Library Juice 1:37 - October 14, 1998
Contents: 1. Try this new site for JASIS 3. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift 4. Living Planet Report 1998--WWF 5. How to find Heaven and Hell on a map 6. Inference Find: the Intelligent Massively Fast Parallel Web Search 7. E. J. Josey Scholarship 8. JOIN THE ALA INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ROUNDTABLE 9. Vigdor Schreibman item: ALARMING MONOPOLY POWER ATTACK 10. Call For Papers - Katharine Sharp Review 11. Memo to Journalists: YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR TINY MINDS 12. Library Destroyed, discussion of library disaster preparedness 13. Minnesota Library Association's "Statement on Internet Access" 14. Montana Library Association filtering resolution 15. Discussion of NOW chapter advocating filtering, Editorial on Pornography 16. The Idiosyntactix Culture Jammers' Encyclopedia Quote for the week: In my day the library was a wonderful place.... We didn't have visual aids and didn't have various programs...it was a sanctuary.... So I tend to think the library should remain a center of knowledge. -Norman MAILER (1923- ) Cited in American Libraries, July/August 1980, p.411-412 ____________________________________________________________________________ 1. Try this new site for JASIS Sent to the email list for the SJSU SLIS: Hello: Try this site for JASIS: http://www.interscience.wiley.com/ I've registered, logged in, and retrieved full-text articles. It says there are now 13 years of JASIS available. By the way, it is available at CSUF on microfilm and in print for the last two years (check this). This is a slow interface with lots of browsing. It helps if you know which issue you're looking for. ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. News stories appearing in the October 12 American Libraries Online <http://www.ala.org/alonline/> * Congress Passes Internet Child-Protection Measures * Digital Copyright Bill Nears Approval by Congress * Children's Literacy Legislation Clears Senate * Pascagoula Library Sustains Hurricane Damage * University of Illinois Dedicates $21-Million Science Library * ACLU Urges School District to Reshelve Gay-Themed Titles * Rolling Stone Gathers Flak in Wisconsin School District * Phillips University Sells Library Collection American Libraries' Web site also features the latest "Internet Librarian" columns by Karen Schneider; AL's "Career Leads" job ads; listings of conferences, continuing-education courses, exhibitions, and other events from AL's "Datebook"; and Tables of Contents for the current year. ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift http://www.jaffebros.com/lee/gulliver/about.html The main feature of this site, a part-time project from librarian and dedicated Swift fan Lee Jaffe, is the text of the 1726 Motte edition of _Gulliver's Travels_ with corrections from the 1735 Faulkner edition. The site features not only an authoritative, hyperlinked edition of _Gulliver's Travels_, but also links to additional resources, source texts, study guides, scholarly societies and just about anything that could be of use to a Swift scholar or fan. Jaffe is still in the process of hyperlinking the text to a dictionary he has compiled for the purpose, and he has also assembled a collection of quotes, a list of Swift's neologisms, illustrations from other editions, and a timeline of relevant dates. Though Jaffe demurs, "I don't pretend that this is a scholarly edition," he may be too modest. [TK] >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ ____________________________________________________________________________ 4. Living Planet Report 1998--WWF Index: http://panda.org/livingplanet/lpr/index.htm Lite Site: [frames] http://panda.org/livingplanet/lpr/lp_index.html Enhanced Site: [RealPlayer, Flash] http://panda.org/livingplanet/lpr/flash.htm The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has recently published the inaugural Living Planet Report. This report analyzes environmental data in conjunction with global consumption patterns to calculate the cumulative effect that humankind has on the earth's ecosystems. The report consists of two major parts: the Consumption Pressure section and the Living Planet Index. The Consumption Pressure section measures the per capita resource consumption and pollution statistics from 152 countries to determine humanity's impact on earth. The Living Planet Index presents new data on the health of the forest, freshwater and marine ecosystems around the world from 1970-1995. Two versions of the report are available from the WWF: the Enhanced Site, which requires Macromedia Flash and RealPlayer; and the Lite Site, which provides the same information minus the plug-ins. [AO] >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. How to find Heaven and Hell on a map Subject: Re: geographic/place names X-To: American Name Society <ANS-L[at]BINGVMB.CC.BINGHAMTON.EDU> To: Multiple recipients of list ANS-L <ANS-L[at]BINGVMB.CC.BINGHAMTON.EDU> Edward, In regards to you statement that even Fundamentalists do not locate [Heaven and Hell] on maps. Well, maybe not Fundamentalists, but map makers do. An inquiry of the GNIS database of geographic names found on maps for the US for the term "Heaven" returned 63 place names which started with either Heaven or Heavenly. Hell is even more popular. There are 232 occurrences of that word starting a name including Hell Hole, AZ, Hell Town (historical), AL, and Hell Gate, FL (a populated place). If you don't know about Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and the US Board on Geographic Names you might give them a try at: http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/ Jane Messenger ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Inference Find: the Intelligent Massively Fast Parallel Web Search http://www.infind.com I tried Inference Find and I do get much better results with it than with other search engines. Relevance is