dowd used specific phrasing of the reference requests in their experiments in order to lead the reference librarians to suspect that their requests were for illegal purposes; however, neither one ever said directly that they were planning on blowing up a home or freebasing cocaine. It is easy to think of other reasons why a patron would request such information: curiosity, research, writing crime fiction, etc. Under conditions of suspicion of the patron’s intent, without real knowledge, it is very difficult to justify withholding the requested information.

If the reference librarian does have evidence or knowledge that the patron is going to use the information to do harm, however, denial of service may be justified. Someone coming to a reference desk saying “I want to rob a bank, and I need to know how to effectively plan the robbery” or “I need to know how to burn my neighbor’s house down so it looks like an accident,” would clearly be putting the reference librarian in a situation that crosses the lines of both ethical and legal activity. A librarian’s duty to provide information cannot be a license to freely cooperate in the commission of crimes. This type of activity would violate the strictest interpretation of value-neutrality because of its basis in the idea that knowledge leads to moral action and moral improvement. Reference service should err on the side of providing information if there is only a suspicion of criminal intent, but draw the line at providing information when knowledge or evidence of illegal or immoral intent exists.

Another criterion to determine the limits of providing information is the potential harm to the community if the suspicions about the patron’s intent turned out to be true. Koster (1992, p.76) writes that, in addition to professional values, each ethical decision on whether or not to share information includes “three other sets of values that are also relevant: broadly held societal values; the personal values of the librarian; and third-party values, of the user, the institution, or another party.” Koster feels that, since each situation is different, the weight given to each of the values under any particular circumstance will be different. A patron asking a reference librarian for information on radar detectors that implies he wants to get away with speeding must have the balance between suspicion and knowledge, and the balance between competing values, weighed differently than someone asking for information on poisoning a city’s water supply.

A related criterion is the concern about the long term good of the community when deciding whether to withhold information. The Enlightenment Liberal view is clear on this account; when information is withheld, the community will suffer because individuals will not be allowed to fully develop their reason, and will not contribute as effectively to the community’s needs. The question then becomes: is the potential short-term harm that may occur because of information being used for harmful ends serious enough to justify the long-term loss to the community that would occur by withholding information?

The question takes on a deeper meaning when the danger of a chilling effect on use of the library could occur. Bunge (1999, p.40) writes that we should “consider the result that might come from limiting the librarian’s obligations to the client… students who cannot rely on the confidentiality of their interactions with reference librarians…are likely to avoid using the reference librarian’s service.” If a decision is made to weigh community values and suspicion of intent over the individual’s right to know, patrons of the library, particularly those investigating controversial topics, may cease to view the library as a useful place to find information.

An extreme example of this scenario was seen with the FBI’s Library Awareness Program, and the potential for government collection of patron data that exists under the USA PATRIOT Act. Cleghorn (1971, p.398) reports an instance of federal agents “obtaining the names of people who had checked out books on guerilla warfare by Che Guevara…The librarian willingly provided the names, which included those of two teen-agers who apparently were working on term papers.” Deciding that material is unsuitable for patrons has the danger of leading down a slippery slope toward keeping records on, or reporting on patrons who do ask for such information. While this is a separate ethical issue altogether from value-neutrality, it needs to be kept in mind as an example of how determining that certain information is “sensitized”, to use Hauptman’s phrase, could lead to more serious, and intrusive, actions.

Conclusions

The vast majority of reference questions will have no ethical implications at all. There is no direct moral significance in giving patrons information on finding resources on gardening, the capitol of North Dakota, or population statistics of the former Soviet Union. However, if a question like Hauptman’s bomb-making request arises at the reference desk, the librarian will be put in a position of weighing different factors and values that will affect their decision on whether to provide that information. The criterion used to make the decision, including the intent of the patron (as far as it can be determined), the potential harm to the community, the remoteness of the harm, and the long-term good of the community, all should be weighed with the goal of maintaining the social role of librarianship as defenders of intellectual freedom and providers of information to the public.

Views, such as Communitarianism, that attempt to make it easier to withhold information, even for ethical reasons, run the risk of becoming contributors to censorship. If reference librarians attempt to judge all difficult questions by the fact that there is a potential harm to the community, then “our intellectual freedom and our ethics would soon be hostage to misapplied evidence in the hands of arbitrary authority” (Swan 1982, p.112). Librarians act to help the development of society by producing intellectually and ethically self-directed individuals through the fulfillment of their role obligations in a society based in the traditions of Enlightenment Liberalism. Before deciding to accept views that seek to make it acceptable to withhold information, librarians need to realize that, “if the truth were withheld from everyone, including you, then you would not have enough evidence to decide what are the truths that are to be withheld” (Mintz 1990, p.11).

Works Cited

Alfino, M. & Pierce, L., 1997. Information Ethics for Librarians. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland.

Alfino, M. & Pierce, L., 2001. The Social Nature of Information. Library Trends, 49, p.471-485.

American Library Association Council. 1995. Code of Ethics of the American Library Association. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/codeofethics/codeethics.htm [accessed 10 January 2008].

Bunge, C.A., 1999. Ethics and the Reference Librarian. The Reference Librarian, 66, p. 25-43.

Cleghorn, R., 1971. When Readers Become Suspect. In B. Katz & J.J. Schwartz, eds. Library Lit.- The Best of 1970. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, p.398-404.

Dowd, R.C., 1989. I Want to Find Out How to Freebase Cocaine or Yet Another Unobtrusive Test of Reference Performance. The Reference Librarian, 25/26, p.483-493.

Finks, L.W., 1991. Librarianship Needs a New Code of Professional Ethics. American Libraries, 22, p.84-92.

Foskett, D.J., 1962. The Creed of a Librarian: No Politics, No Religion, No Morals. London: Library Association.

Gremmels, G.S., 1991. Reference in the Public Interest: An Examination of Ethics. RQ, 30, p.362-369.

Haste, H., 2005. Communitarianism and the Social Construction of Morality. [Online]. Available at: http://tigger.uic.edu/~lnucci/MoralEd/articles/haste.html [accessed 10 January 2008].

Hauptman, R., 1976. Professionalism or Culpability?: An Experiment in Ethics. Wilson Library Bulletin, 50, p.626-627.

Hauptman, R., 1979. Ethical Commitment and the Professions. Catholic Library World, 51, p.196-199.

Hauptman, R., 1988. Ethical Challenges in Librarianship. Phoenix: Oryx, 1988.

Hauptman, R., 1996. Professional Responsibility Reconsidered. RQ, 35, p.327-329.

Juznic, P., Urbanija, J., Grabrijan, E., Miklava, S., Oslaj, D. & Svoljsak, S., 2001. Excuse Me, How Do I Commit Suicide?: Access to Ethically Disputed Items of Information in Public Libraries. Library Management, 22.1/2. Available at: http:// 0-proquest.umi.com.helin.uri.edu/pqdweb?index=0&did=115921709&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt= 3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName= PQD&TS=1113865420&clientId=16241 [accessed 1 Apr. 2005].

Koster, G.E., 1992. Ethics in Reference Service: Codes, Case Studies, or Values? Reference Services Review, 20.1, p.71-80.

Marco, G.A., 1996. Ethics for Librarians: A Narrow View. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 28, p.33-38.

Mintz, A.P., ed., 1990. Information Ethics: Concerns for Librarianship and the InformationIndustry. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland.

Swan, J.C., 1982. Ethics at the Reference Desk: Comfortable Theories and Tricky Practices. The Reference Librarian, 4, p.99-116.

Wiener, P.B., 1987. Mad Bombers and Ethical Librarians: A Dialogue with Robert Hauptman and John Swan. Catholic Library World, 58, p.161-163.

John Pateman

What are we to make of the BBC2 White Season? What does it tell us about the white working class? And what is its relevance to public libraries? The BBC should be congratulated for their bravery in airing this series which was bound to stir up a certain level of controversy. Britain, the most class riddled country in the world, does not feel comfortable talking about class. It is now safe and acceptable to discuss race, gender, sexuality, disability, age and faith, but class is the final taboo. There is an inherent problem in designing a TV series about class because the media, like all professions, is dominated by the middle class. So it was inevitable that the White series was going to be a middle class view of working class people. However, BBC2 did well to avoid the worst stereotypes (as portrayed in programmes like Eastenders and Wife Swap) and constructed a realistic and challenging view of contemporary white working class culture.

The first programme in the series, Last Orders, told the story of the embattled Wibsey Working Men’s Club in the city of Bradford. The Wibsey Club has been operating at a loss for several years and members’ worries for their club mirror wider anxieties. With high unemployment and a perception that recent Asian immigrants receive the lion’s share of Government benefits, members feel that their very community is under threat and that racial tensions could erupt at any time. Once regarded as the ‘backbone of the nation’ white working class communities like Wibsey now feel themselves the object of ridicule. They have been forgotten by a Labour government which is reluctant to acknowledge their existence and they have fallen off the edge of the policy agenda, with the smoking ban the latest example.

What can the public library do for communities like Wibsey? First and foremost they can work with the white working class community to celebrate its history and culture. This can be achieved via local history research and projects documenting how the area has developed over the years. This will demonstrate how the community has changed over time, in common with many other parts of the UK. The reasons for these changes can then be examined. This will create a natural bridge to explore the history and culture of other communities which have moved into the area. Library programmes which are focused on inter generational and inter cultural projects are very successful at easing community tensions, building awareness and empathy between communities and developing social cohesion.

Rivers of Blood took a historical perspective on immigration and race relations. Forty years ago Enoch Powell, the maverick Conservative MP, gave a speech on immigration in which he predicted a future of racial strife in Britain. The ‘rivers of blood’ speech outraged the political establishment, who considered it both racist and inflammatory. However, the speech struck a chord with the public who wrote to him in their thousands, and London’s dockers came out on strike in support.

Freedom of information and freedom of expression were at the heart of Powell’s speech and these are also central to public library values. What the dockers were protesting about was that Powell was sacked for speaking out on a very important subject that was of great concern to them and their families. Nobody asked the white working class if they wanted large numbers of newcomers to settle in their communities. Those decisions were made by middle class professionals who did not live in these localities. The public library can play an important part in giving white working class people a voice and a place where they can air their views and concerns. This has inherent risks and needs to be carefully and sensitively managed but if successful it can make working class people feel listened to and valued. Public libraries pride themselves on their neutrality and they are one of the very few remaining free democratic public spaces in our communities.

White Girl was a compelling film about an inspirational 11 year old girl, Leah, and her family’s relocation to an entirely Muslim community in Bradford. It explored the hopes and tensions that can arise when two very different cultures collide. For Leah’s mother Debbie the move is about getting away from an abusive partner but being the only white family in a wholly Asian community was not part of her plan. For Leah, the feeling of isolation is heightened at school when she discovers that she and her siblings are the only white kids. But Leah views the Muslim culture and faith with innocent fascination, finding a refuge of calm and safety which is in sharp contrast to the pain and sadness at home. Befriending Yasmin, her young Asian neighbour, and with the gentle guidance of teachers at school, Leah learns that her new world is not as alien as she first feared. However, nothing prepares Debbie for the shock of seeing her daughter wearing a hijab.

This programme follows the theme of inter cultural learning and public libraries can play a significant role in helping different communities to understand each other. This can be achieved by putting on displays and exhibitions and holding events which explore aspects of community culture. Sport and the arts provide a very safe platform for these issues to be discussed around and can lead onto more profound subjects. The popular media constantly demonises Muslims, and public libraries can help to portray more positive images of this much maligned community. Having stock relevant to both white working class and Muslim communities is also very important and this can help to promote togetherness rather than division. The recent MLA proposals on managing ‘extremist’ stock should be vigorously opposed by public libraries which already have stock policies for dealing with these issues.

The Poles are Coming looked at the issues created by the recent large influx of migrant workers from EU accession states. This phase of immigration is different from those that preceded it in two respects – the numbers are much larger and the immigrants are our fellow white Europeans. But this does not make it any easier for local communities to accept. Listening to some people in Peterborough it would appear that the city is being pushed to breaking point by the arrival of a huge number of Eastern Europeans. Some want the Poles, and others, to go home. So does the city of Gdansk which now cannot find enough workers to fill its shipyards or build its football stadium for Euro 2012.

There are few communities in the UK which have not been affected by this issue. Places like Lincolnshire where I work, and which have seen little demographic change, are now having to manage large numbers of new arrivals. This is a challenge to migrant workers and to local communities, and public libraries can work with both to ease tensions and build mutual understanding. Migrant workers are attracted to public libraries because they provide free internet access for them to email home and look up first language websites. Public libraries are an ideal venue for different communities to meet and build awareness of each other’s needs, many of which are shared – a decent home, a good school, a secure job, health and happiness. Positive action can be taken to recruit migrant workers to public library services and work can be done with local schools to develop community solidarity.

Work with primary schools is particularly important and The Primary captured a term in the life of Welford Primary School in Birmingham’s Handsworth area. Welford is a thriving school with pupils from 17 different ethnic backgrounds and only a handful of white pupils. The film followed headmaster Chris Smith and the pupils at Welford revealing what life is like for nine year old Nathaniel, 11 year old Aleyx and their diverse peer group, Mariam, Saubia, Conrad and Xhosa. The film was an inspiring example of how a charismatic head and his staff can navigate their way around the minefield of community relations and build a cohesive school based community.

Although the school library was not featured in this film, public libraries are well placed to work with local schools and raise cultural awareness through reading, story times, talks, events and displays. School Library Services can supply materials for the classroom which support national curriculum areas such as Citizenship. Public libraries can work with the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service and Traveller Education Service to support pupils for whom English is not their first language or those who do not have a cultural tradition of going to school.

Working with young people is very important because this will help to shape the views and attitudes of the next generation, but working with older people is vital as well. The final programme in the White series, All White in Barking, looked at how a traditional white working class community in East London was dealing with demographic change. Lifetime Barking residents Susan and Jeff have never said hello to their Nigerian neighbours, insisting that ‘they are not our people’. Dave is so angry by the influx of non white faces to Barking that he becomes a BNP activist – yet both his daughters have relationships with the very people he is lashing out against.

Public libraries can work with people like Dave to find out why he is angry and what this is based on. If it springs from popular media denigration of new arrivals then the public library can help Dave understand the real situation. This could be through the production of myth busting information giving the facts and fiction about immigration, the real numbers and the stories behind them. This can show that new arrivals are not taking our jobs, schools and health service away from us; that migrant workers do not jump the Council house queue or hospital waiting lists; that refugees often live in appalling accommodation conditions and are exploited by employers; that asylum seekers are not legally allowed to work and have to live on

‘Views sought on controversial stock in libraries guidance’ (1)

‘Smith seeking to close websites that promote jihad’ (2)

‘Lecturers warn against college “spy” rules’ (3)

By John Pateman

A common theme runs through these recent news headlines – the Government wants to recruit librarians, internet site providers, students and lecturers in its ‘War Against Terror’.

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has launched a new consultation on managing ‘controversial stock’ in libraries. This follows from the Prime Minister’s national security statement to Parliament in November 2007. The MLA was commissioned to produce guidance for public libraries on the management of ‘extremist and inflammatory material’.

The first principles of the draft guidance are that ‘Free expression and open libraries remain essential to British democracy’; and ‘Libraries operate within the law to provide free access to a diversity of information, opinion and ideas in a neutral and hospitable environment.’

The problem is that stock selection is now subject to a range of laws, some of which are contradictory. The guidance seems to suggest that individual librarians should use their personal judgement in deciding which law to apply. One consequence of this could be that librarians become risk averse and decide not to stock books which can be regarded as ‘controversial, extremist or inflammatory’.

There is a precedent for this which the guidance does not mention, and that was the disastrous effect on stock selection of Clause 28 which made it an offense to ‘promote homosexuality’. As a result many library authorities refused to stock the Pink Paper or gay books and this policy and practice remained in place long after Clause 28 was repealed.

For many years the primary legislation relating to public libraries was the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 which puts a duty on local authorities ‘to meet the general requirements and any special requirements of adults and children.’ As the guidance points out, these duties may present ‘problems for libraries located in areas that contain a high proportion of residents with radical beliefs.’

However, the Public Library Act has now been qualified by the Terrorism Act 2006 which defines a ‘terrorist publication’ as one that is likely ‘to be understood by some or all of the actual or potential recipients as a direct or indirect encouragement or inducement to commit, prepare or instigate terrorist acts’. Contents that are likely to indirectly encourage terrorism include any matter ‘which glorifies the commission or preparation (whether in the past, future or generally) of acts of terrorism.’

A librarian could be found guilty of providing access to this material if it was proved that they did so as the result of both a ‘guilty act’ (such as loaning the material) and a ‘guilty mind’ (the intention to encourage or induce an act of terrorism). The sentence for this offence is imprisonment for a maximum of 7 years.

A librarian could also be found guilty of the offence of ‘encouragement to terrorism’ but this is less likely because the defence of innocent dissemination is wider. The maximum sentence for this offence is also 7 years.

Section 3 of the Terrorism Act applies to providing internet access and a librarian must comply with any section 3 ‘notice’. The notice is a ‘declaration by a police constable that the statement, article or record is unlawfully terrorism related.’ When the notice is issued the librarian must, within 2 working days, stop making the matter available to the public (for example, by blocking an offending website).

Section 58 of the Terrorism Act makes it an offence to ‘collect or make a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’. The librarian has a defence if he can prove that he has a ‘reasonable excuse’ for his action or possession. The maximum sentence for this offence is 10 years imprisonment.

