Library Juice 1:33 - September 16, 1998
Contents: 1. IFLA Social Responsibilities Discussion Group website 2. COMPLETE GUIDE TO PALESTINE'S WEBSITES 3. Joint letter on database legislation wheedling into a WIPO copyright bill 4. Dublin Core Metadata for Resource Discovery (RFC 2413) 5. CURRENT SCIENCE TITLES--Mailing List 6. A Classification System For Libraries of Judaica 7. Internet Library of Early Journals (ILEJ) 8. Starr Report a challenge for internet filters 9. Idealist.org - most comprehensive directory of non-profit jobs 10. New Members Round Table accepting applications for a grant and an award 11. Nominations sought for 1999 RUSA Awards 12. LAMA SEEKS CULTURAL DIVERSITY GRANT APPLICATIONS 13. CALL FOR PAPERS - Annals of Information Technology and Librarianship 14. _Librarianship and Legitmacy: The Ideology of the Public Library Inquiry_ Quote for the week: "If information is not neutral, if moral judgments are part of information usage, and if one of our jobs as a profession is to recognize those judgments and to make decisions, it would seem that certain principles of truth, justice, equality, and freedom must be defining values of the profession." -Mark Alfino & Linda Pierce, p. 123 of their _Information Ethics for Librarians_ (Editor's comment: I have to think about this. Whose judgments are being refered to, the librarian's or the user's? And why make the stated principles and not others - such as "Family Values" - the defining values of the profession?) Note to readers: Library Juice mailings are too long for some email systems to display. If you aren't able to read all of Library Juice, try having it sent to a different address (if possible) or read it on the web, at: http://www.libr.org/Juice _______________________________________________________________________________ 1. IFLA Social Responsibilities Discussion Group website Sender: owner-srrtac-l[at]ala.org You can check out the brand new IFLA Social Responsibilities Discussion Group website at: http://www.ifla.org/VII/dg/srdg/index.htm Five of six of our discussion papers are there. The last one is coming soon. (IFLA is the International Federation of Library Associations -ed.) Al Kagan Africana Unit, Room 328 University of Illinois Library 1408 W. Gregory Drive Urbana, IL 61801, USA tel. 217-333-6519 fax. 217-333-2214 e-mail. akagan[at]uiuc.edu _______________________________________________________________________________ 2. COMPLETE GUIDE TO PALESTINE'S WEBSITES http://www.birzeit.edu/links/index.html In some ways the World Wide Web is like all other communications media. There is more material available about Palestine originating from outside the country than from within it. In fact, most of the information flow on the Internet travels from the North to the South, reflecting this bias. In addition, Northern categorisation processes are flawed. A visitor to Yahoo!, for example, will be interested to see that the autonomous Palestinian area of Ramallah is listed as being part of Israel. Similarly, American news organisation CNN does not even list a single Palestinian website based inside Palestine in its Middle East "related sites" section. Neither does it have any Palestinian category in this section. Mabrook (congratulations) to the search engines Lycos and Excite, and ABC News, all of whom recognise that the West Bank and Gaza Strip are disputed territories that are not automatically part of Israel. The COMPLETE GUIDE TO PALESTINE'S WEBSITES offers Web surfers direct access to categorised reviews of all websites published by individuals and organisations located in Palestine. Get the news from those who live it! _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. Joint letter on database legislation wheedling into a WIPO copyright bill To: INFO-POLICY-NOTES <info-policy-notes[at]essential.org> Subject: database legislation The following is a URL for a joint letter by 47 organizations and firms in opposition to efforts to attach very sweeping legislation on collections of data to a WIPO copyright bill. http://www.dfc.org/issues/database/jntltr/jntltr.html There is a lot of information about the legislation on the Digital Futures Coalition (CPT is member) web page, at: http://www.dfc.org I will be sending out additional information shortly. This is quite important. jamie -- James Love, Consumer Project on Technology P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036 202.387.8030; f 202.234.5176 http://www.cptech.org, mailto:love[at]cptech.org _______________________________________________________________________________ 4. Dublin Core Metadata for Resource Discovery (RFC 2413) ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2413.txt Dublin Core Metadata homepage http://purl.oclc.org/metadata/dublin_core/ This Request for Comments (RFC) is the first in a series of Informational RFC's to be produced by the Dublin Core (DC) Metadata Workshop Series. This first RFC provides an introduction to the Dublin Core, "a fifteen-element metadata element set intended to facilitate discovery of electronic resources." The RFC also presents the consensus reached by librarians, digital