better, and the presentation and lower hit-counts are convenient. I also like that there are fewer annoying ads. On the downside, some might be opposed to it on philosophical grounds, because it is feeding off the work of others. Since it gets its results by sending queries to other search engines it is exploiting the work of other companies, who would like to be able to promise their advertisers an audience. It doesn't bother me much, because as long as the internet is paid for by "free market" forces, whatever small fry companies can think of doing to get around the new dinosaurs should be encouraged. On the other hand, it is all automated, and doesn't benefit from the work of real live catalogers like at yahoo. Also, it doesn't have flexibility or powerful search limitations, like at at hotbot or lycos. But for simple useability on a first go at a web search, it's great. Here's copy from their website: INFERENCE FIND is the first and only search tool that calls out in parallel all the best search engines on the internet, merges the results, removes redundancies, and clusters the results into neat understandable groupings. Inference Find queries the best 6 search engines on the web, but can be configured to call any search engine. Currently we are calling WebCrawler, Yahoo, Lycos, Alta Vista, InfoSeek, and Excite. Each of these search engines is automatically called in parallel, and retrieves the maximum number of results each engine will allow. Some engines will return 250 documents, some as few as 10. InfoSeek, for example, is one of those that will return only 10 items at a time. To get the most out of it, InfoSeek is called 3 times in parallel to retrieve 30 items. Therefore, without Inference Find, it would take you 8 searches by hand, and still you couldn't produce the huge list of results that Inference Find does. That's because Inference Find searches each engine with the absolute maximum each engine will allow. This is far greater than the default that most users search with. And why should a user ask for 1000 of the best documents back? What would he do with them all! This is where "clustering" comes in. After retrieving this huge list results, Inference Find clusters the search results. Clustering is basically a process of putting similar items together. While other search engines sort their results by how well they match the query, Inference Find gets all the best results, and then groups the related items together. This makes the large results returned very understandable. You can quickly seee which documents are relevant and which are irrelevant. ____________________________________________________________________________ 7. E. J. Josey Scholarship The Black Caucus of the American Library Association is announcing the E.J. Josey Scholarship Award for 1999. Three Scholarship Awards of $2,000 will be given to three graduate students in an ALA accredited Library and Information Science program in the USA or Canada. Persons wishing to apply must: * Be an African American Citizen of the United States or Canada. * Be enrolled in a graduate program leading to a degree in library and information science at the time of application. * Submit an essay of 1,000 - 2,000 words discussing "Challenges and Opportunities Facing African American Librarians in the New Millenium" * Essays will be judged on the basis of good argument development and critical analysis, clear language, conciseness, and creativity. Submitted essays will not be returned. Special Instructions: Include a cover letter providing the applicant's name, address, phone number, graduate program, name of school and anticipated date of graduation. Double-spaced typing on all pages. Deadline for submissions: December 15, 1998. The recipient of the award will be notified by March 1, 1999. Submit your essay for the award to: E.J. Josey Scholarship Committee Att. Dr. Ismail Abdullahi Clark Atlanta University School of Library and Information Studies James P. Brawley Dr. at Fair Street, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30314 ____________________________________________________________________________ 15. Discussion of NOW chapter advocating filtering, note from Editor The International Relations Round Table (IRRT) is the organization that develops ALA's interests and activities in the global arena. BECOME AN IRRT MEMBER AND RECEIVE: *A subscription to "International Leads" *Information on international opportunities available to US librarians *A schedule of ALA programs featuring speakers from around the world BECOME AN IRRT MEMBER AND PARTICIPATE IN: *Preparation of guidelines and publications on international library issues *Discussions of international standards *Planning or international activities and events *Mentoring of international visitors at ALA meeings *Hosting international librarians *Organizing conference programs on international library topics *Assisting at the international lounge and international visitor orientation at the ALA Annual Conference - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **IRRT APPLICATION FORM** Print out the form below and mail it with your check to the address below. YES, I would like to join the IRRT*. Enclosed is $10.00 US Name:___________________________________________ Address:______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Phone:__________________Fax:__________________ E-mail:_______________________________________ ALA Membership number:________________________ *Must be an ALA member to join IRRT Mail to: ALA MEMBERSHIP SERVICES 50 EAST HURON STREET CHICAGO, IL 60611-2795 USA ____________________________________________________________________________ 9. Vigdor Schreibman item: ALARMING MONOPOLY POWER ATTACK From: Vigdor Schreibman <fins98[at]worldnet.att.net> IMPORTANT NEWS BULLETIN Please Route as Required ALARMING MONOPOLY POWER ATTACK Public Information Systems Targeted by ITI Distribution of income in the United States is the most inequitable in the