The MLA advises that ‘Librarians and library authorities should take pre-emptive precautions to ensure that information that is likely to be useful to “terrorists” is not stocked.’ This is a green light for the culling of any material which might pose a potential risk. This could include classics such a Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence and Guerrilla Warfare by Che Guevara. The MLA guidance is that ‘historical accounts that could be interpreted as glorifying terrorism may be stocked if there is little to no possibility that a current reader would try and emulate the acts described.’ However, there is evidence that the works of Lawrence and Guevara are being used by combatants in Iraq and so they could fall foul of the Terrorism Act. And presumably any novels which contain detailed descriptions of ‘terrorist’ activities should be removed from library shelves as well.

Another important piece of legislation which has been qualified by the Terrorism Act is the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. Sections of these Acts indicate that by banning certain ‘extremist’ publications from libraries, Librarians and library authorities could be behaving in a racially discriminatory manner and / or operating a racially discriminatory practice. However, there is a critical overriding ‘disclaimer’ with regard to ‘safeguarding national security.’

The MLA guidance is that ‘Librarians and library authorities should not be unduly concerned with the provisions of race relations legislation, and focus on avoidance of commission of the offences created by the Terrorism Act.’ This is a particularly worrying element of the guidance because Librarians are effectively being asked to disregard the Race Relations Act to avoid falling foul of the Terrorism Act. In this respect the guidance does not achieve its aim of helping to promote community cohesion through the provision of a balanced range of information, learning and cultural resources.

The Public Order Act 1986 creates a number of offences in relation to conduct intended to stir up racial and religious hatred. This includes the display, distribution or possession of ‘threatening, abusive or insulting’ material if ‘racial hatred would be likely to be stirred up’. The stocking of ‘extremist’ literature within a library suggests that Librarians could be susceptible to this crime although there is a defence of innocent dissemination. The maximum penalty is 7 years imprisonment.

The MLA advice is that ‘Librarians and library authorities would be wise to take pre-emptive precautions to avoid having to rely on a defence.’ Once again the MLA is advising librarians to be cautious and risk averse and to remove from their shelves any materials which could fall into this category. This seems to be contrary to the first principles of the guidance that ‘Libraries operate within the law to provide free access to a diversity of information, opinion and ideas in a neutral and hospitable environment.’ In this regard the guidance does not help libraries to fulfil their role as access points to publicly available information.

Library authorities have an obligation to carry out their duties in accordance with the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998. Article 10 (1) of this Act states that ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.’ Article 10 (2) qualifies this right by making it subject to a number of competing interests such as national security.

Once again, the MLA guidance urges caution and advises Librarians to comply with the Terrorism Act rather than the Human Rights Act. The guidance is that ‘A library itself is not under a duty to guarantee the expression of all ideas for all people.’ This appears to contradict the first principles of the guidance that ‘Free expression and open libraries remain essential to British democracy’.

If a publication contains references to ‘extremist’ beliefs, then excluding or banning it may be an offence under the European Convention on Human Rights which includes the right to ‘manifest’ one’s religion or belief. However, as with Article 10 this freedom is not absolute and can be qualified on a number of grounds, including compliance with the Terrorism Act.

The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 requires local authorities to involve ‘local persons’ in the exercise of a particular function (such as stock selection) if it ‘considers it appropriate’ to do so. If local people are involved in stock selection the MLA guidance is that ‘it will depend on the circumstances of the particular case as to whether the legislation will apply to the particular individual or organisation.’ This statement is not equivocal or clear and further guidance or clarification is needed.

Overall the MLA guidance does not achieve its aim of meeting the needs of library managers and staff in the selection, presentation and promotion of material in the context of wider stock policy. It is far too cautious and risk averse and will have the effect of controlling and restricting the selection of stock that can be interpreted as ‘controversial’, ‘extremist’ or ‘inflammatory’. It is not possible to agree a common definition of these terms in the same way that ‘Obscenity’ could not be defined within the Obscene Publications Act, which has consequently fallen into disuse.

As well as posing a threat to stock selection, this guidance also challenges the professional ethics of the librarian. Rather than becoming an agent of the state’s security apparatus librarians, of all people, should be standing up for freedom of information and freedom of expression. The response of librarians to this guidance should be the same as that of students and lecturers who have warned that new government guidelines on tackling Muslim ‘extremism’ in universities must not become a ‘snoopers’ charter.’ And instead of culling our book stocks and censuring the internet we should be supporting the views of Mark Littlewood of Progressive Vision who commented that ‘The idea that terrorism can be thwarted by seeking to shut down extremist websites is absurd and dangerous.’

References

(1) Consultation on draft guidance on the management of controversial materials in public libraries, MLA, 2008

(2) ‘Smith seeking to close websites that promote jihad’, Daily Telegraph, 18 January 2008

(3) ‘Lecturers warn against college “spy” rules’, Morning Star, 23 January 2008

John Pateman

Information for Social Change

24 January 2008

By Esther Obachi

http://www.wsflibrary.org/index.php/User:Obachi

The December 2007 elections were carried out peacefully by Kenyans. There was a mood of of change in the air as giants from the previous government were felled. The Kibaki gorvernment had opened up the stage for openness and freedom of expression that gave Kenyan people encouragement for even a better Kenya. There was hope that Kenya was headed for a better democracy.

This encouraged more young people into the political arena. For the first time, Kenya saw many independent youths come to parliament, not because they came from rich backgrounds, like it is often the case, but because they were determined to bring change to the government. Many expected the election process to be carried out smoothly as it had been in the previous one.

Rumors of pre-marked stolen presidential votes were openly aired in the local media where vehicles were featured carrying ballot boxes to unknown destinations. Kenyans kept vigil and took nothing to chance as the election date approached.

The election day was the most peaceful of them all as people woke up early to vote and retired to their houses to watch or listen to the election process through different media.

No one expected the election process to turn out the way it did. Everyone thought that the Kenyan democracy had matured enough to stop any kind of rigging. This had been seen as true when every suspicious move by the would be riggers was thwarted by the media that kept vigil. No incident was reported on the election day. Kenyans were determined to have this process completed peacefully so as to give them a chance to move on with their usual activities. The International Observers were impressed by the calmness by which Kenyans voted. Everything was as expected.

Soon-after, provisional results started pouring into media houses and were aired live. The parliamentary results indicated shock as giants were felled by political non-starters. The first senior government official to go was the former Vice President and Minister for Home Affairs, who was defeated by a young lawyer who had never ventured into politics before. Many other bigwigs followed suite. There was excitement among the electorate as their five years wait had finally come to an end and they were now making their voices heard through the ballot box. The few who managed to survive the elections had prooved to the electorate that they could be trusted and that they valued them (electorate) and their views. The Presidential results were also being relayed into the media houses and Raila Odingo was leading by an average of 500,000 votes.

Then we started seeing unusual delays in the releasing of results from some areas. The Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), Mr. Samuel Kivuitu expressed his fears that something was amiss because the returning officers from these areas were not reachable and that they had even switched off their cellphones. However, he assured Kenyans that all would be well. The electorates` anxiety turned into excitement and later into anger as the delay continued without any explanation. The electorate demanded that the results be availed. The ECK chairman joked about the delay saying that if the results were being delayed because they were being “cooked”, then he would not accept them.

Then the inevitable happened. The presidential provisional results that had been aired earlier started changing and the media started giving different presidential results. This is when all hell broke lose and the anxious electorate took to the streets even before the results were released.

Later, the ECK chairman was forced to release the presidential election results that he himself agrees were not properly tallied. President Kibaki had won the elections! The chairman, Mr. Kivuitu claims that he was under a lot of pressure from president Kibaki

OBITUARY: Ruth Frow, 1923 – 2008.

AFTER service in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, Ruth’s interest in labour politics led her in 1945 to join the CPGB, in which she found “enormous comradeship and warm-hearted generous people.”

She was involved with the British Peace Committee and became the secretary of the Teachers for Peace group. At a CPGB summer school, she met her future husband Eddie, finding that they had a common interest in books, particularly on labour history.

They saw their respective collections as complementary and so decided to merge them into a rudimentary history library.

Ruth moved to Manchester to eventually set up house with Eddie, who was then an Amalgamated Engineering Union official. Partly influenced by the Communist Party historian James Klugman, they spent their holidays scouring the country to buy books and memorabilia of the broad labour movement. On each trip, they filled their little 1937 Morris van, which was always driven cheerfully by Ruth.

As secretary of the Stretford Communist Party branch in the early 1960s, Ruth worked hard for the Daily Worker bazaars and was the branch delegate to the 26th congress of the party. She was also secretary of the Manchester Peace Committee and the first vice-chairman of Manchester CND.

Ruth was an active member of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and represented Manchester Teachers Association on the Manchester and Salford Trades Council. She was president of Altrincham NUT in 1970. In her professional career, she became deputy head at a large comprehensive.

As Ruth and Eddie’s collection grew, it filled more than just the walls of every room at 111 Kings Road. Many of the books that they had unearthed were irreplaceable gems. Apart from on open days and other events, the couple always welcomed visitors to see the collection.

In 1972, a charitable trust was set up and, in 1974, Ruth and Eddie gave the free use of their home to the North-West Labour History group to pursue its activities.

In 1987, Salford City Council generously decided to move the library at its expense into Jubilee House, a former nurses’ home.

A lottery award enabled the library to create its own website and put its catalogue online, allowing anybody could search its contents. Email enquiries poured in from many countries and the library gained an international reputation.

Visitors from home and abroad were always greeted with a really warm, personal welcome by Ruth. All felt the friendly hospitable environment she created, particularly the students who came to further their research. She was happy to conduct a tour of the library’s 40 rooms and draw on her detailed encyclopaedic knowledge of working-class history to answer any questions.

The Friends of the Library was started by Ruth and Salford MP Frank Allaun became its president. Ruth’s organisational skills were put to good use in mounting many exhibitions in the library and elsewhere and also events in the library annexe. She had a major input into all the books and pamphlets published jointly by her and Eddie.

Her research for her MEd at Manchester University on the half-time system of education was later published in a book, which is now a standard work on the subject. Both Ruth and Eddie were later awarded honorary degrees from the Central Lancashire and Salford Universities for their services to the labour movement.

When Salford Council reduced its support, Ruth played a large part in winning financial and other support from trade unions and friends, thus making possible the library’s continued independent existence.

Apart from her politics, Ruth specialised in English literature. She was passionately fond of poetry, particularly Shelley. She kept herself up to date with the latest developments in the theatre and film, regularly attended Hallé concerts and was an opera enthusiast.

Unsurprisingly, her wide circle of friends extended well beyond the labour movement. She made an indelible impression on all she met.

When Eddie died, she carried on undaunted working for the library. Never did she see herself as a leader, though many others did, but rather as the servant of the library – that was what mattered to her.

A month before her sudden, tragic death on January 11, she welcomed the news that the library had won a

John Pateman

The War on Terror poses three main threats to public libraries: (1) Government money is being diverted from UK public services, including libraries, to fund illegal invasions of sovereign nations; (2) the fear and scaremongering engendered by the War on Terror is allowing the government to erode the civil liberties and democratic values which underpin our library services. The freedoms of information and expression have been reduced and undermined; censorship and surveillance are on the increase; (3) The threat to our communities is that the War on Terror is creating tensions and divisions. The Muslim population has been alienated and many young Muslims radicalised. Asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers (all lumped together by the tabloid press) are viewed with suspicion and hostility. The BNP has never been so strong. The threats to diversity and community cohesion are clear.

The Threat to Civil Liberties

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act has transformed the powers of the police, allowing them to make arrests for minor offences such as dropping litter, or for protesting against the government. Once held, they can fingerprint, photograph and take DNA evidence from you – by force, if necessary – and hold it in a national database for ever, whether or not you are charged. The Prevention of Terrorism Act gives the police the power to carry out searches which do not have to be founded on reasonable suspicion. Control orders are a form of house arrest under which the liberty of the recipient is severely restricted upon an order made by the Home Secretary. The Campaign Against Criminalising Communities has claimed this is a ‘grave warning that no one is safe from punishment without trial and the government is moving further towards a police state.’
Government scaremongering, assisted by the tabloid media, has resulted in a majority of people being willing to give up their civil liberties to combat terrorism. Nearly a quarter of the people surveyed for the British Social attitudes study believed that torturing terror suspects would be a ‘price worth paying’ to combat the threat. And a staggering 50% found it acceptable to deny them a jury trial. 70% backed compulsory identity cards for all adults, while an astonishing 80% said that they would accept phone tapping and the electronic tagging of terrorist subjects. 35% even backed a ban on peaceful protests.

In its 2007 World Report Human Rights Watch warned that the War on Terrorism poses a growing threat to free expression. ‘Counter terrorism has given new vigour to some old forms of censorship, and created new ones’. In 2004 only three European countries had laws criminalising the glorification of terrorism. By 2006, thirty six countries had passed such laws, including the UK. Another post 9/11 legacy took place on 30 March 2007 when the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution that violated international standards on freedom of expression. This resolution stated that freedom of expression may be restricted ‘to ensure respect for religions and convictions’.

The Threat To Community Cohesion The biggest British victims of The War on Terror have been the Muslim community which, prior to the hysteria created by 9/11, had lived relatively peacefully in the UK for many years. Our Muslim communities now live in fear – not of terrorism but of the state and its brands of state terrorism. The Archbishop of York has warned that Britain is in danger of ‘coming close to a police state’ in the wake of the arrest of suspected terrorists in Birmingham. He criticised 90 day detention, likening it to Uganda under the rule of Idi Amin. The Birmingham Central Mosque chairperson accused the government of ‘picking on’ Muslims in the wake of these ‘terror arrests’ He described the arrests as a ‘persecuting course of action’ which the government had taken to justify its terror laws. ‘They have invented this perception of a threat. To justify that, they have to maintain incidents to prove something is going on.’

An even more sinister suggestion is that university staff should snoop on students suspected of ‘extremism’. The government has described what it considers to be a serious threat posed by radical Muslims and has issued guidance to colleges and universities calling on them to monitor student activity. These plans were condemned by the University and Colleges Union (UCU) which backed a motion at its congress calling on members to ‘resist attempts by government to engage colleges and universities in activities which amount to increased surveillance of Muslim or other minority students and to the use of members of staff for such witch hunts.’ UCU general secretary Sally Hunt commented: ‘Delegates have made it clear that they will oppose government attempts to restrict academic freedom or free speech on campus. Universities must remain safe spaces for lecturers and students to discuss and debate all sorts of ideas, including those that some people may consider challenging, offensive and even extreme.’ The union expressed outrage at the ‘continuing demonisation of Muslim and other minority communities’.

The Threat to Libraries

These latest proposals to spy on students would include the reporting to police of student’s research activities, internet use and reading habits. If this sounds somewhat fanciful, we should remind ourselves of the current situation in the US, the home of the brave and the land of the free. The PATRIOT Act makes it illegal for librarians to refuse any police request to see what anyone is reading. Librarians can go to jail if they even contact a lawyer for advice. Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act allows the FBI to access records, including library records, without a warrant – or even telling anyone. There is no obligation on the authorities to show a reason to believe that the subject of the surveillance order is engaged in criminal activity. The FBI can obtain a user’s reading and web browsing documents without probable cause. There is a criminal ban on librarians revealing the use of Section 215 orders to their readers. In 2004 Congress voted not to amend the PATRIOT Act because the Justice Department claimed that ‘a suspected terrorist had used e-mail services at a public library.’

In November 2006 a student of Iranian origin, was working in the library at the University of California when security guards asked to see his university identity card. When he failed to produce his ID card they ordered him to leave the library, but he refused, arguing that he was studying and he had to continue his research. The guards called the LA police which sent a patrol squad, armed with Tasers. In a video broadcast on the internet, you can see and hear how the police fired their laser stun gun several times at the student, who is screaming in pain and vehemently protesting. ‘Here is your PATRIOT ACT, here is your abuse of power’ cried the student in front of several classmates, powerless witnesses to the aggression.

In April 2007 a US librarian claimed that the PATRIOT Act invades privacy. In prepared testimony for a Senate panel he said the government uses the Act and other laws to learn, without proper judicial oversight or any after the fact review, what citizens are researching in libraries. The American Library Association and some library services have also challenged the Act. If anyone thinks that such an infringement of civil liberties could not happen in the UK, cast your minds back to the Poll Tax when enabling legislation was passed allowing authorised access to library records to locate Poll Tax defaulters. The Poll Tax was defeated but the enabling legislation remains.

Also, next time you do a Google search, remember that a record is kept of your computer’s IP address and the browser that you used, along with details of the search itself. If you use Google Mail, then every message that you send and receive will have been automatically scanned in order to work out which adverts the website should show you. Google keeps data on that, along with records of which ads you clicked on and generic information such as how often and when you log in. Search data and email messages are kept on servers in the US where Google can be forced to hand them over to the government when it comes looking for personal data in the name of the War on Terror.