library researchers, content experts, and text-markup experts from around the world on the semantics of each of the fifteen elements (descriptors). The DC elements are title, author, subject, description, publisher, other contributor, date, resource type, format, resource identifier, source, language, relation, coverage, and rights management. Dublin Core metadata has been implemented in several ways, including as HTML metatags and as database elements, as it is used in the Scout Report Signpost (discussed in the June 20, 1997 issue of the Scout Report--http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/scout-970620.html#0B). Add itional information about the Dublin Core Workshop Series, DC semantics and syntax, working papers, and projects that have implemented Dublin Core metadata can be found at the Dublin Core Metadata homepage. [AG] >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ _______________________________________________________________________________ 5. CURRENT SCIENCE TITLES--Mailing List CURRENT SCIENCE TITLES is a new, free one-way distribution list from Science-Week (discussed in the Scout Report for June 27, 1997-- http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/scout-970627.html#6). Each week, subscribers will receive a listing of ten selected current articles "of broad and significant interest" to the scientific community. Each listing includes the subject of the article, the lead author, the author's affiliation(s), a complete journal reference, and available author contact information. [MD] To subscribe to CURRENT SCIENCE TITLES, send e-mail to: prismx[at]scienceweek.co In the SUBJECT line of the message type: SUBSCRIBE CST >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ _______________________________________________________________________________ 6. A Classification System For Libraries of Judaica To: Multiple recipients of list LIS-L <LIS-L[at]POSTOFFICE.CSO.UIUC.EDU> The following might interest your readers. Please consider posting on your list. For Judaica libraries; Schools of Library/Information Science; Jewish reference. In August 1997, the 3rd edition of "A Classification System For Libraries of Judaica" was published by Jason Aronson Inc.(New Jersey USA). The authors, David and Daniel Elazar (Rishon LeZion and Jerusalem) contend that there was and is a need for a classification system for libraries with Judaic collections to classify and arrange these collections according to Jewish concepts based upon Jewish thought and terminology. This is in contrast to the familiar classification schemes like Dewey and LC which incorporate the Bible, Judaism and Israel into the general world of knowledge without relating them to each other in the spirit of Jewish Tradition. A description in detail of "A CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM FOR LIBRARIES OF JUDAICA" including discussions by librarians who have used previous editions is available on the Elazar home page at the following URL: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/6527/index.html David Elazar (MALS U of Mich 1965) elazar[at]cheerful.com P.S. If you have already received this - sorry. _______________________________________________________________________________ 7. Internet Library of Early Journals (ILEJ) http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ilej/ ILEJ is a joint project by the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Oxford, conducted under the auspice of the eLib (Electronic Libraries) Programme (discussed in the Scout Report for September 20, 1996--http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/scout-960920.html#1). The project has digitized selected twenty-year runs of three eighteenth- and three nineteenth-century journals and placed the images online at the site. Journals include: _Annual Register_ (1758-78), _Gentleman's Magazine_ (1731-50), _Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society_ (1757-77), _Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_ (1843-52), _Notes and Queries_ (1849-69), and _The Builder_ (1843-9). Users can browse the journals by volume and section, conduct a standard search, or try a "fuzzy search" (limited availability). The project has considerable potential for scholars and students of British history and literature, although slow loading image pages may make it more useful as an online index to these journals. [MD] >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ _______________________________________________________________________________ 8. Starr Report a challenge for internet filters forwarded by Sanford Berman ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 12:55:58 -0400 From: Nina Crowley <crowleyn[at]ultranet.com> To: kyp[at]ultranet.com Subject: "rock 'n' roll porn star" prez You would hope some of these people would finally get a clue and realize that they can't look anywhere but in the mirror to find moral guidance for their kids. but.... nc from:http://www.detroitnews.com/1998/technology/9809/15/09150092.htm, >Parents, teachers reach for Internet porn blocks > > Despite their