The money spent on destroying Iraqi infrastructure (including libraries) could have been spent on public services (including libraries) in the UK. We are constantly told that, despite being one of the world’s richest countries, we cannot afford to sustain our existing level of public services. At the same time that we are being asked to tighten our belts in the NHS and local government, the official cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have surged massively. Britain’s involvement in these conflicts cost

We never anticipated the interest in Evergreen, Elizabeth Garcia tells me
over a cup of coffee at the Peachtree Center in downtown Atlanta.
Elizabeth Garcia is a librarian who works with the state-wide public
information network for electronic services (PINES), a consortium which was
formed in 1999 by some 265 public libraries of Georgia. She is employed by
the Georgia Public Library Service, a state-agency.
In these days, librarians from all over the USA, but also from Canada,
Australia, Singapore and India (and soon probably from other parts of the
world as well) are flooding the PINES staff with inquiries about their new
technical system.
One of the reasons for the excitement is that Evergreen, as the system is
called, is an in-house production.
Librarians use vast and complicated computerized systems to manage all the
catalogs, collections, acquisitions, loans, networked activities (such as interlibrary
loans) etc., plus their own work and organization. In order to be able to
implement such an integrated library system (ILS), the libraries usually buy it
from a vendor of some particular commercial brand of ILS.
Elizabeth Garcia. Photo MB

However, at Georgia Public Library Service, the librarians got thoroughly fed
up with the costly system (Sirsi) they had bought, and this led them to the
decision to go for an own system, built by themselves. Thus Evergreen has
been developed by PINES under the leadership of Brad LaJeunesse, a young
software developer who has worked with GPLS since he finished his studies in
2001. Development on the challenging Evergreen project began in 2004.
Evergreen is written in Perl to run on the GNU-Linux platform. It uses
PostgreSQL database server. Yes, you guessed right: Evergreen is
completely free and open source software (FOSS). i
The intellectual freedom which goes with free software (which is licensed
under the General Public License, GPL) and the openness of its code give
librarians important reasons to prefer Evergreen. “The decision to use open
source software fits philosophically with that of the public library”, as
LaJeunesse summarized the issue in an interview for Library Journal 2005.ii
At that time, Evergreen had not yet passed the reality test.
Evergreen is still a Version 1.0 system, Elizabeth Garcia points out. In fact.
PINES migrated to the new ILS only in September 2006. Has Evergreen so far
lived up to the expectations?
From Garcia I definitively get the impression that it has. And, nota bene, she
is not a salesperson or even a software developer herself. She is a library and
information specialist (LIS), originally a medical librarian, who has been
involved in the testing of Evergreen, and in the design of the details of its user
interface. At this stage she knows the system well enough to support the
other LIS, who by now are using it over the Internet in their daily work.
Common sense among the LIS had somehow ruled out the possibility that a
fully-fledged ILS might be produced in-house and based on FOSS. Andrew K.
Pace says as much in his book about libraries, software vendors and the
information markets:
“One thing is certain, however, and that is that the full development of a
usable and sharable open-source integrated library system remains
highly unlikely.[...] open source as a wide-range solution is noble, but
not viable.” iii
Well, the Evergreen system gives the librarians ground to believe that the
contrary might be true. Which is a third reason for them to take an interest in
it.
A wave of inquiries about Evergreen came in February this year, after an
announcement from Ex Libris, the corporation which owns an ILS called
Endeavour. This widely used product would no longer be maintained and
updated, it was said.
We simply had to take some new decisions to meet the new demand, says
Elizabeth Garcia. After discussion , it was decided that the team of four
software developers who wrote the Evergreen code would set up a separate
business company to serve libraries which implement Evergreen and charge
them for their services.
Equinox, the new companyiv, announced its presence on the ILS market 30
June, just a couple of days before I met up with Elizabeth Garcia in Atlanta.
As a consequence, Georgia Public Library Service will henceforward pay
Equinox fees for Evergreen updates. And new staff must be hired at PINES to
do the system administration job of Brad LaJeunesse and the other guys, who
are now busy working for Equinox.
If each of our libraries purchased a vendor product independently, it would
cost well over 15 million per year. We are able to provide service to all of our
libraries for 1.6 million per year. That includes the provision of the ILS to our
libraries, support and training, processing of overdue notices and provision of
courier services. It is quite a deal, Garcia confirms.
How much or how little money Evergreen will in the end save the library ,
compared to proprietary systems, remains to be seen. This is not a simple
count. However, FOSS-based solutions generally tend to be economically
affordable, in addition to being freely modifiable and controllable by their
users. That, of course, is an additional reason for librarians to consider
them.
Mikael Böök is an international library activist and a founding member of the Helsinki-based
Internet service cooperative Katto-Meny.
Endnotes:
i “ Librarians stake their future on open source”, http://www.linux.com/articles/58836.
ii http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA510787.html .
iii Pace, Andrew K.: The Ultimate Digital Library. Where the New Information Players Meet.
American Library Association 2003, p 23.
iv About Equinox: http://esilibrary.com/esi/home.html

Save and Burn, a documentary by Julian Samuel

Cinéma Parallèle (Ex-Centris) 26 – 29 September, 2005 3536, boul. Saint-Laurent, Montréal, H2X 2V1

http://www.ex-centris.com/?s=piece&z=detail&i=4732

Rachad Antonius will introduce the documentary.

Rachad Antonius et professeur de sociologie l’UQAM. Mathématicien et sociologue, il est l’auteur de nombreux articles et rapports de recherche sur les sociétés arabes et sur les conflits dans la région, ainsi que de deux ouvrages de méthodologie quantitative.

SAVE AND BURN

JULIAN SAMUEL, CANADA, 2004, 81 MIN, V.O. ANGLAISE. DISTRIBUTION. : JULIAN SAMUEL.

Save and Burn replace l’institution de la bibliothèque dans un contexte politique percutant. Généralement considérée comme un élément de préservation de la culture, elle est aux prises avec les idéologies de son temps. Le film aborde des thèmes tels que l’aspect commercial des bibliothèques, la gestion irresponsable et la fermeture de bibliothèques, les dérives des droits de reproduction, mais, surtout, souligne le fait que l’Occident ne reconnaît pas l’Orient pour la valeur de son patrimoine culturel.

Save and Burn puts the institution of the library within a startling political context. Generally considered a preserver of culture, the documentary points out how libraries are subject to the ideologies of their time and place. The film assays the commercialization of libraries, the irresponsible weeding and closing of libraries, the excesses of copyright law, but most of all, the fact that the West has not recognized the Orient for much of its cultural heritage.

FILMOGRAPHIE : THE LIBRARY IN CRISIS (2002), CITY OF THE DEAD AND THE WORLD EXHIBITIONS (1995), INTO THE EUROPEAN MIRROR (1994)

26 AU 29 SEPTEMBRE 2005: 15H, 21H.

English and French reviews of Save and Burn, 2005

Save and Burn: 80:34 minutes, NTSC; 2004

Save and Burn builds from The Library in Crisis (2002) by deepening an understanding of the history of civilization through the phenomenon of the library. From ancient China, India, Islam, and the Graeco Roman world, we see how the library radiated knowledge and spiritual values, and facilitated the cross fertilization of ideas from one culture to another.

Save and Burn puts the institution of the library within a startling political context. Generally considered a preserver of culture, the documentary points out how libraries are subject to the ideologies of their time and place – and not above them, as may have been assumed. The film assays the commercialization of libraries, the irresponsible weeding and closing of libraries, the excesses of copyright law, but most of all, the fact that the West has not recognized the Orient for much of its cultural heritage.

The film is provocative. Historically, libraries have been used to promote or inhibit democratic debate, with a nod to the Patriot Act. The filmmaker, who was born in Pakistan, combines exquisite footage of the Alexandrian Library, the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and Bromley House in Nottingham. Interviews include Tom Twiss, Government Information Librarian, University of Pittsburgh, who gives testimony on the destruction of Palestinian libraries by Israeli soldiers, accompanied with painful footage, as well as the fate of Iraqi libraries during the “liberation.”

List of people interviewed in Save and Burn:

Ross Shimmon, Secretary General, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions; Isam al Khafaji, ex-advisor to USA forces in Iraq; (Holland) Ambassador Taher Khalifa, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandria; Robin Adams, Librarian and College Archivist, Trinity College, Dublin; Bernard Meehan, Keeper of Manuscripts, Trinity College; Charles Benson, Keeper of Early Printed Books and Special Collections, Trinity College; Michael Ryan, Director, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; Declan Kiberd, author, Inventing Ireland, University of Dublin; David Grattan, Manager, Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa; Paul Bégan, Conservation Scientist, Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa; John Feather, Professor of Library & Information Studies, Loughborough University, author of The Information Society, Royal Society of Arts, London; Alistair Black, Professor of Library History, Leeds Metropolitan University, London; Erling Bergan, Editor, Librarians Union of Norway, Olso; Peter Hoare, library historian and adviser on historic libraries, Bromley House Library, Nottingham; Tom Twiss, Government Information Librarian, University of Pittsburgh.

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Note: I transcribed these French reviews from the newspapers – you will notice errors.

Montreal Gazette Wednesday, September 21, 2005

By BERNARD PERUSSE

Books in the balance: Documentary looks at threats to libraries

We think of the library as a quasi-sacred institution – a shrine to the works of great thinkers, philosophers, writers and historians. As such, it offers comforting proof that knowledge and wisdom transcend politics and ideology. Or do they? In his latest documentary, Save and Burn, Montreal filmmaker Julian Samuel offers a sobering reflection on the baser forces that have threatened libraries over the years. An impressive group of experts – including Robin Adams, a librarian at Dublin’s Trinity College; Taher Khalifa, director of Egypt’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina; and Tom Twiss, a librarian at the University of Pittsburgh – face the camera. Together, they offer historical background and make the case that the beloved institution has been, and continues to be, jeopardized by commercialization, technology and the prejudices of global conflict and racism. The destruction of Palestinian libraries by Israeli soldiers and last year’s arson attack on the United Talmud Torahs school library in St. Laurent are but examples. The premise, which builds on Samuel’s 2002 film The Library in Crisis, is novel and provocative – although the focus gets lost at points with political commentary on such hot-button topics as Israeli policy in the Middle East and the American invasion of Iraq. While political issues are obviously crucial to the concept of “bibliocide” denounced by the film, we sometimes feel far from the initial premise. It all works, however, during an examination of how the U.S. Patriot Act changed the landscape after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings by allowing the government to withold data about itself from library users while it gained greater powers to examine their personal records. In the end, Save and Burn makes its point most eloquently in scenes like one showing a young Arab man reading from James Joyce’s Dubliners in his native language. That’s when you realize how crucial it is to protect the unifying power of books from the forces of darkness.

Save and Burn opens Monday at Ex-Centris. For details, go to www.ex-centris.com Save and Burn Rating 3 Playing at: Ex-Centris cinema from Monday to Sept. 29. Parents’ guide: for all.

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La presse, 24 Septembre, 2005, “Save and Burn Documentaire de Julian Samuel,” par Aleksi K. Lepage

Julian Samuel conviendra sans doute avec nous que son documentaire “Save and Burn,” par ailleurs fascinant, n’est pas des plus accessible et ne s’adresse pas au plus vaste public, qui préfère généralement apprendre en s’amusant (ou l’inverse, plutot). Vite dit: “Save and Burn” est un film pour professeurs, pour universitaires et pour tous ceux qui ont frolé de près ou de loin les classes d’histoire, de littérature ou de sciences politiques. Samuel ne nous prend pas pour des nuls (et pourtant, s il savait!).

Très mal informé, après une lecture trop rapid du communiqué de presse, nous nous attendions

Saying Goodbye to God By Steve Fesenmaier Sept. 25, 2006

Atheism – 2006. 71 minutes by Julian Samuel

The world premiere of this film will take place in Montreal at the Festival of New Cinema and New Media between Oct. 18-28th. Visit their website at – http://www.nouveaucinema.ca/EN/index.php?img=accueil_hover

Congratulations to Julian Samuel, a Canadian with a long career as a filmmaker, novelist, critic, artist and social activist, on producing this studied and sensitive film about the place of religion in our age. Indeed, it is without a doubt the most thought-provoking film that I have seen on the subject

I am familiar with Samuel’s work mainly through two previous films on the subject of libraries in our age. I screened “The Library in Crisis” at The Greenbrier Resort several years ago at the annual fall West Virginia Library Association conference. Last spring I presented his feature film on contemporary libraries, “Save and Burn”, at the spring library conference. I have written published reviews of both films and have provided Mr. Samuel with some information while he produced “Save and Burn”, originally was planned to be a sequel to “The Library in Crisis.” That was before 9/11.

Julian Samuel’s film shows the viewer that at least one person from the Muslim world has the courage to stand up against religious fundamentalists. He dares to present something that shows that all non-believers everywhere share a common ground in their opposition to religious obsession. Few Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, etc., filmmakers have shown the same level of courage as of late.

I believe that recent books on Spinoza including Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity, by Rebecca Goldstein; The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World by Matthew Stewart and Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain show that the widespread intolerance of his era is still very much alive now despite the widespread belief that “religion is dead,” at least for non-fanatics.

Samuel uses various artistic techniques to break the boredom of the many talking heads in his film. As we all know, in many documentaries, talking heads can get quite boring, both to listen to and to watch. “Atheism” is non-linear as have been his previous films, but is even more so. The film has no beginning or ending, but is more like a film loop that continues endlessly, like a Mobius strip.

He begins the film with a startling image – painting in black paint ink letters spelling “atheism” over pages of the Bible. Throughout the film the painted bible keeps on reappearing, reminding one of images used by the German painter Anselm Kiefer. Using this image of the Bible symbolistically, he immediately prods the viewer’s attitudes about holy books.

As the film closes, the painted Bible again appears, this time with clay animation characters, some with penises. A plastic gorilla is also shown. (More on that later) The finale shows the clay figures’ being smashed to pieces, allegorizing the forces of control in our world. The representations are powerful and unique. Seldom have I seen such a perfect combination of image and thought in a film. The sheer horror of what religion has done to humanitarianism is evoked by this childish but effective image.

Another artistic technique that he uses is to show satellite images of various sites – The Vatican, the Pentagon, and other locations. I enjoyed these images, often used during American television coverage of wars in Iraq and elsewhere. Samuel frequently uses images that reinforce his exploration of humanity from a distance that will allow more careful observations. I think that he has been influenced by James Joyce who likewise combined experimental writing with restructured plotlines to create “Ulysses” and “Finnegan’sWake.” Samuel wants to create a gestalt, throwing all of the images and sounds on the screen to create feelings of disequilibrium that will, hopefully, open the viewer’s mind.

In between the opening and closing are lots of interviews, lots of talking heads. Many hilarious cutaways show religious art objects and what they would cost in unusual foreign currencies, showing rather than saying that religion is a business, an industry that has economic values. Samuel is a visual artist creating paintings as these cutaways expressively confront religion. Unfortunately, I fear that many viewers will not be familiar with many great experimental films by filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage who likewise composed every frame as an artistic creation.

Samuel frequently uses a moving image of asphalt repair lines on a highway with superimposed strokes of paint and other images. Several times in the film he uses this to convey the idea that we are all on a trip, a voyage, looking for the truth. He uses layers of images of painted calligraphy, illustrating that the world is really just a set of symbols that our society creates for us, to control us.

Another image he uses several times is that of a monkey or gorilla, showing its eyes in closeup, and showing it laying and moving. It is almost like the apes in “2001: A Space Odyssey” – a symbol of humanity’s basic animal nature that needs to be controlled. Several of the interviewees address modern science illustrating mankind no longer has to rely on religion to understand the world. The eyes of the gorilla are very poignant, especially those of the rational-looking ones that will linger in your mind long after the film is over.

”Atheism” begins with Christine Overall, Professor of Philosophy, Queen’s University, who asks “What is all of this about?” Then we see Alison MacLeod, author of “The Wave Theory of Angels,”who presents some new ideas on “quantum entanglement.” She reads a paragraph from her book on her belief that this phenomenon can have implications for our ordinary world. The Wikipedia has an entry on this subject and there are more than 2.5 million webpages that mention it. As a reader of Scientific American, I have been reading about developments in this area and they are intriguing. However, even though she states that there have been some macroscopic examples of this strange link between particles, I believe that the metaphor is weakly developed by Samuel.

Films like “What the Bleep Do We Know?” take ideas from the quantumworld and incorrectly apply them to our macro world. Few artists have ever understood enough science and mathematics to create an artwork that clearly illustrates a cutting-edge scientific theory. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has lately attempted to bring clear understanding of science to filmmaking with minimal results, e.g.,”Dopamine.”

Samuel’s “Atheism” recalls the personal films by Ross McElwee, best known for “Sherman’s March” and his recent, “Bright Leaves.” Samuelshows images of himself both when he was young and now, showing that he has himself been on this road looking for the truth just as all of the experts he has interviewed. One scene shows him on a crude radio station setup, telling the world that he is an atheist. Another image shows him walking up a pyramid with tourists. He also shows himself commenting on the “terrifying” religious music being played in a church. Many filmmakers, most notably Michael Moore, insert themselves into their documentaries. I know that Samuel is not a fan of Michael Moore (http:// www.counterpunch.org/samuel1126.html), believing like many filmmakers and viewers alike that he uses his films to promote himself as a “celebrity.” Samuel does not want to make the film an autobiograph; but, he also doesn’t want to pretend that he is outside the film, an abstractionist, pretending to be objective.

Christine Overall gives the viewer some background to contemporary atheism. Thankfully, she doesn’t mention Nietzsche, but rather comments on Feurbach who was more important than Nietzsche on other 19th century thinkers including Marx.

Tariq Ali, a well-known Muslim writer in the Western world, appears to be Samuel’s hero. During his many statements in the film, he presents a liberal world of non-theistic thinkers including himself, and presents a Muslim view of religion as a negative force.

Fadi Hammoud, a journalist and Middle East specialist, and Noomane Raboudi, a specialist on Islam, present many interesting facts about the history of Islam and politics. One points out a cruel connection between America and the most rabid form of Islam, Wahaabism in Saudi Arabia. I believe that the speaker is not unique in believing that the ultimate irony in our current situation goes back to U.S. support for the religious fanatics including Ariel Sharon and Osama bin Laden, the latter fighting “atheists” in Afghanistan with US support.

The most powerful speaker in the film is Bishop Spong, the former Episcopal bishop of Newark, New Jersey. Discussing Christianity with lucidity, he quotes one of his heroes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, about the need for “religionless Christianity.” The interviews with this man make this film important just for his statements by a truly-believing Christian

Everyone needs to see a thoughtful Christian talk about his deep religious feelings without spouting the dogmas that control our society.

Physicist, Jean-Claude Pecker, too, is thoughtful; he juxtaposes religious ideas with current astrophysics. Much of the world can now be explained by contemporary science, allowing humanity freedom from religion. He also has doubts about the Big Bang which might startle some viewers. If there is any theory in cosmology that seems to be confirmed, it is the Big Bang.

Pecker and all of the interviewees in the film tell us that science is the correct way to see the world. Bishop Spong even says at one point, “I don’t have time to debate Darwin. Darwin is correct, and if you want to argue about him, don’t waste my time.” He also notes that there is no real possibility of debate between religious fundamentalists and modern science.

I hope that millions of people all over the world have a chance to see “Atheism”. However, I am afraid, of course, that only the convinced will show any interest. If the average person in any society receives good, scientific education during their early years, they will definitely tend NOT to become a fundamentalist. Hopefully ”Atheism” will help some people learn about the world of non-fundamentalist Muslims and the broad world of infidels that indeed, may be the majority.

Julian Samuel’s two previous films on libraries are – “The Library in Crisis,”( 2002, 46 mins.) and “Save and Burn”(2005, 80 mins.) both available from Filmakers Library at - http://www.filmakers.com/

His films on orientalism can be found at – Arab Film Distribution – http://www.arabfilm.com/

Distribution: juliansamuel@videotron.ca

Interviewees:

Tariq Ali, author, The Clash of Fundamentalism

Fadi Hammoud Journalist and Middle East specialist

Alison MacLeod, author The Wave Theory of Angels

Christine Overall Professor of Philosophy, Queen’s University

Jean-Claude Pecker, astrophysicist Collège de France and Académie des Sciences, Paris (retired)

Noomane Raboudi Specialist on Islam

John Shelby Spong former Episcopal Bishop of Newark, NJ

Paul Catherall

This talk was part of the International Development seminar series at Manchester University and discussed the changing ways in which information and communication technologies have been viewed within dominant paradigms of socio-economic development. The seminar described pervasive socio-economic models from an historical perspective, including structured economic approaches (the controlled economy) and the trend toward neoliberal and neoconservative approaches in recent decades. The seminar particularly mapped theories of personal freedom and ICTs, with reference to the work of Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, whose recent work on development-as-freedom presents a model for conceptualising the role of ICTs in international development.

Sen’s works have involved the development a theory of social choice which illustrates the conflict between the results of democracy, personal freedom and welfare issues, this is illustrated in Sen’s advocacy for ICT in developing economies but accompanying plea for caution to ensure ICT benefits society rather than simply benefiting particular industries or sectors of the economy. Sen’s publication Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (1981) demonstrated that famine occurs not only from a lack of food, but also due to the inequalities of the economic system which is responsible for distributing food (i.e. through the market), this was partly inspired by Sen’s personal experience of the Bengal famine of 1943, resulting in three million deaths. Sen has also contributed (through his writings on social freedom and poverty) to the ‘Human Development Report’ (UN Development Programme) which ranks countries on the basis of social and economic factors.

Similarly, Sen has also developed his concept of ‘capability’ in terms of civic rights and freedoms and the material or social factors involved in realising these civil rights, for example the right to education may be reduced by cultural, social and material inequalities whilst the right to vote may be hindered by lack of access to polling facilities or lack of education regarding the process; his article More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing particularly focused on the inequalities of women in the developing world, including inequalities of health care and wellbeing derived from social systems which favour men over women in these developing countries. In addition to theoretical works in economics, Sen has influenced the development of self-help programmes to provide alternative work following loss of industries and food production in India and African countries.

References

• More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing (Sen, A. in New York Review of Books, Volume 37, Number 20

By John Pateman

Success story or terminal decline, inclusive or exclusive – any of these labels can be attached to public libraries in the UK, depending on which set of statistics you use. On the positive side, UK residents made 340 million visits to public libraries in 2004/05, which is equivalent to 5.7 visits per person. That’s more people than go to football matches each year, or than visit the UK’s top 20 tourist attractions put together. After a period of decline, visits to libraries are on the up. They hosted 22 million more visits in 2004/05 than they did in 2001/02, an increase of 7%. Around 47% of the UK adult population are registered with their library, which is down on the previous high of 60%. Also, only 20% of people are active library users – members who have a library ticket and use it on a regular basis.

Over 330 million books were borrowed from UK libraries in 2004/05 – an average of 5.52 books per person. Children’s book borrowing rose from 86.8 million in 2003/04 to 88.6 million in 2004/05. But adult book borrowing has declined by more than 40% in the last decade, from 442.5 million in 1994/95 to 241.6 million in 2004/05. Libraries spent

By John Pateman

Unlike Bob Usherwood (Update Jan/Feb 2005) I am able to fully empathise with the white working class as described by Michael Collins in his brilliant biography The Likes of Us. Collins argues that white working class culture is intimately linked to a landscape and a concept of home – in his case, Southwark, where his family lived for generations. Collins traces the history of this family and, with it, the history of that long neglected part of south London bordered by the Thames to the north and Walworth to the south. In between can be found Borough, Bermondsey and Newington, as well as the world famous Elephant and Castle and Old Kent Road. This is the home of the Pearly King and Queen , the coster monger and the chirpy cockney.

Collins does not seek to defend – in Usherwood’s words – racism, but to explain it. In doing so he points out that the white working class is much more tolerant and able to absorb other cultures than it is given credit for. As Collins delves into his family’s history he discovers that “missionaries” from other classes have always descended to study, influence, patronise and politicise the white working class, long before the contemporary intelligentsia began to demonise them. But there have been few attempts to understand the white working class – which is what Collins sets out to do. In the process he robustly defends their culture and identity.

After setting the opening scene of The Likes of Us in a library, Collins does not mention libraries again in the 270 pages that follow – which suggests how irrelevant they are to many working class people – other than right at the end when he returns to the same library where elderly working class residents are discussing the “good old days”. As Collins points out, they were never really that “good”, but at least there was a sense of class solidarity and community before the old houses were pulled down and replaced by three huge estates with aerial walkways which became an escape route for street criminals and drug dealers.

Ferdinand Mount has suggested in his thoughtful essay, Mind the Gap, that the working class (the “downers”) have suffered the ultimate deprivation – a consequence of all their other deprivations – which is the deprivation of respect. Collins makes the same point : once they were known as the salt of the earth, now they are portrayed by the media as xenophobes and exhibitionists. Their tastes and attitudes are mocked and “white trash are the only people left to insult.” Whole pages and programs are devoted by the media to denigrating the “chavs” (interestingly this word is derived from “Chavvies”, which is what Gypsies – another much maligned community – call their children.)

It is easy for the middle class (the “uppers”) – with their affluence and education – to be enthusiastic about multiculturalism. If it doesn’t work for them they can afford to move out of the area or send their kids to another good school. The white working class does not have these choices. They often end up living most of their impoverished lives in the same area – and it this area, with its familiar people and familiar landscape which gives their lives meaning, stability and comfort. Any changes to this landscape – a sudden shift in demographics or architecture – can be profoundly unsettling, even threatening.

These fears need to be understood. As Stuart Hall has said: “If you’re serious about a multicultural society, you would address the sense of alienation of white working class people, who have to be won over to a new conception of themselves”. This sense of loss and alienation is palpable in areas like Southwark where the white working class have literally been air brushed out of history. The benefits of a multicultural community are touted in municipal promotions but the bed rock of that community – the white working class – is completely ignored. No wonder that local people get angry, seek others to blame and fall prey to groups such as the BNP.

Valentine and MacDonald, in their report Understanding Prejudice: attitudes towards minorities (Stonewall, 2004) found that: “There is a strong perception that the white majority is being unfairly treated, and that minority groups are receiving preferential treatment – on an economic level, a threat is felt from asylum seekers, Travellers and Black people. Marginalised young, white heterosexual men tend to be the least socially integrated.”

Usherwood suggests that the solution to this problem is “education, education, education”. But this is not as simple as it sounds. Middle class people have some real choice over where they send their children to be educated. Working class people do not have the same choices. Many poor working class areas are served by low achieving state schools with big classes and stressed staff. In this environment many working class children fail to achieve their full potential and leave school with little or no qualifications. Some leave school without even the essential skills of literacy and numeracy.

Tessa Stone, director of the Sutton Trust education charity, has said: “We see it time and time again that there are self-reinforcing pockets of areas where it is very difficult to have an impact. Partly, it is because of the enormous difficulties being faced by some schools. When schools are dealing with issues of severe under achievement as well as deprivation, the extra scope for stretching the brightest children is very limited. They are really fire fighting.”

Even if they get over this significant hurdle of a good secondary education, working class children face the next class divide – according to a report by the Higher Education Funding Council for England “pupils from the wealthiest areas are six times more likely to enter higher education than those from the poorest”. In areas such as Kensington and Chelsea and Sheffield’s suburban south-west, 70 per cent of young people went on to university. But in 40 wards in places such as southern Bristol and inner city Leeds, fewer than 5 per cent of pupils entered higher education.

Mark Corver, the report’s author, wrote: “There is a high degree of inequality in the chance of young people entering higher education depending on the neighbourhood where they live”. Although the study was not intended to explain the gap, it said that poorer families were likely to live in cramped conditions and attend low-attaining schools, with parents in manual jobs who had no experience of university. This typifies many of the white working class families in Southwark described by Collins.

Debates about developing multicultural communities have been dominated and lead by the white middle class, who have no understanding of the working class. Putting the focus purely on the needs of ethnic minorities is unfair and divisive and likely to lead to angry reactions and a backlash from the host community. Failing to address the needs of local people can lead to violence and disturbances in the least likely places: the biggest race riot in 2004 was not in Brixton ( London), Toxteth (Liverpool) or St Pauls ( Bristol) but in Boston ( Lincolnshire). Simmering grievances between local people and migrant workers – stirred up by the BNP – flared into full scale riots when England lost a football match against France.

Building community cohesion is a long term process which must be fully inclusive and transparent. As Gurbux Singh, one time chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, has said: “Our way of thinking has changed. Tackling the perceptions and poverty levels of poor white communities is almost as important as tackling ethnic minority deprivation.” Tackling social exclusion requires a focus on the excluded – the working class, ethnic minorities and others – and their needs. Promoting social inclusion can start to add the middle class into the mix. Community cohesion enables different groups to understand each others needs. Each of these stages – exclusion, inclusion, cohesion – may take 10 years or more.

In responding to this challenge, public libraries must have appropriate strategies, structures and cultures which enable them to identify, prioritise and meet community needs. Libraries must take a needs based approach and reach out to excluded communities. This must be done by library staff who have the right skills and a real empathy and understanding of community needs. This is best achieved by employing staff from those communities – in Lincolnshire, for example, we have library staff from our migrant worker communities. Failure to do this will result in what Collins describes as adopting “the missionary position”.

Working class people do not want to be lectured to or treated like children by the middle classes – at school, in the media or by libraries. The outcome of taking this missionary approach can be counter productive – like most of Collins’ neighbours “we lived in a home where no one bothered with books.” Usherwood accuses Collins of “restricting the horizons of the working class, dismissing their potential and the role of critical friends”. The working class are rightly suspicious of such “friends” who, without consulting them, tore down their neighbourhoods and replaced them with concrete monstrosities. They were also not consulted about changes to their demographics and were expected to naturally absorb and integrate new communities without having any say or control over these changes.

The cultural missionaries dismissed by Collins and supported by Usherwood have not taken the time or effort to understand the white working class. Paternalism is just a kinder term for the cultural elitism imposed on the working class by the powers that be. Some working class people like myself and Usherwood have succeeded despite, rather than because of, the system. We took what opportunities we could to develop ourselves in the tradition of the nineteenth century autodidacts. But we are a tiny minority. Most of my class remain “downcast, confused and apparently redundant”, robbed even of their self respect by those who should know better, the educated and powerful “uppers”.

Only 30 per cent of the population are active library users. Two thirds of these active users are middle class. Public libraries are an alien institution to the great majority of “downers”. There are many good examples of library services reaching out to their multicultural communities. The Libraries Change Lives Award has been won for services to asylum seekers, refugees and Travellers. I know of no similar efforts being made to target the white working class.

Librarians can learn from a fellow professional, Professor Lola Young, project director at the Archives and Museum of Black Heritage, who is currently archiving a Black presence in Britain that can be traced back 500 years. Professor Young described how her work involves “all our histories, not just those of Black peoples. It’s a strategy to raise awareness, and disseminate information about the rich texture of British history”. In the process we may learn to understand that working class people can be proud of being British and white without them necessarily being the enemy.

References

Michael Collins, The Likes of Us, (Granta, 2004)

Joseph Lee, A nation riven by class and privilege, (Times Education Supplement, 21 January 2005)

Ferdinand Mount, Mind the Gap, (Short Books, 2004)

Gill Valentine and Ian McDonald, Understanding Prejudice: attitudes towards minorities (Stonewall, 2004)

By John Pateman

The title of this article was inspired by a real situation which happened recently in a UK public library. It is the story of a man who started sleeping in the doorway of a public library and the reaction to this by library staff, the police and other agencies. It is a metaphor for a needs based library service – or not, as the case may be. The context is social exclusion and how this is being tackled by national and local government. That it still needs to be tackled is clear from some recent news stories, research and reports. The Morning Star ( 25 February 2006) noted that the government has a penchant for using ‘dodgy euphemisms’:

‘A minister responsible for the fight against social exclusion is a case in point, since the very phrase “social exclusion” is a classic piece of ducking and diving. For social exclusion, read poverty. The poverty of pensioners, 20% of them living below the official poverty line. The poverty of those who have lost their occupational pensions. The poverty of the 1.5 million elderly households in homes without adequate heating and insulation. The poverty of children growing up in bad housing. The poverty of the 1.54 million unemployed in this country. That is what Mr Blair calls social exclusion.’

There is a close link between social exclusion and poverty. Tony Blair pledged in 1999 that New Labour would reduce the number of children in poverty from 4.1m to 3.1m by April 2005. This was an ambitious target and the government missed it by 300,000. The government was accused on not doing enough to tackle the problem. Save the Children said the failure to meet the target was ‘devastating for the future of the poorest children’, while Barnardo’s said there was no justification for child poverty in the fourth richest country in the industrialised world. The government remains committed to eradicating child poverty by 2020. Sustained reductions in poverty and income inequality are central to the goal of improving social mobility.

There is a close link between social exclusion and class. A recent report by the Institute for Public Policy Research notes that ‘social mobility and equal opportunities have replaced social class in discourse on the route towards a fairer society.’ The chances of an individual moving to a different income group from the one they were born into are significantly lower in Britain and the USA than in more equal societies such as Canada and the Nordic countries. British people born into a manual worker family in 1970 had less chance of moving into a higher occupation than people born in similar circumstances in 1958. Social class matters because your position within the social hierarchy strongly influences the kind of life you can lead and how far you can go. Levelling the playing field in terms of social inheritance will also help to equalise life chances.

There is a close link between social exclusion and inequality. The government commissioned Equalities Review warned that persistent inequalities are costing Britain’s economy billions of pounds in lost income. Mothers, for example, were ‘by far’ the least likely to get a job – even less than the disabled and people from ethnic minorities. While women face an employment penalty of around 15% compared with men, mothers were a shocking 40% less likely to be in the labour market. At the present rate of progress, the gender pay gap would not be closed until 2085 and the employment gap between disabled and able bodied would never be closed. The review also noted ‘the lack of women’s voices in politics.’

There is a close link between social exclusion and power. The Electoral Commission has revealed a disturbing increase in political apathy across Britain. The third annual audit of political engagement by the Commission and the Hansard Society revealed that almost one in five people do not want any say in how the country is run. The study found that 17% of the British population do not want a say in politics. Some 12% said that they would not be willing to do anything to influence a decision by local or national government. The report also found that poor people are far less engaged in politics than those who are wealthy. But it stressed that merely creating more opportunities for people to get involved will make little difference.

There are close relationships, therefore, between social exclusion and poverty, class, inequality and power. If you are socially excluded you are most likely to be poor, working class, treated unequally and have no power. The ground breaking Open to All? report made it clear that ‘Social exclusion relates not simply to a lack of material resources, but also to matters like inadequate social participation, lack of culture and educational capital, inadequate access to services, and lack of power. In other words, the idea of social exclusion attempts to capture the complexity of powerlessness in modern society rather than simply focusing on one of its outcomes.’

Powerlessness, then, is at the heart of social exclusion. If people have no power in their own lives they are likely to be or to feel socially excluded. Having power is about being able to make choices. The case study I am about to describe is about a man who was completely powerless. His only choice was to sleep in a library door way at night, and seek shelter in the library during the day. This case study is also about those who do have power – the library service, police, councillors – but who did not choose to use this power to help this man. I call this story, The Man in the Doorway. The narrative is paraphrased from a staff incident report. I have kept the details anonymous because telling this story is not about criticism or blame but about learning from what happened.

The Man in the Doorway

‘On Monday staff began to voice their concerns about a man who was sitting next to the photocopier in the Library. He had his hood up and a cap pulled over his face which was barely visible. He was sitting cross legged and appeared to be asleep and was drooling. His chair was blocking access to the copier. I asked him to move and he awoke and became agitated. He began to jab his pen at the table constantly. He moved his chair to give access to the copier. I was preparing to contact the police when he left. He returned to the library on Tuesday and sat in the junior library for much of the day. I did not want him in the junior library but was unsure about approaching him after what had happened on Monday so I contacted the police for advice. My call was not reported as an incident because he was not causing a disturbance. We did not feel the man was a particular nuisance and had no reason to ask him to leave that day.

When staff arrived on Thursday he was asleep in the library doorway. He left a great deal of rubbish which staff had to clear up. A local councillor observed this and said that ‘staff should not be expected to have to deal with such things.’ She contacted the police who visited the library on Friday, along with a library manager. The police said that they had spoken to the man and offered help from Social Services or a phone call to family but he had declined. He came into the library and was no trouble. We were concerned about him sleeping in our doorway because the weather was exceptionally cold during the week. He continued to sleep in the doorway until Tuesday when I rang the police. I felt we had been tolerant for long enough but we were no longer prepared for him to sleep in our doorway. On Wednesday he spent much of the day in the library as it was raining. He slept in the doorway on Wednesday night.