efforts, kids are getting a look at the report > > By Janet Naylor and Kevin Lynch / The Detroit News > > Lots of Metro Detroit school kids are talking about civics and current > events these days -- but not always for the best of reasons. > > The lurid revelations in independent counsel Kenneth Starr's report of > his investigation of President Clinton have teachers cringing and > administrators and parents flocking to Internet smut-blocking software. > > Russell Gibb, a television and film teacher at Dearborn High School, > worries what it means when students tell him jokes -- some of them > off-color -- about the leader of the country. "It's funny, but in the > same vein, here are high school students who think the president is some > rock 'n' roll porn star," Gibb said. > > "These are things that kids talk about. They are reading it, especially > the bright kids. The other ones, well, they are just telling jokes." "the other ones" (!) This Mr. Gibb needs to be taken out back and hung by his feet for a day or two. Thank god, none of my kids are subjected to this bigot. nc > > Nena Smithpeters, a Canton Township secretary with two school-age kids, > 12 and 16, has blocking software on her home computer -- and is glad it > worked in catching the report. > > "I feel that it's an important issue -- we're seeing history in the > making," she said. "However, I think we have to tread lightly with the > younger kids. And keep a tight rein on the Internet." > > She recommends filters at elementary schools, but thinks high schoolers > could probably handle the whole thing. "But I don't think anybody should > have to read that stuff," she said. > > One problem frustrating many administrators: The Starr report is showing > up in its graphic entirety on what would otherwise be innocent or even > useful Web sites. LEST THIS BE FORGOTTEN: the only filtering software that could possibly catch the Starr Report on all its hundreds of mirrors, within a few days after its release, is software that filters by KEYWORDS. This means the software makes blocking decisions with NO human input of any kind -- NO human looks at the blocked pages. Next time someone tries to tell you that only the most discriminating blocking software will be used in our public institutions -- the kind where a human (supposedly) looks at each page before adding it to the blacklist -- remember the blocked Starr Report. ......This last from: Jamie McCarthy jamie[at]mccarthy.org http://jamie.mccarthy.org/ -- - Fight Censorship - Listen to the Banned! Mass. M.I.C. http://www.ultranet.com/~crowleyn/mmic.html _______________________________________________________________________________ 9. Idealist.org - most comprehensive directory of non-profit jobs To: announce[at]IDEALIST.ORG Hi, It's nice to be able to write you with the following news: 1. You can now subscribe to two new mailing lists that each day will deliver to you a list of all Nonprofit Jobs and Internships added to Idealist during the previous 24 hours. If you or anyone you know is looking for a nonprofit job or internship, you or they can subscribe to these lists at http://www.idealist.org/lists.html. If your organization would like to post a job or an internship that will reach all those who subscribe to these lists, you can use Idealist to do so. As always, all these listings are free. 2. We have just added a new section for Conferences for Nonprofit Professionals around the world. If you work for a nonprofit and would like to find out about upcoming conferences in your area, or if you are organizing such a conference and would like to list it, please go to http://www.idealist.org and click on the Nonprofit Conferences link. 3. All entries in Idealist (organizations, volunteer opportunities, services, jobs, internships, events and materials) are now re-arranged automatically every night so that they can be easily browsed by country and state. In addition, all this information is still searchable by keyword, location, skill, date, etc. 4. For those of you who have asked for buttons or banners to help promote volunteerism around the world, we have put several of these at http://www.idealist.org/artwork.html. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who over this past year have worked with Russ and Patsy to help make Idealist a better and richer site. We all look forward to updating you with more new features in the next few weeks. All the best, Ami Dar Action Without Borders http://www.idealist.org ************************************************************ Please post this message to any relevant mailing lists or newsgroups. If at any time you would like to remove yourself from this mailing list, you can enter your email address in the Idealist home page at http://www.idealist.org and click on the REMOVE button. ************************************************************ Action Without Borders is a nonprofit organization that promotes the sharing of ideas, information and resources to help build a world where all people can live free, dignified and productive lives. Idealist, a project of AWB, is the most comprehensive directory of nonprofit and volunteering resources on the Web, with information provided by 14,000 organizations in 130 countries. If your company or foundation would like to support this project, please call us at 212-843-3973 _______________________________________________________________________________ 10. New Members Round Table accepting applications for a grant and an award Sender: owner-nmrt-l[at]ala.org This message is being forwarded to mulitple lists. Please excuse the duplication. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ALA's New Members Round Table is accepting applications for the Shirley Olofson Memorial Award and the 3M/NMRT Professional Development Grant. All current members of ALA/NMRT are encouraged to apply. New Members Round Table Shirley Olofson Memorial Award The Shirley Olofson Memorial Award is presented annually in honor of Shirley Olofson, a well-respected former NMRT President, who died during her term in office. The award, which is intended to help defray costs to attend the ALA Annual Conference, will be presented in the form of a check for $500 at the NMRT President's Program during the 1999 Annual Conference in New Orleans. Applicants must be members of ALA and NMRT; active within the library profession; show promise or activity in the area of professional development; have valid financial need; and have attended no more than five ALA annual conferences. The recipient of the Shirley Olofson Memorial Award is required to attend at least one NMRT Executive Board meeting during ALA's Annual Conference, as well as the President's Program at which this award is presented. Contact: Dora Ho, Shirley Olofson Award Committee Chair North Hollywood Regional Branch Los Angeles Public Library Phone: (818) 766-7186 5211 Tujunga Ave. Fax: (818) 756-9135 North Hollywood, CA 91601 Email: ap520[at]lapl.org New Members Round Table 3M/NMRT Professional Development Grant The purpose of the 3M/NMRT Professional Development Grant is to encourage professional development and participation by new ALA members in national ALA and NMRT activities. All ALA/NMRT members within their first ten years of membership are eligible for the grant. The grant is sponsored by 3M's Safety and Security Systems Division, which markets materials flow management products to libraries to prevent unauthorized borrowing and to streamline the flow of library materials. Since its establishment in 1975, the grant has been awarded to 88 NMRT members. The 1999 grant will help finance attendance at the ALA Annual Conference, which will be held in New Orleans, LA. It covers round trip airfare, lodging, conference registration fees and some incidental expenses. Contact: Marilyn Grush, 3M/NMRT Professional Development Grant Committee Chair 2245 Rogene Dr. #101 Phone: (410) 706-1784 Baltimore, MD 21209 Fax: (410) 706-0067 Email: mgrush[at]hshsl.umaryland.edu *** Please note that the application deadline for both scholarships is December 15, 1998. *** Further details and applications are available on the NMRT Home Page (the URL is: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/) and from the committee chairs noted above. -- Gene Gene Kinnaly Cataloger Computer Files & Microforms Team Special Materials Cataloging Division Library of Congress 101 Independence Avenue SE Washington DC 20540-4371 email: gkin[at]loc.gov voice: (202) 707-2722 fax: (202) 707-7161 Co-Chair, Publicity Committee, New Members Round Table, ALA NMRT Home page: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/ _______________________________________________________________________________ 11. Nominations sought for 1999 RUSA Awards Sender: owner-rusa-l[at]ala1.ala.org Nominations are being accepted for the twelve 1999 awards sponsored by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The application deadline for award nominations is is December 15, 1998. The awards are: The Dartmouth Medal, donated by Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., is presented to honor achievement in creating reference works that are outstanding in quality and significance. It is typically given for works made available during the calendar year preceding the award. The Denali Press Award, $500 and a plaque donated by The Denali Press, recognizes reference works that are outstanding in quality and significance and provide information specifically about ethnic and minority groups in the United States. The Disclosure Student Travel Award, $1,000 donated by Disclosure, Inc., enables a student with an interest in a career as a business reference librarian to attend the ALA Annual Conference. The award is presented by RUSA's Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS). The Facts On File Grant, up to $2,000 donated by Facts On File, Inc., is awarded to a public, academic or school library for imaginative programming that would make current affairs more meaningful to an adult audience. The Gale Research Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship, $1,000 and a citation donated by Gale Research, Inc. and presented by BRASS, is given to an individual who has distinguished himself or herself