On Thursday I phoned the police and explained that we could not carry on like this. On Friday I again contacted the police as he was in the doorway when I arrived for work. On Saturday he was in the doorway again and I rang the police to report he was still causing problems. It was not logged as an incident. On Monday the doorway was blocked again so I rang the police. They explained that vagrancy is not against the law but if there was a continuing nuisance then an ASBO (Anti Social Behaviour Order) could be imposed. The police also suggested that the library service should take steps to bar the man from the library. I told the police that we knew the local council were already aware of the problem. A library manager visited and sent a report to the area manager. The cleaner said she thought the man was not causing any harm and felt sorry for him, but she had seen some displays of temper and was becoming concerned for her own safety.

By this time staff were becoming very frustrated and feeling unsupported. We had a discussion and decided to make sure the doorway was very wet with soapy water when we went home that night. We did this again on Wednesday night and the man did not sleep in our doorway either night. We close at 12.30 on Thursday and had no chance to soak the doorway. The man was in front of the doors on Friday morning. Earlier in the week I had contacted the council’s Health and Safety officer. He was on a course all week but contacted me on Friday to discuss the problem. He was not able to offer any solution or support. He suggested that the library could employ a security guard. The local councillor informed me she had contacted the senior councillor for libraries and the ASBO team at South Holland. I told the councillor that I felt unsupported and that having to wake the man in the doorway was a risk to us all.

The man was in the doorway again on Monday morning. I sent the head of libraries a full report. Another local councillor also contacted the head of libraries and suggested that a security grille be put on the front of the library. On Wednesday the man was back in the doorway. On Thursday I left a call with the local council ASBO officer. My call was not returned. On Friday I was informed by the head of libraries that he had spoken with the area manager and that a multi agency approach should be taken to solve the problem. On Saturday the man was asleep in the doorway. A member of staff called the police. When the police arrived the man became very aggressive. Another three police officers arrived, the road was blocked off and the man was arrested on public order offences.’

So, what can we learn from The Man in the Doorway? How could the situation have been dealt with differently? Was the councillor right when she said that staff should not be expected to deal with this situation? Many different agencies became involved (library service, police, councillors, Health and Safety officer, ASBO officer) – how could better multi agency working have improved the scenario? Should staff have prevented the man from sleeping in the doorway by making it wet? What different roles could councillors and managers have played? What policies and procedures could staff have used in helping them to deal with this situation?

As I said at the beginning, the aim of telling this story is not to criticise or blame staff but to learn from it. This learning can take place at both an individual and organisational level. In other words, there should be a whole service response to the Man in the Doorway. The responsibility should not be placed solely on those front line staff and managers who had to directly deal with the situation. Front line library staff have a very challenging job and come into contact with all kinds of people and situations. As public spaces, libraries attract a wide variety of people, some of whom have multiple or urgent needs. Staff can be trained to deal with these situations and need the support of their managers. Staff should be aware of any policies and procedures which can assist and guide them in carrying out their duties. For example, there should be clear policies on Violence at Work, Working Alone, and Health and Safety for frontline staff. Safety of Staff public notices should be posted in every library making it clear that threatening behaviour is not acceptable. Staff should be clear what unacceptable behaviour is – for example, behaviour which causes staff to feel upset, threatened, frightened or physically at risk. Staff can be trained in how to minimise the likelihood of incidents by: listening to people; demonstrating empathy and understanding; showing a willingness to help without promising too much; finding appropriate ways to say no and demonstrate respect whilst being firm and understanding. Measures can also be taken to avoid the risk of incidents at work and minimising the consequences such as: design and layout of library; organisational arrangements; training of staff; provision of security staff; personal security devices.

Staff should also be aware of the values of the organisation, such as focusing on the needs of the library user and community. A needs based library service puts the needs of the individual library user and the needs of the community at the centre of all strategies, structures, systems and culture. Being able to identify, prioritise and meet needs becomes ‘the way that we do things around here.’ A needs based library service actively involves and engages the whole of the local community in the planning, design, delivery and evaluation of library services. As well as providing core services from library buildings and taking services out into the community via outreach programs, a community development approach is also required. As Brian Campbell has explained ‘The community development approach begins from the position of the individual and from the perspective of the community. It helps individuals or communities to articulate their needs and then investigates ways and means to work collaboratively to respond to those needs. Outreach begins by providing programs, while community development begins by building relationships.’

A community development approach to the Man in the Doorway could have lead to a completely different set of outcomes: for the man himself, for the library service, and for the other organisations involved. Until we transform our library services and make them more needs based we are likely to continue to respond in a similar way to that described by John Gehner: ‘When poverty routinely confronts us at our workplace – sometimes subtly, sometimes directly – the best we can respond with is indifference or, in some quarters, hostility. We continually overstate the way that a minority of homeless (and housed) people purportedly disrupt us in the library. Yet we underestimate the larger political and economic decisions that have created a ‘truly brutal public sphere’ for the poor – which among other things means a shortage of mental health services for the patron arguing with his shoe.’

By John Pateman

The ability to manage change is a core competence in many public sector job descriptions these days, certainly at middle and senior manager levels. A whole industry has developed around Change Management and top consultants and gurus can command huge sums to attend their seminars and courses. There is also a vast array of change management text books ranging from the heavily academic to the more popular ‘do it yourself’ variety. Any student of change management will tell you that there are fads and new waves of ideas which come and go with confusing rapidity. One moment we are told that ‘small is beautiful’ and the next minute we are advised that ‘bigger is better’. Anyone who follows any of these gurus does so at the peril of having to completely reverse their strategy when the next big idea comes along. Change management can be a risky and fickle business.

My approach to change management is not based on business gurus, although I do have an MBA and I have read an awful lot of relevant textbooks. While I have some time for people like Charles Handy Peter Senge (who I particularly like), I look to the worlds of history and politics to find my true change champions. My role models are those people who have not merely re-engineered a business or restructured a company, but who have changed whole countries and the course of world history. An analysis of the strategies, structures, systems and cultures employed by these transformational leaders can give us tools and techniques for making changes within our library services. These are people who not only achieved that very difficult task of starting a Revolution, but also managed to maintain the momentum of that Revolution and sustain it over a long period of time. They are the experts in initiating, embedding and sustaining change and continuous improvement. This then, is your guide to organisational change, according to Chairman Mao..

Chairman Mao led the great Chinese Revolution of 1949. Before this date China was a vast, poor, divided country run by war lords and bandits. In less than a generation Mao transformed this backward feudal country of millions into a world super power. Today the Chinese economy is the envy of the world. Economic growth is running at record levels and China has overtaken the UK as the world’s fourth largest economy. The benefits of this extraordinary economic growth have gone to the people, whose living standards have increased exponentially in relative terms. State management of the commanding heights of the economy has ensured that China’s wealth remains the property of the Chinese people. How was this transformation achieved and what can we learn from it in terms of changing our library services? The starting point of the Chinese Revolution was that everything had to change – there was no point in just changing one part of society and not changing the rest. The same applies to public libraries who must take a holistic approach to change by adopting new strategies, structures, systems and cultures if they are to be transformed, modernised and able to meet the diverse needs of their communities.

Let a hundred flowers bloom

Before the Revolution China did not have a national strategy for development and growth. Each region of China did its own thing in its own way and the whole country did not pull together to achieve common objectives. The same can be said of some library services. Mao’s solution to this was to launch a campaign in 1956 under the slogan ‘let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools contend’. In other words, Mao invited the Chinese people to discuss and put forward ideas for the national development of China. This was a massive brainstorming exercise where any ideas could be suggested, no matter how big, how small or how implausible. All ideas were valid and accepted. This not only created a national debate but opened the flood gates for ordinary Chinese people to have their say – something which they had been denied for literally thousands of years. The Hundred Flowers Movement was designed to mobilise the people for a program of rapid industrialisation. This would require the co-operation and contribution of the entire population – academics, managerial and technical experts, peasants and farmers.

Developing a new strategy for public library services requires a similar approach – a mechanism which allows all sections of the workforce to debate the future direction and priorities of the service. In Lincolnshire we achieved this by setting up Strategy Development Groups (SDGs). There were three of these, one each for the strategic objectives of Inclusion, Learning and Regeneration. These objectives were based on the Framework for the Future key themes of Books and Learning, E-Government and Community Cohesion. Staff were asked to volunteer to join a SDG and contribute to the debate of what Inclusion, Learning and Regeneration actually mean for Lincolnshire Libraries and the communities which they serve. Other Council services and partners were asked to join in this debate. The outcome was an integrated strategy for the development of Lincolnshire Libraries. This was used to inform the next stages of the transformation process: structures, systems and culture.

The process of letting one hundred flowers bloom had the effect of ‘unfreezing’ Chinese society which had been frozen in the grip of feudalism for so long. At the end of the debate it was necessary to ‘refreeze’ society around the new set of common objectives which had emerged from the discussion process. These objectives were summarised in Chairman Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’ – this was his strategy for the development of socialism in China. Every member of Chinese society had a copy of this ‘Little Red Book’ and studied it to understand it. It produced a common language and platform which enabled everyone in China to communicate with each other on the new agreed goals. I have found the ‘Little Red Book’ more enlightening, inspiring and educative than any management text book. Chairman Mao reminds us, for example, that once we have decided our strategy and policies, we must be focused on delivering our objectives, and not be sidetracked or distracted:

‘Our Party has laid down the general line and general policy of the Chinese revolution as well as various specific lines for work and more specific policies. However, while many comrades remember our Party’s specific lines for work and specific policies, they often forget its general line and general policy. If we actually forget the Party’s general line and general policy, then we shall be blind, half baked, muddle headed revolutionaries, and when we carry out a specific line for work and a specific policy, we shall lose our bearings and vacillate now to the left and now to the right, and the work will suffer.’

The Great Leap Forward

Having agreed a strategy, Mao’s next task was to restructure Chinese society to enable that strategy to be delivered. Mao’s vehicle for achieving this was The Great Leap Forward of 1958. Mao recognised that the way that society and the economy were structured would not enable sudden and sustained economic growth. Great Leap policies affected every aspect of economic life. The overriding objective was to substitute China’s plentiful labour for scarce capital in an all out assault on the backward economy. All peasants were reorganised into huge People’s Communes, super co-operatives each with many thousands of members. The communes practised extremely egalitarian policies and the massive labour forces were directed to carry out huge projects. Local self sufficiency was promoted and many new rural industries were set up. The Great Leap was also associated with a bias against experts or specialists. To be ‘red’ was better than to be ‘expert’. The effects of the Great Leap were closely monitored and fed back into the process to inform further changes.

The parallels here for library services are that, having developed new strategies, we need to create new staffing and service structures to deliver those strategies. This requires wholesale change and not just tinkering with structures and job descriptions. The workforce needs to be transformed so that it can focus on the new priorities of Inclusion, Learning and Regeneration. In Lincolnshire we developed a new staffing structure which flowed naturally from our new strategy. We fine tuned the structure and tested it at a series of staff road shows. The feedback from these road shows was used to further improve the structure. The outcome was a staffing structure which was fit for purpose with new job titles, person specifications and competencies. A greater emphasis was put on outreach work. There were less ‘specialist’ or ‘expert’ posts and more generic posts. The previous hierarchy was replaced by a flatter structure with fewer levels of management and more power devolved to the front line. Silo based working was replaced by matrix management, enabling staff across the service to be pulled together into working groups and teams. Performance measures and success criteria were developed to measure progress.

The Chinese Revolution was not a smooth process and was interrupted by Bigger Picture developments, particularly the geo politics relating to China’s relations with the United States and the Soviet Union. Similarly, the process of staff restructuring in Lincolnshire has been stalled while the Big Picture with regard to an organisational review of the County Council is carried out. This has given us time to look at the changes which we need to make to our service structure (for example, opening hours) and to our systems and procedures (such as proof of address and self issue). We are also continuing our process of workforce development, to prepare staff for change, and benchmarking of performance with other library services. These are all necessary steps as part of the revolutionary or transformation process. And they all contribute to the biggest challenge of all – culture change.

The Cultural Revolution

Chairman Mao recognised that a new strategy, structures and systems were necessary if China was to be transformed from a backward feudal society into a modern competitive economy. He also recognised that without fundamental cultural change, nothing would truly change in China. His mechanism for achieving this change was the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which started in 1965. Mao was concerned that efforts had been made to reverse the agreed policies of the Revolution. He was aware of resistance to change from middle and senior managers. There was a retreat from collectivisation in agriculture and the reintroduction of material incentives. Education and medicine were increasingly elitist in their development. Literature and the arts were controlled by intellectuals. All these issues would be struggled over in the Cultural Revolution. The longest and fiercest of the great movements that Mao had set in motion since the founding of the People’s Republic, the Cultural Revolution was an attempt to change hearts and minds, attitudes and behaviour, beliefs and values, or what Mao called the ‘four olds’ – old thought, old culture, old customs and old habits.

Culture change is also the biggest challenge facing attempts to transform public libraries. New strategies can be developed in weeks, and new structures in months – but developing new cultures can take years. Cultures of comfort build up in most organisations and it can take some time and effort to change these. The approach we are using in Lincolnshire involves a combination of workforce development, service planning and performance management. The very act of involving staff in the development of new strategies and structures helps to change the culture. Staff are engaged in the change process and feel that their views are important and will have a say in the future shape and direction of the service. To reinforce this approach we have invested heavily in workforce development and change management training, including a highly successful course, ‘Step into your power’, run by Harriet Karsh. Service planning has been realigned to meet the new service objectives and performance management is used to demonstrate the contributions that individuals and teams can make to service and corporate objectives. We have been assisted in this by the development of new corporate objectives (LEADS) and values (PERFORMS). We are also keen to align our efforts with Local Area Agreement shared priorities and Every Child Matters outcomes.

Resistance to change is inevitable and should be managed. Change Champions (similar to China’s Red Guards) can lead the way in challenging old thought, old culture, old customs and old habits. As most cultures are based on language, a new common language is required as well. There should be less talk of Lending, Reference and Children’s libraries and more talk of Inclusion, Learning and Regeneration activities, for example. Cultural change takes time and you need to stay with it for the long haul, as Chairman Mao did. There are no short cuts to cultural change. If change is not embedded things will very quickly go back to how they were. The culture of comfort will reassert itself. For change to be sustained it needs leaders and managers who are both persistent and consistent. There are basically two types of change managers or transformational leaders – those, like Che Guevara, who are very good at starting revolutions, but who then become restless and go on to start new revolutions elsewhere; and those, like Fidel Castro, who take on the even more challenging role of keeping a revolution going over a sustained period of time. What kind of change manager are you – a Che or a Fidel?

Chairman Mao led the Chinese Revolution from 1949 until his death in 1976. This Revolution modernised the economy and made the country a power to be reckoned with. It also brought enormous improvements to the lives of many, raising life expectancy, and standards of living, and of health and education. Similar achievements are possible if we can transform our public libraries into needs based services. As Mao said, ‘Our duty is to hold ourselves responsible to the people. Every word, every act and every policy must conform to the people’s interests, and if mistakes occur, they must be corrected – that is what being responsible to the people means.’

Martn Lowe

By way of an introduction.
Before stating anything else I should point out that I am not a cataloguer. I am however an Library Information worker, & have had a lot of first hand contact with many small or radical publishers.
So instead of looking at what could or might be done to improve Library cataloguing, I wish to raise some questions & make some points about just how pre-publication cataloguing is & will effect the provision of small, radical, or campaigning publishers works within public libraries.
Current development in publishing, & how pre-publication cataloguing effects library end users.
The publishing explosion means that there are many more books which need to be catalogued. Given just how long it takes to produce a full catalogue record, and the expense of doing so, then many national libraries view pre-publication cataloguing as a way in which their costs might be cut.
One can easily see the advantages which come with this. For libraries there is also the added advantage that a full catalogue record is available well in advance of the publication date.
Yet pre-publication cataloguing does make for some interesting issues, & can create as many problems as it solves.
A nice little earner.
All in all pre-publication cataloguing makes money, saves costs, & for the library suppliers is what we might all refer to as a ‘nice little earner’.
The important thing to keep in mind is that any pre-publication cataloguing which any publisher produces will in turn be used or sold on by the various library supplies.
By publishers making pre-publication available via any National Library or National Bibliography, they are also contributing towards the privatisation ( outsoaring ) of library services. In other words, here we have yet another fine example of information being just another commodity to make a profit upon.
A how to do, & what not to do set of guide lines, or Webpage help.
It is not my intention to give any tips or advice about how to set about producing pre-publication catalogue information for any would be publisher. I’ll just give you a webpage reference which might be of some use.
Cataloguing in Publication From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataloging_in_Public ation
This webpage also gives webpage links to the ‘Cataloguing in Publication Programs’ of the LOC (Library of Congress ), British Library , & Library and Archives Canada .
Here take note: a quote from the British Library website, which also says something about just how our various national libraries have developed over the last few years:
‘The British Library contracts the administration of the CIP ( Cataloguing-in-Publication ) Programme and the creation of records to Bibliographic Data Services Limited (BDS). BDS is an independent, privately-owned company specialising in the creation of high-quality bibliographic data for use by libraries, booksellers and publishers.’
It might also be noted from the above webpages, that there are some restrictions upon these programs, which also means that they work in favour of the big capitalist publishers.
For example: The British Library requires that any pre-publication information is sent to them at least 4 months in advance of publication. I doubt if most small, radical, or campaigning publishers are ever going to be able to achieve anything like that !
Quality control, or wrong Dewy number means a wrong book placement upon the shelves.
There is also another set of problems which come from pre-publication cataloguing, as it might come with very little or poor quality control.
A lot of the work which is involved in processing books within public libraries is done by library workers who may never of had any training upon just how to read a Dewy number, never mind all that much cataloguing training.
If the pre-publication cataloguing is in any way wrong, library workers might just accept what they are given, & so in turn the books might be placed upon the wrong library shelves.
There are also another factors which should be taken into account here.
With a greater enthuses being given to IT issues within library schools, & less time available for lessons about cataloguing, then it must in turn make for an attitudinal effect within the Library workroom.
The attitude from front line librarians & library workers being that any cataloguing work should be left to the ‘specialist’ cataloguer, which in turn means a greater acceptance or reliance upon the electronic catalogue.
I could write more upon this issue, but lets just say it is not an issue about de-skilling. It is more to do with a greater issue about how libraries are changing, & how there are more skills which librarians & Library workers have to acquire.
The challenge to small & radical publisher at present.
The introduction of more pre-publication cataloguing is going to leave small, radical, & campaigning publishers at the major disadvantage in terms of promoting there works.
Pre-publication cataloguing is as much to do with publicising ones works & ideas, as it is about getting them into bookshops & libraries.
ISBN OK, but Dewy – What’s that ?
Perhaps the most illuminating replies one can receive from small campaigning organisations relates to just how much they know about both how to obtain an ISBN, & Dewy numbers.
For many small campaigning organisations how to obtain an ISBN is already an issue which is a difficult one to resolve. For many of these organisations it is left to the admin worker to obtain or work out any ISBN which they may of been allocated. Many of these organisations might of already been allocated a range of ISBN numbers , but they may still need to work out the check digit which needs to be added to them. For even those who are both able & used to working out this check digit, they will have to learn how to do it once again with the introduction of the new 13 digit ISBN number,
So when it comes to the allocation of Dewy numbers to these publication, there is an even greater set of problems which they face.
Most admin workers would never be able to appreciate the subtleties of cataloguing rules or conventions. Just to ask them which edition of Dewy they might be using to achieve any pre publication cataloguing would have most of them feeling like they were about to undertake a very uphill task.
No admin worker can or should be expected to allocate any dewey number to pre-publication data, as it will inevitably be wrong.
That is why most small publishers will come up with the text upon there publications such as:
‘A catalogue record for this book is available from ……..( insert your national library here ).’
In other words: ‘ leave it to the experts’.
In Conclusion – Some helpful ideas.
While no one can deny that the introduction is pre-publication cataloguing is useful, we do also need to address the many issues which it raises.
Clearly there are problems here which need to be addressed within the library world, & for which there is no easy solution.
What ever solutions one might have to these issues, most of them will cost a lot in terms of either time or money.
It would be very silly to try & resolve any of these issues by establishing a new alternative pre-publication bibliography, as that would only duplicate what is being done already.
By the same token, any webpage aimed at giving pre-publication help to publishers would only duplicate what is also currently available elsewhere.
What might work is the establishment of new network of radical librarians & cataloguers who would be willing & able to do the pre-publication cataloguing work for radical or campaigning publishers.
This could be a web-based network which the publisher contacts. Some of the people within this network might just wish to help organisations which specialise upon specific types of campaigning, while others might only wish to work with publishers that promote a very specific political line. The actual details about who does what & how such a network might be organised would have to evolve with those who might be interested in setting up such a body.
If such a network was linked within the present global network of radical librarians, then it could function in a very effective manner.
The next question is whether anyone wants to take up these ideas & then work upon them?
Martyn Lowe

• Watchdog Brands Profits on PFI Scheme ‘Unacceptable’ (Nicolas Timmings).
• Spain Warns Bolivia over Nationalisation and related articles (by FT journalists).
• Out on a limb: why Americans see their future as precarious (Edward Luce).

Watchdog Brands Profits on PFI Scheme ‘Unacceptable’ (Nicolas Timmings).

This article reveals how Britain’s biggest investors in the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) have been described by the parliamentary spending watchdog as ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism’, including companies such as John Laing, Serco and 3i who have been accused of abusing government deals in an attempt to generate enormous profit. One example described how the Octagon consortium had made gains of

Martyn Lowe

A as in Introduction.
Mention about Dyslexia and you can get a very predicable set of observations upon the subject. Suggest that I have spent almost 34 years working in libraries, that I’m Dyslexic, & then just you enjoy the reaction of others to this idea. I’ve always wanted to put up a website, or edit an periodical entitled ‘The Dyslexic Librarian’. Well – Now you’ve had your fun – Here comes the truth. I have spent just over 34 years working in libraries, and I am Dyslexic. This is not to say that my Dyslexia is in any way sever, but it does show in the way I spell, & in the way that I view the world. My Uncle was Dyslexic too. He would sometimes write numbers back to front, & yet he could work out percentages from the top of his head. He was also a self made multi-millionaire. So I guess that must prove something or other….. Now a lot of people would seem to regard Dyslexia as akin to being a functional illiterate, but this is not the case for me. You just have to see the large number of articles & reports which I had published over the years. However, like many many other Dyslexics I will switch letters around in the works which I write. For example: I’ll write taht instead of that, etc. It’s not just in my spelling that this shows up. I’ve sometimes caught myself trying to write the odd word backwards as I put pen to paper. It’s not a problem for me as I know that I do it, & have learnt to compensate for it all. So why do I mention this ? Because there are very few functional Dyslexics that really realise that they are Dyslexic, although they might state that they are ‘poor spellers’. While very few people who work in Libraries realise that far from being a disadvantage in the work, that it is in reality a very great asset which everyone can benefit from.
B as in A Book.
Here is a book which I would recommend all Dyslexics to read, as it explains just how the Dyslexic mind works, & the kind of difficulties which some dyslexics experience.
‘The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Smartest People Can’t Read and How They Can Learn.’ By Ronald D. Davis with Eldon M.Braun.
Perigee Books – Revised Edition, 1997
As the author also points out some of the most famous Dyslexic Inventors, Artists, engineers, and Scientists include:

by David Nderitu

When the Greeks went to war with Troy, the great Greek general, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenea so that the gods could grant victory to the Greeks; after a gruesome war, the Trojans lost and the god Nike of victory proved that he could keep his promise. In my struggle for knowledge, I have sacrificed my pleasure to the gods of time and now I am fighting a pitched battle with Ignorance-Trojan but soon, I hope to be enlightened on many issues. When I do, my campaign will have been won and like the Greeks, my sacrifice will not have been in vain and the god of Time will keep my achievements in his custody. If my quest seems like Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece, I hope to be equally rewarded and to learn from where Jason failed to keep his allies at the end of the mission.

In my frustrations to express my vision, I have realised that knowledge is arming where ignorance is disarming. If ignorance is languid, knowledge is awakening. Where knowledge is power, ignorance is enslaving. My quest has taken me to disparate islands of wisdom and edification and if the will is the power of continental drift, I intend to try and pull those isles together in an attempt to delineate that vision that is currently stilled in the slide-camera of my mind and to fit a jigsaw-land of enlightenment. I anticipate to deliver a message in a language so that the deaf shall hear, the blind shall read and the disabled shall reach the fountain…that, without neglecting able-bodied people whose moral disability may not be all too obvious. It occurs to me that where knowledge is a good physician, ignorance is the sadistic, malicious and evil pet-dentist who nefariously and needlessly makes a hungry dog toothless, only to throw some meat to a hounding pack and to watch the toothless dog starve to death while the hounds eat.

I have studied and I am still studying some European, African and World History in general, in an attempt to spot some form of congruency, no matter how remote. It is striking how events, even over two hundred years ago in one remote part of the world, could effect some action in a distant land. This reminds me of the mythical butterfly whose fluttering wings could have caused Hurricane Katrina or Elizabeth. But while the weather is a creation of nature, it is good to observe that sexism is a creation of man, making Katrina and Elizabeth a contingent of irrationality and ranging women, whose causes man least understands but whose effects are all too devastating, with an occasional Hugo…but rarely. It is a ‘credit’ in today’s political-correctness world for those men doing the naming to have gotten away with such slander. Politics of winds aside but if the name Hugo is French, there are others things that have emanated from France, which have had more profound effect on the world besides the French Cuisine and the Metre-length hidden somewhere is Paris.

It was ironical that the French Revolution of 1790 brought about the very demise of imperialism, which the French and their European rivals had created and wanted to perpetuate. When the revolution occurred and the Jacobites promulgated the Declaration of Rights of Man (liberté, egalité, fraternité) it also granted the rights for local Assemblies in the French Colonies, which the blacks in St Domingue ( Haiti) exploited, leading to an Independent Island within the ocean of colonialism. The situation became a euphemism: the fluttering wings of a black butterfly of liberty in Haiti under Toussaint L’Oeverture that brought the storm of independence to Africa, emancipation and some sort of movement towards equality for blacks in America and Europe. But it was not a wind whose storm gathered without being fed by many Black luminaries of the time e.g. Toussaint, C.L.R. James, E.B.W. Dubious, Marcus Garvey, George Padmore and many more just to mention but few. Isn’t it ironical that the French had started a full circle of event, which only later, or too late even, their Social Scientists could only observe through the mirror of time? In the “Concept of Irony”, Kierkegaard says: Irony is the distancing device that folds immediate experience back onto itself to create a space of self-reflection. How true!

My writing is not meant as a Historical Review, but it is also supposed to create a challenge, to reveal the irony that Independent Africa created in its wake. There is neither blaming those who worked hard to achieve that independence nor wishes of going back to slavery and colonialism where some have been heard to whisper that the master ere emancipation ensured a full measure of a bushel and a pound of meat, where now they die under their own rule; no! no! no! Some even ask: What good is Liberty to a dead man? Cynicism has its own place. Nothing is good to a dead man, but to others, there are lessons to be learnt.

In trying to go back to history, one should look at it in its own context, hoping to awaken some spirit that is presently dormant and which can be stirred to start a flaming fire and to alight Africans to greatness and to enlighten those, who like me are searching for that African Golden Fleece which went missing centuries back. It may be a Golden Fleece, It may be the Tree of Knowledge, it may be the Light of the Earth but its benefits are the driving force of man’s civilisation since he realised his vulnerability and decided to fortify his position within this hideously competitive world. It is a force that engenders different reactions. Some are predisposed to ask a question: Why? Some are swayed to ask why not, while most just call it a state of nature and silently accept it. It is the few who ask why and how who go on to be knighted as the Light of the World. Toussaint et el did ask why and how when the cloud of slavery and colonialism came. They fought and brought liberty, an apogee and a crown of glory to their travails. However, when their time was done and the cloud went away, most Africans sank into that euphoria. They revelled in the glory of their Independence and omitted to see another cloud coming, failing to realise that the end of yesterday’s season of harvest was the beginning of today’s season of planting. My generation went to school in a reaping mood and parroted some meaningless words to pass time. The system failed to plant new seeds into the ground in us and where it may have done, we failed to sprout.

When we became of age, we went to school because we had reached school-going age and when we left school, it was because we had reached school-leaving age but in between, we played an imaginary children’s farm game. When the reality hit home that we were the matured crop to be harvested, it was a rude awakening that there was no crop in us. We too were looking to eat the fruits of our labour for the years spent at school, but if there were any fruits for our picking, they were bitter fruits of frustration and wasted time. We hungered, we thirsted we slept rough. We blamed our fathers instead of realising the mistakes our brothers, who had slightly gone before us had made, failing to know that the farm needed continuous planting, and that the sooner we got on with it the better. We were yet another generation that was building a pyramid of hopelessness…a path to nowhere. For those whom luck smiled on their faces and came across some succulent orchards, they ate the tree to the roots. Desertification in Africa became an ecological and an enlightenment phenomenal nightmare …a disaster so to speak. Where any planting had been done, it was in shallow sandy infertile soils while the oases drained away to some far off land, where past masters had retreated…some fresh water steams flowing into the ocean. The so much-required light of luminaries faded away like a receding star. Africa slowly started to sink into the darkness of technology, economy and good education, the yellow golden light sunk almost literally and financially to the west and Africa became a debt-ridden farmer who could not feed his children…a sharecropper in his own land. It became a hopeless dream to many. Some fled, some died, most stayed…like all human beings over the ages when disaster strikes, the angel and wind of dispersion to the for corners of the world. But if there is irony in its own failure, it is the irony of the dark cloud in Africa starting to reveal the inextinguishable red ember preserved and buried in the ashes after the fire has died down to light yet another fire. Yes, Africa could be starting another age of enlightenment but between the roaring flame and now, there will be a lot of ashes to blow and fuel to gather!

It is one thing to accept that there is hope, it is yet another to define and to formulate how that hope will be crystallised to bring about changes and to reverse knowledge desertification. To Africans or to anyone else in that state of affairs, it is a much bigger challenge than reversing global warming. Nevertheless, it something that needs doing and once dreamt, the vision must translate either into reality or into hopelessness. How can this dream become a reality?

In the world today, the mention of ‘Philosophy’ makes one look as if he were a Greek reincarnated ghost or at best a phantom from the Renaissance or simply a quixotic dreamer. Even though that may be derogatorily applied, that is what philosophers are: Dreamers. Philosophy seems to be the mother of all fields of inquiries and if not, at least it is the mid-wife who delivers the babies. Philosophy is derived from the Greek, meaning love of wisdom. A.C. Grayling says that philosophy is an inquiry and a reflection to include the widest features and thoughts of the world and of human experience. Before one can rush to prescribe an overdose of African Philosophy to the malaria-prone continent, it very important to go back and understand the healthy and unhealthy history of the continent to enable the Philosopher to develop the curative methods to heal and to restore that which has been lost. As it is, African Philosophy is a poorly defined term and the reality of the African world today may not place it in a friendly corner of word definitions. So New African Philosophy needs to be developed which, while taking into account the history, it must be written to provide the mode and direction which Africa must move in order to make a bright future. If yesterday’s African Philosophy is dead, it is not because it was wrong, it had simply outlived it useful life in congruence to what Philosophy is supposed to do. A.C. Grayling says: Philosophy tries to bring itself to an end, either by solving its problems or by finding ways of transforming them into special inquiries. In other words, philosophy brings its own demise once a problem has been solved but it does not stop there, it searches for new frontiers to be explored; Africa should be a Philosophical Explorer’s dream. But first, African History!

In the African Origin of Civilisation, Cheickh Anta Diop states that the African History will remain suspended in the air unless it is connected to the Egyptian History. Cheickh Anta Diop did not make a vacuous claim; he made solid connections that need to be reinforced by others in order to be widely accepted. Today he is a lonely voice crying in the wilderness. Why is it so important to connect African history to Egyptian History? One must realise that history is not just a frivolous and an asinine repertoire of the past, it provides both the moral guidance to its future generations as well as the strength, pride and respect to those it is bequeathed. Rich history is the economy that makes a rich man richer while poorly documented history is the tool that makes a poor man poorer. In agreement with Cheickh Anta Diop, Africa must reclaim its own to enable them to define a philosophy that will offer clear and lasting directions. But history must not be warped to claim what is someone else’s; it must be factual if connectivity is to take place and to if it will provide the beam of light that Africa so much needs as it gropes for itself in the dark past.

Over and above a people discovering themselves in the mummies of history, history in itself lights the fire of a culture forgotten, giving birth to the fraternal twins of art and literature, the fuel to the popular culture. In other words, art and literature give the history of a people but in a different popular way. Where demanded, they alter history effectively, making appropriate and suiting dichotomy, without being accused of a cruel surgery. After all, are they not just arts, subject to various interpretations? They adjust the past to suit the philosophy of the period, directing whole nations without using force. Popular culture spurs hope, respect and admiration and is the substratum of domination. Whereas Africans should not aspire to dominate anyone, they should seek to lift themselves from obscurity and hectoring long endured. Africans should realise that their future almost literally lies buried in the cemetery of the past and that they should seek to resurrect what they can and build their future on from there.

However studying specific cases of history may help in understanding where things for Africa started to go wrong. But one must also realise that History and Destiny are extremely long, almost unbounded, and that events that seem real and paramount to us today may be written off by the scribe of Time as inconsequential; their importance lying only in the provision of a continuous line of human existence. Whether that existence was ensured by war or peace, freedom or slavery, communism or capitalism, frugality or waste, sharing or the winner-takes-it-all, may not be that important; making man a mere means to a future held in the mysteries of time.

Today, echoes of grumbling departing colonialists reverberates across the whole of the African Continent. And like a standing wave in a laboratory or a cavernous ocean-cliff, the grumbling has refused to die down, the energy to ensure continuity of the unsettling wave provided by the capitalism. Nothing illustrates the bitterness felt by the departing colonialist from Africa more than the troubles that ensued once Belgian Congo gained independence. Within three months of Patrice Lumumba becoming the Prime Minister of the baby republic, the CIA and the Belgians had groomed a Prime Moster…Colonel Mobutu Seseko together with his allies Moise Tshombe and Kasavubu and installed him to take care of their interest. They told him: You are different. You are cultured. You are one of us. And as if to confirm their assertion, they offered him a napkin and dined with him, watching him so gluttonously eat, dropping food on the table, but they complimented him. In Congo, they had installed a despot, but a despot sanctified by his subservience to his former Colonial Masters. Ruling by proxy acquired its true meaning in Congo and in Mobutu’s ruthless, his Masters characters were reflected in full spectrum. If Congo was a cursed nation, this was a double whammy but its real curse came from the generosity of nature underground. Congo has the World’s largest deposits of dreaded Uranium, large deposits of the precious diamonds, copper, gold, tin and several other minerals. Some of these, like diamonds and gold, caused the trouble being valuable because they are desired, but the real curse for the Democratic Republic of Congo as it has been called today, lies in the Uranium, which is desired because it is valuable. If the imperialists had enticed Mobutu with an ideology, it is doubtful if Mobutu could understand the dangers posed by Communism or the benefits of Capitalism. But if Capitalism could offer the gun and the power, well, it must be the better ideology! Lumumba had relied on the UN to deliver justice but ironically, it ensured his capture. The UN facilitated the death of a great Pan-Africanist. It would not be the last time that the UN would play the music to the liking of the American ears. Money Talks!