in business librarianship. The Gale Research Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services, $1,000 and a citation donated by Gale Research, Inc., is presented to a library or library system for developing an imaginative and unique library resource to meet patrons' needs. The Genealogical Publishing Company Award, $1,000 and a citation donated by The Genealogical Publishing Company, recognizes and commends professional achievement in historical, reference and research librarianship. The Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award, a citation, is given to a librarian who has made significant contributions to library adult services. The Isadore Gilbert Mudge*R.R. Bowker Award, $1,500 and a citation donated by R.R. Bowker, is given to a person who has made a distinguished contribution to reference librarianship. The Reference Service Press Award, $1,000 donated by Reference Service Press, Inc., recognizes the most outstanding article published in Reference and User Services Quarterly, RUSA's official journal, during the preceding two volume years. The John Sessions Memorial Award, a plaque donated by the AFL/CIO, recognizes the efforts of a library or library system to work with the labor community. The Louis Shores-Oryx Press Award, $1,000 donated by Oryx Press, is given to an individual, team of individuals or an organization to recognize excellence in the reviewing of books and other materials for libraries. For more information, contact the Sheila Henson at 800-545-2433, ext. 4398, Fax 312-944-8085, E-mail:shenson[at]ala.org, or visit the RUSA Web site at http://www.ala.org/rusa/rusa_awards.html. html. Contact: Sheila Henson RUSA Office 800-545-2433, ext. 4398 http://www.ala.org/rusa/rusa_awards.html _______________________________________________________________________________ 12. LAMA SEEKS CULTURAL DIVERSITY GRANT APPLICATIONS Sender: owner-diversity-l[at]ala.org The Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is now accepting applications for its Cultural Diversity Grant. The application deadline is December 1. The goals of this program are to support the creation and dissemination of resource that will assist library administrators and managers in developing a vision and commitment to diversity, and in fostering and sustaining diversity throughout their institutions ; to increase the representation and advancement of people of color in the field of library administration and management and to establish productive partnerships between LAMA and major national organizations representing minority interests; to strengthen the diversity of LAMA membership, committees, and officers and integrate diversity into all aspects of the Association's work. The LAMA Cultural Diversity Grant is available to LAMA members or LAMA units in support of the grant program goals. Members of the LAMA Cultural Diversity Committee are ineligible. An application form and guidelines are available at http://www.ala.org/lama/awards/culturaldiv; or contact Shonda Russell, Communications Assistant, LAMA, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. E-mail: srussell[at]ala.org. Fax: 312/280-5033. Reinette F. Jones University of Kentucky College of Communications (on sabbatical till 1/99) _______________________________________________________________________________ 13. CALL FOR PAPERS - Annals of Information Technology and Librarianship Annals of Information Technology and Librarianship Edited by Gregory A. Crawford and Gary W. White CALL FOR PAPERS Technological advances over the past three decades have created new challenges and opportunities for libraries and librarians. As a result of automation and computerization, services to users have changed, the management of libraries has evolved, the roles of librarians have multiplied, and the impact of libraries on their client groups has grown. This new publication, Annals of Information Technology and Librarianship, seeks to be a forum for the dissemination of research and scholarly articles on the impact that information technology has had and is continuing to have on libraries. The publication is peer-reviewed and seeks to offer its readers highly relevant and thought provoking articles that will enhance their understanding of how libraries and librarians are responding to the changes caused by information technologies. PREMIER ISSUE SPECIAL TOPIC: Information Technology, Libraries, and the New Millennium As one millennium draws to a close and a new one begins, there is an opportunity to reflect on how far libraries have come and on where we would like them to go. Throughout the history of libraries, there has been an acceptance and use of a variety of information technologies. The new millennium presents new opportunities to exploit a ever-growing array of information technologies in the provision of library services. The editors are seeking submission of manuscripts that address the issues surrounding the use of information technologies within libraries. Manuscripts which address questions such as the following are especially encouraged: What will the opportunities be for the