Mobutu plundered his country’s wealth with impunity, sharing the spoils with his handlers while helping to paint an image of a continent that cannot manage itself…a lacerated and a disfigured image made in the western studios. But it was not that Africa could not manage; the painters were fake and Mobutu was not an African; he was a white man’s carving in a black mask whose image became the epitome and a sample of the African rule to the west. But those who made the harlot slept with her because she gave them pleasure. To correct that distorted painting so much fronted to the western world, making the African children a laughing stock at the school playgrounds, African Historians and artist must repaint that picture to provide Mobutu with his true shade. But if they expect the white artist to lift the mask, they can as well join in the mockery of their own descendants at the playgrounds.

Sadly, capitalism and more so globalisation, as it seeks to take what it failed earlier to acquire, has found new and eager players to amplify the derision to the African children. It is the Scene Two of the Scramble for Africa. The recruitment drive for the actors has just started; the cogs are in motion as the masters at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund snap their fingers for the mirth machines to start. Some Africans are laughing out loud, trying to outshine each other, falling over themselves in order to prove their worth to their Masters and handlers, but behind the Bank’s closed doors where no African is entertained, the real laughter begins…the Masters clink their tumblers…What Idiots to sell their motherland! The bankers shake their heads in disbelieve but celebrate, having struck uranium, gold and copper in the idiots. It is Congo all over again and all over Africa, as crude democratisation and unfair trading terms dabbed as free trade, which is not free decimates what little pride that the African had in him. But the actors are told that they are different and they believe it. They must be, to take pride in being told that they are different from their own.

In order for the Africans to learn where their fathers failed, History must be taught in its proper perspective and the actors derided for selling their own to other nations for their selfish ends and pittance benefits. Failure to do so will perpetuate the Mobutu Dynasty for generations to come.

However even as we censure those who act against the interest of their own citizens, it is important to realise that political leadership has been the football field for demagogues over the ages with the masses cheering on the winning team. And like their counterparts in the football field, they take all the gate collections to lead flamboyant and sometimes careless life styles. Why has it been that political science seems to have provided man with insurmountable problems while man has always come up with right solutions in other situations? The political demagogy that spews out of those with aspirations is a careful psychological analysis of people’s thoughts and expectations. People feel so much relieved that someone can psychoanalyse them without applying hypnosis. But if the mass response is anything to go by, it is the masses that are unaware of being hypnotised. The demagogue provides the people with the so much required psychotherapy while the people provide the politician with support. The whole scenario is a marriage between the demagogues who may be genuine in promising to deliver specific goals to the people, but has to employ the whole spectrum of people’s wishes to garner support, which would otherwise be denied and the current hindrance would then remain in place, but the failure by the political leadership to qualify their statement is a great misnomer. They should not promise to deliver one of the inalienable rights, that is pursuit of unlimited happiness which people so much want, without making it clear to them that while the government will ensure that that right is maintained, it is upon each and every individual to pursue what makes his life tick. For the government to deliver bespoke raiment of happiness to everyone, it is trim all down to one size. This would severely contradict the very principal of the pursuit of happiness.

Further, in order to foster trust in people, political leaderships have to learn that once a specific goal has been achieved, especially ones with huge implication on the societies, they have to yield power to someone else who will define his own goals acceptable to the people and the process repeated. This will make the people feel responsible for their mistakes if the government does not deliver while offering them hope that a change is coming without having to result to mass action. Democratically elected governments will always ensure that that hope remains. Education plays an important role in eliminating peoples illusionary hopes, while promoting a few with the right ideas in life to lay the carpet on the future national pathways. But while education works, poverty is the enemy that de-educates those who swim on the education’s shallow waters. They forget the ideals of education while retaining the cutting edge of evil. They become the dangerous sword that cuts it owner, instead of aiding him into the battle. The direction that a nation takes cannot be defined at a people’s court, but the political leadership has the mandate to define it. Institutions of learning should be temples where the natural course of a nation shall lie, while the politician should ensure that the nation remain on course. As Aristotle said, man is a political animal by nature and no matter how we may wish to run away from politics, the social rules of existence when a community comes into being is politics and anyone who does not want to play those rules, to quote Aristotle, is either a god or a beast. While attaining divine status is something we all so much want, it is important to realise that we lead a human life within orderly societies, otherwise and ironically, nothing will stop us from becoming beasts.

On the question of democracy in Africa today, it is something that was delivered in a demagogic American way. It was meant to be the panacea and a quick fix to the African problem. Those in power did not want the pill for they rightly saw the demise of their own dynasties. For others, it was a dirty divorce in a western court with their ex-partners but for those who descended on the people like doves offering hope, they had more in common with the doves naivety of the dangers ahead than with the withered fig leaves on their lips. Today, African tinsels towns are scenes of people demonstrating like school children clamouring for sweets. They have abandoned their farm implements waiting for the sweets of democracy. Whereas those sweets will finally arrive, after adjusting their own taste over a long period of time, the bitterness of the present may not be easily masked by the desirable taste. Yes, democracy is good but it has rules to it…that’s how it works and that how it has always worked. Democracy without rules has an ugly head if not insane…and wobbly feet; it just collapses on itself. The west told the African to throw away the old distorted rulebook but it never made it clear that it meant expunging unfair and undemocratic clauses. Now people are moving en-mass almost leaderless if not rudderless and where they exist, they lead from behind. It is the old African situation repeated. When will Africa come up with its true solution to its own problem? African will have to come up with institutions of people with special skills. Universities should be starting points but children who show special skills should be helped to realise their potentials to the full. They should be helped and equipped with the citadel of ideology to protect their true talents and as the first generation, to train others. Everyone should be properly equipped with the ultimate morality and a categorical imperative philosophy of life. To paraphrase Immanuel Kant: Always act in such a way that you can also will that the maxim of your action should become universal law. If the Kantian rule sounds complicated, it can be rephrased to read: Do unto others the way you would like them do unto you.

Copyright – David Nderitu, Sunday, 19 February 2006

References

1. Soren Kierkegaard , On the Concept of Irony
2. Hakim Adi and Marika Sherwood, Pan-African History
3. Chieckh Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilisation: Myth or Reality? (1974)
4. AC Grayling, Philosophy 1, A guide through the subject (1995)
5. Aristotle on Politics
6. Immanuel Kant, The Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)

by David Nderitu

Foreign aid, on which many African countries have largely come to depend on erringly believing it is pure aid at all times has a commercial element, which is paid with interest. Grants are the philanthropy element of any good businessman. Now popular but misinforming journalism in the west has produced the notion that all money is grant, free money to some corrupt Africans at their (west’s) own taxpayer’s expense. This has produced some political heat within the lending countries while portraying the receivers as a bunch of good-for-nothing lots…nincompoops. It may do some good to the citizens of the west to know that most African countries pay much more in annual interest on the so-called aid than on the principal they received. What aid in the world has interest? They are commercial loans lent on commercial terms. Those shouting calling loans aids are either ignorant or malicious.

However, while it is honourable to accept that the real African problem may be more complex than one may allow, it is also important to realise that western societies are largely defined along the survival for the fittest theory which fits very well with Adam Smiths economic theory, the boon for capitalism for nearly three hundred years. It cannot therefore be that the west is giving loans to work against the very foundation upon which its entire economic edifice lies, but the motive must be to promote and pile the very same principles. This element is never pronounced for the fear of being seen as an exploiter of the already exploited while the Africans, who never seem to be good at keeping records are never bothered to try and come up with the economic cost/benefit analysis of such loans/aids. Those who have tried, because my senses tell me there are, try to do so in a half-hearted and withering-spirited way, superficially scratching the surface and proclaiming to have entered the earths core. In the face of surmounting problems, a parody is sung in the bar politics: It is not our fault; it is the west’s. The west will do whatever it will take to survive and rightly so and as Soren Kierkegaard says, ‘we are thrown into this hostile and contradicting world’ without help and where survival becomes the main focus. The African therefore must rise, pulling himself by the bootstraps or be buried in the sarcophagus of poverty, shame and suffering whose effect and pathos are reflected in the visage of their children. How sad to make poverty an inheritance to anyone! We as a black people must remove the wax from our ears to hear the truth in Kierkegaard statement.

To enable the African to rise, it is essential for African scholars to investigate, pore over and to inquire into the foundation upon which progress is laid, realising that if religion will redeem them from sin, education will redeem them from ignorance, poverty and susceptibility and only then will they be able to shout amen full volume. As a people, we as Africans need to enter into this illimitable ocean of knowledge, where height, breadth and length are lost and where time has no meaning; an ocean inviting immersion and obsession whose shallow end is almost irresistibly tantalising; but we must not swim at its shallow end; we must strip and dive deep as much as we can. For Africa to advance, deep philosophical thinking based on selflessness will be a prerequisite while personal suffering will not be too big a price to pay. African scholars need to ponder on the destiny of the continent, realising that the phantom of the past ignorance must be exorcised now to avoid visiting it onto the future, asking the same question that has been asked since man lifted his eyes to heaven and marvelled at the celestial bodies: What is my purpose? They may not answer that question which has made casualties out of those who have tried to make careers out of it, but it is a mill that has been grinding food for thought and feeding the western advancement in art, science, technology and even their psych for hundreds of years. If asked, it is a question that will stir the still waters of their souls to ripple some gentle waves of clear understanding across the continent and Love Brewed in the African Pot could acquire a new meaning as Africans learn to give their lives and love to their own land.

As starting point, the responsibility to bring change and progress lies with those who may have seen the light, no matter how dim. They will need to lead their lot into the correct direction without putting their self-interest first, as if the existence of mankind solely depends on their own individual opulent existence. It is this understanding that differentiates the truly and rationally educated from the ignorant masses who must be shown the benefits of rising up every morning or in the dark of night to do what needs doing. But if the educated have only learnt how to fleece the very masses they are supposed to lead into the light, they will effectively have eclipsed the light of education. The final result is a society living in the umbra of ignorance and a slow, painful death of the shoots of civilisation will be a matter of time. The song of three blind mice will resonate whenever that situation will be. Africa must found its progress onto some suitable grounds.

But what foundation do the Africans wish to lay their advancement on? On a crumbling stone of blind religious faith or on a solid rock of faith in education, believing that they can do it? Africa must hear the cries of its own off-springs and remove the future from the hands of demagogues and the innumerable faith healers cum religious entrepreneurs in order to charter a clear course defined by those who have got the true light in education. But if they allow themselves to be led by people holding a flickering candle light, it will be a matter of time before the flame is snuffed out by the storm. There are those who claim, in their unwise wisdom, to have cracked the Delphic oracular message, placing Africa in the no-hoper basket case, but Africans have the choice and ability to defy the prophecy and define their own course according to their desires and wishes and even if the Delphic message may not be favourable, well, their own Osirian God still reigns supreme in the Orion. He will bring the petals of their wishes to ‘fruitition’ if they ask. But for those wishes to mature, light must shine in violent and inextinguishable flashes of rational truth as academics wrestle with the past, present and future. African: the great explorer for Africa.

Logically, one wonders why Africa has remained for forty years and more in the dark wilderness? Why are the African people unable to sing to their own God: Lead me into the light, even though they are generally gifted with a lilting yodel? Or are they singing and has their God liked the ballad so much that the only way keep them singing is to maintain them in the dark? Has anyone else as a people been in the same situation? Has another people been enslaved for over four hundred years and yet no hope? Africa must come out of the rut. It may be essential for African scholars to closely study, analyse and examine the lives of those who made the west into what it is today even as they grapple with their own situation. One will find that the glittering and shimmering economic picture of the west is literally painted with blood and missing bodies of those who sprung forward to understand man and civilisation. It was not an easy road; it was a slippery, winding and perilous trail, often lined with danger, demanding sacrifice at every corner, and more often than not, the evil would win, but the repeated fight with the difficulties resulted in the fatigue failure of those hindrances and finally the good was realised. Africa must wake up from the stupor of looking into the western horizon for material help and hope; if anything, the sun sets in the west; those who do so face the wrong direction. Religion has conquered the minds of the African masses with its mystiques and myths, offering illusionary hopes where reality is required while failing to raise them up from sedentary lifestyles, presenting serendipity and mercy from God as the panacea for all ailments of the continent. But if God is the answer to their prayers, he will never answer those who wait for the answer lying down. He armed humanity with arms as a tool to go out and gather. If he had seen no use for the arms, then I postulate that he would not have placed them there. In the film “Oh God” the fictional creator told man: Now you have everything here on Earth that you need to make life good. Now it is up to you to make it work. And he left. African child, use your arms, arms, arms. Go Gather, gather, gather but thou shalt not steal!

In trying to understand the concept of his predicament, the African may have to analyse the riddle of existence. As said earlier, it is equivalent to seeking a solution to a mathematical equation that has no solution but whose exploration leads to various revelations along the way for the world is composed of chaos and madness upon which we must haggle and struggle to improve the human condition. As stated by the famous French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, “We are born into unfathomable existence that has no cosmic or divine purpose,” and in agreement, without necessarily being an existentialist, with his conclusion, “The only valid values are the ones we create for ourselves.” What values do the African wish to create, societal or purely personal based on survival for the fittest? Quoting further from Jean-Paul Sartre, “Human behaviour is a bizarre jumble of affection and hostility, greed and generosity, violence and gentleness” The Chinese concept of yin and yang…good and evil mixed in each personality…correctly describes human psych. It may be that evil is the energy that has to be expended in order to climb up the hill of good; meaning that good and evil are inextricably entwined. In that case, the question remains: How much evil is the African man willing to shed in order to satisfy the longing of his heart and the need of his body?

This answer requires clear and focused thinking without turning to religion. I assert that the final solution to man lies within human and not within some deterministic external system. If it were not, whither gone the free will? Education must answer those questions by ‘culturalizing’ self-determination, not just as a political tool to achieve political independence, but as an economic mechanism for personal liberation, emancipation and self-realisation. The African educationist has a huge role to play in this game, but unfortunately, he is fettered and shackled by inability to freely decide the mode and direction of his thinking as a result of religious believes which have been intensely battering, blowing and sweeping across the continent with the vehemence and chaos of a desert storm. Religion must not be allowed to keep Africa in the dark as it did to Europe for a millennium and half. But it is the Africans who will have to say no. Like the Greeks, Africa must create its own heroes as a baseline to be emulated, to shake off the primitive superstitions and taboos by showing that the African can do amazing things by his nature, with strengths scarcely known and understood. The African solution lies within the human in him. I argue that it is better to be human than to be religious for while humanism seeks to promote all that is good and whole amid the said chaos, religion seeks only to forgive ones mistakes without bothering to correct the errors…hence the perfection of sin. Religion is man seeking to remain in sin and to escape and avoid punishment. In away, religion is the outward expression of human failure to accept his role together with the consequent desperation and acceptance of a destiny which is not determined but which he must define.

It is a huge responsibility to define oneself but it is one that none can escape even if the choice is refusing to define oneself; the refusal to do so becomes one’s definition. There are innumerable paths to follow for man to realise who he is and religion is one of them and the most popular. It could therefore mean that it is the least human-energy expending path among all other choices available…in other words, among the recipe of free will ala-carté menu, it is the most easily prepared. No wonder Sartre was French! Who else could have seen through the kitchen of humanism to realise that the only cooks within the kitchen of our existence is our existence that must create our essence?

Africans are capable of creating their own coherent essence but the plaintive African song of help and expectation on others to perform must cease. It needlessly goes without saying that it will take Africans to nudge each other on the road to progress, as only them can understand each others’ limitations but still grasp and comprehend the danger of remaining stagnant. The African culture is rich in its own way, but it has failed to blend and compete in today’s stringent and technologically oriented world. Often in the trading pyramid, the African man is at the bottom and literally bears the weight of the world above. He is left to collect the dross and detritus from the river of wealth, which goes to reduce his health and ability to work; some very good foundation to remain at the bottom of the pyramid is entrenched. But as has been said before, the answer to the African problem will come from within; so much from within that it lies within each and every individual; may that person be a peasant farmer, a clerk in the office, a messenger, a teacher, a politician and a host of all other occupations that goes to define a society. Obviously there are many factors that need to be evaluated to bring the problem to the forefront, at times making brutal surgical operations on behaviours that have come to be regarded as normal but which in reality need to be ruthlessly uprooted to enable the society to move on and for it to rendezvous with its expectations. Among those are unfavourable family values, promoted by lose sexual proclivity, almost leaning towards satyriasis, alcoholism and outward showmanship in consumption without having to work for it. The doctrine of capitalism and survival must invite community at its centre where every person is now their won centre. But first there are expectations: of others and of self.

The culture of expectation on others in the African societies is shocking, yet no one seems to expect the other to expect of them. They expect changes to happen without the changes changing them. Like the famous Mahatma Gandhi said, “Become the change you want the world to be”. When everyone expects himself to perform, only then will a permanent and lasting solution to the almost redundant African problem will have been solved. There is whole phenomenon needing to be laid bare on a mosaic of social behaviours and disparity within different ethnic groupings. It may become almost impossible to understand for even within a single piece of the mosaic, changes are taking place with time and without any discernible pattern. But we must not throw in the towel on hope and wait for the ‘end of times’…there will be no end to misery if waiting becomes the means. Even though the river of hope seems to have run dry, with millions needlessly suffering, dying of thirst and starvation, while plenty abide within and without, Africa must survive and learn to quench the thirst on dew as it digs the wells of wealth and knowledge from its people. But the question still remains: How can the African man lift himself from Hades? A superfluous question? No it is not. It is a question running to the core of African behavioural science, intrinsically tied to the economic development and sustenance. The question of morality, truly in philosophical terms needs to be answered and not from a narrow subjective view to fit and to allow oneself to survive, but reasoning must permit the society to come in as mode of cooperation for better survivability.

The ordinary African person must bring a cultural change within the leadership while the leadership must initiate, enhance and festoon good cultural practices to the common man by denouncing every act of wrong doing, not just one of monetary corruption, but anything that goes to undo the moral fabric of the nation. Self-purification is something of a culture and it must be condemned. Lose sexual tendencies abound everywhere. They are allowed to proliferate with some kind of acclaim even; leaders together with their followers need not worry about their behaviours…the credibility to exert political leadership has nothing to do with their libido; be they man or woman. It is permitted yet the expenses that go along to maintain this kind of lifestyles runs into the very heart of economic imprudence of the individual when in and out of the office. It leads to careless living and money management becomes some sort of rocket science. The booster fuel therefore is locked somewhere either in the coffers of a public office or in a private company within which the individual happens to be having access. Consequently, skimming falls into the scheme of work. Instant wealth and heroism become the budge of wining; General McCarthy would have been hard put to command the following of an African hero-looter. National imprudence is not only conceived by individual imprudence, it is natured by the same.

If this sounds like a tragedy, tragedies are the corrective measures that nature applies in his ruthlessness and impatience to reach his end. Currently there are emerging democracies which have brought along with them some miserly; in itself not and end; an effect which the African must painfully bear in order to precipitate the right reaction. But presently, these political vehicles running the length and breadth of the continent spewing dust in their wake resemble a mob-rule more than democracies, where everyone is shouting in deafening tones to everyone else. But still, these vehicles have a crucial role to play in allowing the gringo’s to jostle each other in and out of the echelons of power, each subsequent replacement a unit clearer in turbidity of the opaque waters; a little progress but a progress nevertheless. It is a process that will take time but time in the state of nature is only a concept in human mind; meaning that a hundred, a thousand or even a million years is nothing to a natural process. Even though the song of transparency in Africa may at the moment sound like a dirge to a dead hero, it is a song that will finally resurrect the mummies from the dark sarcophagus that Africa seems to have prepared for itself. The western world must not be allowed to spoil the song with their rock guitars in a rock concert style lacking in tune with the Africans in order to rock the existing system to perpetuate Africa and Africans exploitation.

David Nderitu, Davidkn1yahoo.co.uk, 4 January 2006

1) Michael Grant, Myths of Greeks and Romans

2) Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness

3) James A Haught, http://www.classic.about.com

By Paul Catherall

This event was a mini-conference held at Swansea University and was jointly organised by the Career Development Group Wales and the activist e-journal Information for Social Change.

The conference was introduced by Neil Smyth (CDG Wales). Two speakers gave presentations at the event. Firstly, Ruth Rikowski (Visiting Lecturer at London South Bank University, Co-editor of the e-journal Information for Social Change and author of many articles and several books dealing with Globalisation). Secondly, Anneliese Dodds, who is currently completing a PhD concerning ‘Liberalization and the public sector’ at the Department of Government at the London School of Economics, and the Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation.

The day began with an introduction by Ruth on the political background to Globalisation, including the role of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as a mediator of international financial policy intended to ‘liberalise’ or open up many service industries to private sector competition.

Ruth emphasised that the WTO, as an organisation, is engaged in establishing mechanisms and agreements to promote trade on a global basis, and that it now has some 150 members. There are many agreements being developed at the WTO in regard to this, and in her published works, Ruth focuses on two of these agreements in particular – the GATS and TRIPS, as these are the agreements that are likely to have significant implications for libraries and information.

Ruth introduced one of the WTO’s key agreements, the GATs (General Agreement on Trade in Services) which includes many services traditionally associated with the Public Sector, including health, education, libraries and social services.

All the different services in the agreement are listed in the GATS Schedule of Commitments, and members have to decide which of their services they want to commit to this schedule. The UK is a member of the WTO under the EU – i.e. it is not a member in its own right. There are currently 18 countries that have committed their Library Services to the GATS (and this includes the United States of America and Japan), but the EU has not, as yet, committed its Library Service to the GATS. However, Ruth makes clear that this is no reason for complacency, because developments that have been taking place in the UK and Europe in general over the last few years will make it easier to introduce the GATS in these European countries. Indeed, she argues that these changes are paving the way for the GATS, as the commercialisation and privatisation agenda increasingly starts to take a hold.

In particular, Ruth indicated how the UK government is driving an agenda of competition and privatisation within public services – e.g. via the ‘Best Value’ report encouraging local authorities to further open their services to the private sector. Examples of how the private sector is already involved in running public services were also cited, including outsourcing for IT facilities and other support services, and the financing of building works (e.g. the PFI – Private Finance Initiative running in Bournemouth, Brighton and Kent libraries).

Ruth asked the audience to consider the ethics and motives of private companies running public services such as schools and libraries, suggesting how companies would almost certainly be required to run services at lower cost than the price they were contracted, to ensure that a profit is made. Ruth suggested that these privately run services would be vulnerable to reduced expenditure on actual service provision and increased cost for the public.

Ruth also discussed another aspect of globalisation, the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), a WTO agreement intended to reduce current restrictions on intellectual property by corporations and to promote, in general, further trading of intellectual property rights. The implications for libraries were discussed, including the impact of corporate use of copyrighted material and patents, particularly in regard to the patenting of traditional knowledge in the developing world.

Ruth concluded her discussion with an Open Marxist theoretical perspective on Globalisation, including ethical objections to the transformation of public services as tradable commodities. She said that, in essence, the GATS and TRIPS were about transforming services and intellectual property rights into international tradable commodities. This extension of the commodification process becomes necessary in order to ensure the continued success of global capitalism and Ruth asked participants to consider whether they were happy about living in such a world. Her aim, she emphasised, was to alert people to the likely implications of these agreements and how they could threaten our way of life

Ruth’s discussion was followed by a presentation by Anneliese Dodds; Anneliese began by providing various definitions of the term ‘Globalisation’, including the concept of services in the international setting as tradable commodities, the development of shared international policy on services, the increasing political power of international organisations such as the WTO and the impact of these issues within the Higher Education sector.

Annelise compared the concepts of Globalisation and Internationalisation, including the perspective that Internationalisation is often considered a form of cooperation between states, whilst Globalisation represents international competition.

The impact of Globalisation on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) was particularly discussed, including increased competition between HEIs, growth in research and teaching specialisation of institutions and the emergence of international university consortia. Anneliese also drew attention to increased pressures on HEIs as trainers and facilitators of industry and science in the context of the global economy.

Anneliese concluded her discussion with some recommendations for Higher Education staff, these included maintaining attention to core roles of teaching, learning and research and debating the consequences of globalisation.

The conference also included a period of debate where delegates (including staff from private companies and public bodies) were able to discuss the presentations. Aspects included:

• The ethics of private sector involvement in public services.
• The possible benefits and dangers of outsourcing staff and services.
• The potential impact on staffing issues under corporate control, such as pay and union rights.
• The potential benefits or risks of Public-Private Partnerships.
• The vulnerability of standards and quality issues for libraries and Information Services as a consequence of poor national regulation by statutory bodies.

To sum up, the event provided a highly informative introduction to an increasing trend in public services, an issue which deserves attention and critical reflection by all those who work in, support or otherwise value public services as they exist today.

Further information on the issues discussed in this article is provided in the references below.

Paul Catherall

CDG Wales; Advisory Board Member Information for Social Change

Author of Delivering E-Learning for Information Services in Higher Education, Chandos Publishing, ISBN: 1843340887 .

http://www.chandospublishing.com/catalogue/record_detail.php?recordID=48

References and URLs

Key Web Sites

Information for Social Change activist Web site and e-journal.

The Flow of Ideas – Web site of Ruth and Glenn Rikowski: includes information about the Rikowskis’ various publications and talks and the events that they have been involved with. Available at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/

The GATS and Libraries (Portal to GATs information on libr.org). Available at: http://libr.org/gats/

Progressive Librarians Guild and their journal, Progressive Librarian based in the USA but an international organization for librarians on the left. Available at: http://libr.org/PLG/

Website of Anneliese Dodds. Available at: http://personal.lse.ac.uk/dodds/

References

Department of Trade and Industry, EU Directive on Services – Overview. Available at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/ewt/services_directive.htm

Dodds, Anneliese (2002), GATS: Higher Education and Libraries, Information for Social Change, Issue 14, Winter 2001/02.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Best Value. Available at: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1153899

The Politicisation Of Trade In Health And Education Services: Black And White Divisions Over A ‘Grey Area’, Scottish Affairs, Issue No.46, Winter 2004.

Rikowski, Ruth (2001) GATS: private affluence and public squalor? Implications for libraries and information, Managing Information, Vol. 8, No 10, Dec, pp.8-10. Also available at:

Library Juice 4:46 – December 19, 2001, http://libr.org/juice/issues/vol4/LJ_4.46.html

Rikowski, Ruth (2002) The capitalisation of libraries (2002), The Commoner, a left-academic activist e-journal, May, No. 14. Available at: http://www.commoner.org.uk/04rikowski.pdf

Rikowski, Ruth (2003a) Globalisation, Libraries and Information, Information for Social Change, No. 17, Summer 2003.

Rikowski, Ruth (2003b) Library privatization: fact or fiction?, Information for Social Change, No. 17, Summer 2003.

Rikowski, Ruth (2003c) (Compiled by) Still at your service? GATS, privatization and public services in the UK: an ATTAC event held at the London School of Economics, Information for Social Change, No. 17, Summer 2003.

Rikowski, Ruth (2005a) Globalisation, Information and Libraries: the implications of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS Agreements, Chandos publishing: Oxford

http://www.chandospublishing.com/catalogue/record_detail.php?recordID=35

Rikowski, Ruth (2005b) Global trading of libraries and intellectual property rights, The Hobgoblin. Available at: http://www.thehobgoblin.co.uk/books/rrikowski.htm

‘Views sought on controversial stock in libraries guidance’ (1)

‘Smith seeking to close websites that promote jihad’ (2)

‘Lecturers warn against college “spy” rules’ (3)

By John Pateman

A common theme runs through these recent news headlines – the Government wants to recruit librarians, internet site providers, students and lecturers in its ‘War Against Terror’.

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has launched a new consultation on managing ‘controversial stock’ in libraries. This follows from the Prime Minister’s national security statement to Parliament in November 2007. The MLA was commissioned to produce guidance for public libraries on the management of ‘extremist and inflammatory material’.

The first principles of the draft guidance are that ‘Free expression and open libraries remain essential to British democracy’; and ‘Libraries operate within the law to provide free access to a diversity of information, opinion and ideas in a neutral and hospitable environment.’

The problem is that stock selection is now subject to a range of laws, some of which are contradictory. The guidance seems to suggest that individual librarians should use their personal judgement in deciding which law to apply. One consequence of this could be that librarians become risk averse and decide not to stock books which can be regarded as ‘controversial, extremist or inflammatory’.

There is a precedent for this which the guidance does not mention, and that was the disastrous effect on stock selection of Clause 28 which made it an offense to ‘promote homosexuality’. As a result many library authorities refused to stock the Pink Paper or gay books and this policy and practice remained in place long after Clause 28 was repealed.

For many years the primary legislation relating to public libraries was the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 which puts a duty on local authorities ‘to meet the general requirements and any special requirements of adults and children.’ As the guidance points out, these duties may present ‘problems for libraries located in areas that contain a high proportion of residents with radical beliefs.’

However, the Public Library Act has now been qualified by the Terrorism Act 2006 which defines a ‘terrorist publication’ as one that is likely ‘to be understood by some or all of the actual or potential recipients as a direct or indirect encouragement or inducement to commit, prepare or instigate terrorist acts’. Contents that are likely to indirectly encourage terrorism include any matter ‘which glorifies the commission or preparation (whether in the past, future or generally) of acts of terrorism.’

A librarian could be found guilty of providing access to this material if it was proved that they did so as the result of both a ‘guilty act’ (such as loaning the material) and a ‘guilty mind’ (the intention to encourage or induce an act of terrorism). The sentence for this offence is imprisonment for a maximum of 7 years.

A librarian could also be found guilty of the offence of ‘encouragement to terrorism’ but this is less likely because the defence of innocent dissemination is wider. The maximum sentence for this offence is also 7 years.

Section 3 of the Terrorism Act applies to providing internet access and a librarian must comply with any section 3 ‘notice’. The notice is a ‘declaration by a police constable that the statement, article or record is unlawfully terrorism related.’ When the notice is issued the librarian must, within 2 working days, stop making the matter available to the public (for example, by blocking an offending website).

Section 58 of the Terrorism Act makes it an offence to ‘collect or make a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’. The librarian has a defence if he can prove that he has a ‘reasonable excuse’ for his action or possession. The maximum sentence for this offence is 10 years imprisonment.

The MLA advises that ‘Librarians and library authorities should take pre-emptive precautions to ensure that information that is likely to be useful to “terrorists” is not stocked.’ This is a green light for the culling of any material which might pose a potential risk. This could include classics such a Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence and Guerrilla Warfare by Che Guevara. The MLA guidance is that ‘historical accounts that could be interpreted as glorifying terrorism may be stocked if there is little to no possibility that a current reader would try and emulate the acts described.’ However, there is evidence that the works of Lawrence and Guevara are being used by combatants in Iraq and so they could fall foul of the Terrorism Act. And presumably any novels which contain detailed descriptions of ‘terrorist’ activities should be removed from library shelves as well.

Another important piece of legislation which has been qualified by the Terrorism Act is the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. Sections of these Acts indicate that by banning certain ‘extremist’ publications from libraries, Librarians and library authorities could be behaving in a racially discriminatory manner and / or operating a racially discriminatory practice. However, there is a critical overriding ‘disclaimer’ with regard to ‘safeguarding national security.’

The MLA guidance is that ‘Librarians and library authorities should not be unduly concerned with the provisions of race relations legislation, and focus on avoidance of commission of the offences created by the Terrorism Act.’ This is a particularly worrying element of the guidance because Librarians are effectively being asked to disregard the Race Relations Act to avoid falling foul of the Terrorism Act. In this respect the guidance does not achieve its aim of helping to promote community cohesion through the provision of a balanced range of information, learning and cultural resources.

The Public Order Act 1986 creates a number of offences in relation to conduct intended to stir up racial and religious hatred. This includes the display, distribution or possession of ‘threatening, abusive or insulting’ material if ‘racial hatred would be likely to be stirred up’. The stocking of ‘extremist’ literature within a library suggests that Librarians could be susceptible to this crime although there is a defence of innocent dissemination. The maximum penalty is 7 years imprisonment.

The MLA advice is that ‘Librarians and library authorities would be wise to take pre-emptive precautions to avoid having to rely on a defence.’ Once again the MLA is advising librarians to be cautious and risk averse and to remove from their shelves any materials which could fall into this category. This seems to be contrary to the first principles of the guidance that ‘Libraries operate within the law to provide free access to a diversity of information, opinion and ideas in a neutral and hospitable environment.’ In this regard the guidance does not help libraries to fulfil their role as access points to publicly available information.

Library authorities have an obligation to carry out their duties in accordance with the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998. Article 10 (1) of this Act states that ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.’ Article 10 (2) qualifies this right by making it subject to a number of competing interests such as national security.

Once again, the MLA guidance urges caution and advises Librarians to comply with the Terrorism Act rather than the Human Rights Act. The guidance is that ‘A library itself is not under a duty to guarantee the expression of all ideas for all people.’ This appears to contradict the first principles of the guidance that ‘Free expression and open libraries remain essential to British democracy’.

If a publication contains references to ‘extremist’ beliefs, then excluding or banning it may be an offence under the European Convention on Human Rights which includes the right to ‘manifest’ one’s religion or belief. However, as with Article 10 this freedom is not absolute and can be qualified on a number of grounds, including compliance with the Terrorism Act.

The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 requires local authorities to involve ‘local persons’ in the exercise of a particular function (such as stock selection) if it ‘considers it appropriate’ to do so. If local people are involved in stock selection the MLA guidance is that ‘it will depend on the circumstances of the particular case as to whether the legislation will apply to the particular individual or organisation.’ This statement is not equivocal or clear and further guidance or clarification is needed.

Overall the MLA guidance does not achieve its aim of meeting the needs of library managers and staff in the selection, presentation and promotion of material in the context of wider stock policy. It is far too cautious and risk averse and will have the effect of controlling and restricting the selection of stock that can be interpreted as ‘controversial’, ‘extremist’ or ‘inflammatory’. It is not possible to agree a common definition of these terms in the same way that ‘Obscenity’ could not be defined within the Obscene Publications Act, which has consequently fallen into disuse.

As well as posing a threat to stock selection, this guidance also challenges the professional ethics of the librarian. Rather than becoming an agent of the state’s security apparatus librarians, of all people, should be standing up for freedom of information and freedom of expression. The response of librarians to this guidance should be the same as that of students and lecturers who have warned that new government guidelines on tackling Muslim ‘extremism’ in universities must not become a ‘snoopers’ charter.’ And instead of culling our book stocks and censuring the internet we should be supporting the views of Mark Littlewood of Progressive Vision who commented that ‘The idea that terrorism can be thwarted by seeking to shut down extremist websites is absurd and dangerous.’

References

(1) Consultation on draft guidance on the management of controversial materials in public libraries, MLA, 2008

(2) ‘Smith seeking to close websites that promote jihad’, Daily Telegraph, 18 January 2008

(3) ‘Lecturers warn against college “spy” rules’, Morning Star, 23 January 2008

John Pateman

Information for Social Change

24 January 2008

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