expanded use of information technologies in libraries? How will information technologies be used or misused? What will be the impact of information technologies on libraries, librarians, and library users? How will the organization of the library change? What is the future of librarianship? What have been the historic impacts of information technologies on libraries? How will information technologies change the role of libraries and librarians? How will education for librarianship change as a result of emerging technologies? Will instruction of patrons differ in the new millennium? Will new information technologies challenge the existence of libraries? For more information, point your browser to http://www.idea-group.com/libann.htm, or contact the editors. To submit manuscripts, please see the submission guidelines at http://www.idea-group.com/libman.htm, or contact the editors. Gregory A. Crawford, Ph.D. Gary W. White Editors, Annals of Information Technology and Librarianship Heindel Library Penn State Harrisburg 777 W. Harrisburg Pike Middletown, PA 17057 (717)948-6076; fax: (717)948-6381 gac2[at]psu.edu or gww[at]psulias.psu.edu Editorial Board (as of August 17, 1998) Rod Bustos, Georgia State University Anita Cook, OhioLINK Eric Delozier, Penn State Harrisburg Pat Ensor, University of Houston Shelagh Fisher, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) Patricia Fletcher, University of Maryland, Baltimore County D. Kaye, Gapen, Northern Lights Inc. Susan Hocker, Miami University Peggy Johnson, University of Minnesota Tom Klinger, Kent State University Lucy Te-Chu Lee, National Taiwan University (ROC) Thomas Leonhardt, Oregon Institute of Technology Poping Lin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Michael Lloyd-Williams, University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UK) William McHugh, Northwestern University Keith Morgan, North Carolina State University Ian Richard Murray, Loughborough University (UK) William Ptacek, King County Library System Laverna Saunders, Salem State College Ann Margaret Scholz-Crane, Rutgers University Charles Schwartz, University of Massachusetts at Boston Pamela Snelson, Franklin and Marshall College Amanda Spink, University of North Texas Lawrence Woods, University of Iowa _______________________________________________________________________________ 14. _Librarianship and Legitmacy: The Ideology of the Public Library Inquiry_ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 19:18:27 -0400 Reply-To: H-NET Discussion List on the History of Library and Information Science <H-LIS[at]H-NET.MSU.EDU> Sender: H-NET Discussion List on the History of Library and Information Science <H-LIS[at]H-NET.MSU.EDU> From: Suzanne Hildenbrand <lishilde[at]acsu.buffalo.edu> Subject: Becker on Raber, _Librarianship and Legitimacy_ To: H-LIS[at]H-NET.MSU.EDU H-NET BOOK REVIEW Published by H-Lis[at]h-net.msu.edu (August, 1998) Douglas Raber. _Librarianship and Legitmacy: The Ideology of the Public Library Inquiry_. Contributions in Librarianship and Information Science, no. 90. Westport, Conn. and London: Greenwood Press, 1997. xi + 162 pp. Notes, bibliography, and index. $49.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-313-30234-0. Reviewed for H-LIS by Patti Clayton Becker <p2becker[at]uwsp.edu&> University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Looking for Legitimacy At a time when public libraries work hard to stay relevant in the eyes of funding agencies and the population in general, it is natural to carefully consider the nature and purpose, and hence legitimacy, of the institution. Douglas Raber does just that in his book _Librarianship and Legitimacy: The Ideology of the Public Library Inquiry_. Although a mainstay of American culture for almost 150 years, the public library has never been able to take its existence for granted. But sometimes the task is more urgent than others. Such was the case in the late 1940s when the country, victorious in war, was on the threshold of fulfilling and expanding upon postwar plans in all spheres of society. Business, government, and education agencies sought ways to serve--and benefit by participating in--the welcome return to peacetime life. Public libraries also sought their place in the reconfigured world. Postwar planning for libraries had begun early and continued throughout the war. But the American Library Association (ALA) was concerned about the status of libraries following the bruising experience of World War II, when library usage dropped dramatically nationwide, despite vigorous promotional efforts, and when libraries failed to receive recognition for special war-related services in the form of federal aid. Continuing poor salaries and low social prestige added to the desire to define an appropriate role for public libraries that would bolster the status of librarianship in society. ALA leadership, and Executive Director Carl H. Milam in particular, wanted a study done by outsiders to supply an empirical basis for a redefinition of the public library. The result was the Public Library Inquiry, conducted with Carnegie support by the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. The study was directed by University of Chicago political scientist Robert D. Leigh and published in the late forties and early fifties in seven monographs and five supplementary reports by separate authors, including political scientist Oliver Garceau, Columbia Library School Dean Bernard Berelson, and library educator Alice I. Bryan. In Leighs words, the Public Library Inquiry was an "examination of the objectives, function, structure, organization, services, and personnel of public libraries."[1] Leigh wondered about the health and relevance of the optimistic Library Faith, the guiding conviction of librarians that providing good books would produce a positive benefit to society, whose members, presumably, would read them. The conclusions of the Public Library Inquiry were not encouraging. Only one in ten adults and three in ten children used libraries, and many of them as a source of entertaining reading, not the sort of serious study that would lead to an enlightened society. The authors concluded that since they werent achieving it anyway, librarians should abandon the ideal of serving all segments of society and concentrate their efforts on providing material of "quality and reliability" to "serious groups in the community, however small." According to the Inquiry, this approach would have a trickle-down benefit to society through its contribution to wise policy decisions affecting the communities. In the meantime, library patrons might read bestsellers for a fee and "current trashy material" could be phased out of library collections.[2] Clearly, justification for the Library Faith was challenged by these findings of actual usage, but librarians of the time were loathe to abandon their historic raison detre. The study stimulated discussion that has continued to the present day; the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association devoted a program to the Inquiry at the 1992 national conference, published in 1994 as a special issue of _Libraries and Culture_. Douglas Raber was among the contributors to that issue. His book, which is based on his doctoral dissertation, is a more thorough treatment in which he proposes to "explore consistencies, contradictions, and assumptions inherent within the legitimating ideology of public librarianship expressed by the Public Library Inquiry"(6). Raber grounds his discussion in the interpretive context of the need of the library profession (or any of the "pseudo-professions") for a "legitimating discourse" through which to seek validation (p. 7). The Inquiry, according to Raber, was a significant part of that discourse since it described a unique role for public libraries in democratic society. Raber claims that "the philosophical and ideological arguments of the Inquiry remain strikingly vital," even though he acknowledges that the recommendations of the Inquiry seem "unforgivably elitist" (pp. x-xi). Rabers book is an explication of the meaning of the unique role proposed for public libraries; he intentionally does not critique the methodology of the study, nor explore areas in which the Inquiry was curiously silent, such as gender equity or children and childrens services. Rabers analysis of the inherent ideology of the Inquiry is thorough and far-reaching, extending from the intellectual fine points of the nature of American democracy to more concrete considerations such as why public libraries should not try to compete with bookstores. His efforts are more explanatory than critical. Raber cautions that the "elitism" (p. 142) of the Inquiry derives not from its preferred audience but from the edifying nature of the preferred library materials, yet the tone of his work suggests otherwise. For instance, in his critique of American culture Raber claims that the Inquiry reflected the "fear" that American political life will come to be dominated by private interest groups who "in the name of freedom" will "threaten freedom." He concludes that "the public library has a role to play in preventing this outcome, but it can be successful only if its efforts are directed to the correct audience." Raber describes this audience not as a set group of people, but instead as a dynamic construct of an "informed elite of active citizens" who "actively seek out and use knowledge" to "contribute to the production of new knowledge and the solution of social problems." It is emphatically not made up of people looking for vacation reading or children attending story hour: "That the public library might someday base its legitimacy precisely on the ability to satisfy public demand is a condition that could scarcely be imagined by the authors and supporters of the Inquiry" (pp. 96-97). Like the Inquiry itself, Rabers book raises many questions, which is one reason why both are so germane to current discussions about the purpose of public libraries. Who were the 10 percent of adults who used the library? Were they the opinion leaders the Inquiry wanted to target? Given that most adult library users sought entertainment from the collections, how did the Inquiry propose to make "serious" material more attractive and relevant to library users and put libraries in the direct service of democracy? Raber acknowledges that "the most problematic contradiction" of the Library Faith was that "libraries simply were not used" (p. 78) as founders and leaders had hoped, but he does not consider whether carrying through the vision of the Inquiry would result in a similar contradiction. What made the authors of the Inquiry confident that their recommendations would achieve any more success than the failed objectives that prompted the Inquiry? Is it realistic to think that self-selected library users would conform to such a specific purpose? Raber admits it is "a little disingenuous" to assume "that the audience for public library materials will in fact be one that will use them for public purposes," (p. 142) but that assumption forms the basis of the Inquirys conclusions. Rabers arguments might better be applied to an institution that is less voluntary in nature, such as public education. Ultimately one must ask if implementing the recommendations of the Inquiry even could help the profession to achieve validation. Raber accepts the assumption of the Inquiry that a unique, "legitimate" role in society would provide the profession with legitimacy, but he doesnt take into account other possible reasons for the relatively low status of the profession or other sources of legitimacy. Wayne Wiegand asserts that the structure of the profession and its lack of authority to confer "value in information products" have made librarianship "a marginal profession."[3] Phyllis Dain suggests that even though libraries might not have been used by all of the population, it doesnt necessarily follow that this means they have failed, asking, "What does use mean? How can the effectiveness of a library be evaluated?" Although Carl Milam, the Inquiry authors, and Douglas Raber were concerned over the lack of a clear focus for public libraries as an institution, Dain suggests that their "open-ended" nature frees libraries to serve "whatever purposes their users have in mind," and that their relative lack of power gives libraries flexibility, free from "close scrutiny."[4] Furthermore, how can any profession claim legitimacy by ignoring the interests of its clientele? The Public Library Inquiry is suffused with the elitist assumption that librarians know what is best for readers, but recent scholarship on reading suggests that trusting library users to make their own decisions about what is appropriate reading material "respects the readers right to assign value to their reading" and "honors their ability to make reasoned decisions based on their own sociocultural circumstances."[5] Raber thoroughly examines a narrow but defining aspect of the Public Library Inquiry. His sources include correspondence between some of the principals, various ALA documents, the publications of the Inquiry, and appropriate secondary material. I noted one bit of misinformation: his claim that "World War II had witnessed the development of a service to military personnel similar to the Books for Sammies program" (p. 28) of World War I is misleading; in the later war the military, not the ALA, assumed responsibility for establishing and maintaining military libraries,[6] with the Victory Book Campaign, a joint effort of the ALA, USO, and Red Cross, providing supplementary books to those libraries. Rabers book also contains a number of typographical errors. _Librarianship and Legitimacy_ provides engaging reading, with highly germane applications to contemporary discussions of politics, mass media, the meaning of democracy, and the role of public libraries in American society. But it is hampered by the weakness of its subject: the Public Library Inquiry, while attempting to provide a realistic, empirically based model of library service instead offered a wishful vision that, although claiming to serve democracy, was in some ways undemocratic. The Inquiry ignored the reality of who actually uses the public library and the spectrum of legitimate reasons why. Notes [1]. Robert D. Leigh, _The Public Library in the United States: The General Report of the Public Library Inquiry_ (New York: Columbia University Press, 1950), 11. [2]. Ibid., 234-35. [3]. Wayne A. Wiegand, _Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey_ (Chicago: American Library Association, 1996), 373 [4]. Phyllis Dain, "Ambivalence and Paradox: The Social Bonds of the Public Library," _Library Journal_ (Feb. 1, 1975): 262. [5]. Wayne A. Wiegand, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Why Dont We Have Any Schools of Library and Reading Studies?" _Journal of Education for Library and Information Science (Fall 1997): 314-326. [6]. Arthur P. Young, _Books for Sammies: The American Library Association and World War I_ (Beta Phi Mu, 1981), 93. Copyright (c) 1998 by H-Net, all rights reserved. This work may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit is given to the author and the list. 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Date: Thursday, October 29, 1998 12:02 PM