world, among developed nations, plunging Americans into a national crisis. The reason for this situation, James K. Galbraith, says in his bold and convincing book, "Created Unequal" (1998), is because economic competition, "to establish a monopolistic position," is the norm which has been supported by the Federal Government since the early 1970s. Now we are witness to a potentially catastrophic attack on American democratic institutions by the Information Technology Industry (ITI). They are using their massive economic power -- gained in significant part by hundreds of billions of dollars in public subsidies during the past two decades -- to unfairly manipulate the political process. The immediate target of their attack is a takeover for private plunder of the government information systems of the country. Here is the story: http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/Fins-NC6-07.txt And related special reports: http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/Fins-SR6-06.txt http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/Fins-SR6-07.txt Vigdor Schreibman -- FINS 18 - 9th Street NE #206 Capitol Hill, Washington, DC 20002 phone: 202-547-8715; fax: same (call first) email: fins98[at]worldnet.att.net http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/ ____________________________________________________________________________ 10. Call For Papers - Katharine Sharp Review Call For Papers Katharine Sharp Review GSLIS, University of Illinois ISSN 1083-5261 (This information can also be found at http://edfu.lis.uiuc.edu/review) This is the first call for submissions to the Winter 1999 issue of the Katharine Sharp Review, the peer-reviewed e-journal devoted to student scholarship and research within library and information science. Articles can be on any topic that is relevant to LIS--from children's literature to electronic database manipulation to library marketing. Please take a look at previous issues for a sample of what is possible--but do not let that be your only guide! If you care passionately about some facet of LIS or have produced a research paper of which you are proud, consider submitting it to KSR. All submissions should be received by Monday, December 14, 1998. Although it is not required for submission, we would appreciate an abstract (of 150-200 words) or indication of intention to submit. Submitted articles must be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 200 words. For more information, including instructions for authors, please see the KSR webpage at either http://edfu.lis.uiuc.edu/review/call.html or http://mirrored.ukoln.ac.uk/lis-journals/review/review/ or you can email us at review[at]alexia.lis.uiuc.edu + + Kevin Ward Editor Katharine Sharp Review review[at]alexia.lis.uiuc.edu http://edfu.lis.uiuc.edu/review + + ____________________________________________________________________________ 11. Memo to Journalists: YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR TINY MINDS" That's how columnist Molly Ivins put it-and she may well have been speaking for millions of Americans when she assailed the media obsession with the President's sex life. "You shoved his sex life in our faces last January," wrote Ivins, "and rubbed our noses in it for eight months more, so by now we're more disgusted with you than with Bill Clinton." With Congressional elections weeks away, too many news outlets remain "all-Lewinsky, all-the-time." It may be good for ratings. It's not good for democracy-especially when Americans are ill-informed about major public issues from HMO reform to tobacco control to campaign finance reform to social security preservation. Abandoning any semblance of objectivity, national news outlets have worked hand-in-hand with the most partisan independent counsel in history. They've broadcast intimate details and illegal leaks from an unprecedented prosecutorial investigation of a politician's sex life. No wonder GOP strategists urged Republicans on Capitol Hill for months to stay tight-lipped and let the media do their job for them. --Disgusted with the Media? Speak Out! In the last two weeks, national news anchors have repeatedly encouraged the public to express their views to Congress on the President's conduct-and what his fate should be. But what about the media's conduct? If you're disgusted with the voyeuristic obsessions and political biases of the mass media on the eve of an election, now is the time to speak out directly to news executives. Long after President Clinton leaves office-whether early or on schedule-Americans concerned about democracy will have to grapple with a corporate-dominated news media that puts profits ahead of fair coverage and full debate. ### MSNBC General Manager 201-583-5050 mailto:world[at]msnbc.com mailto:letters[at]msnbc.com mailto:opinion[at]msnbc.com mailto:TheBigShow[at]msnbc.com mailto:TheNews[at]msnbc.com CNBC Primetime V.P. 201-585-6424 mailto:hardball[at]cnbc.com mailto:info[at]cnbc.com NBC News President 212-664-4611 mailto:nightly[at]nbc.com mailto:MTP[at]nbc.com Newsweek Editor 212-445-4470 mailto:letters[at]newsweek.com ABC News President 212-456-6200 mailto:netaudr[at]abc.com Time Editor 212-522-3817 mailto:letters[at]time.com CBS News President 212-975-7825 mailto:realitycheck[at]cbs.com New York Times Editor 212-556-1157 CNN Chair 404-827-1311 mailto:cnn.onair[at]cnn.com Washington Post Editor 202-334-7512 Fox News President 212-301-8224 mailto:comments[at]foxnews.com USA Today Editor 703-276-5993 mailto:editor[at]usatoday.com ____________________________________________________________________________ 12. Library Destroyed, discussion of library disaster preparedness Approved-By: ifla[at]NLC-BNC.CA Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 11:47:40 -0400 Reply-To: International Federation of Library Associations mailing list <IFLA-L[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA> Sender: International Federation of Library Associations mailing list <IFLA-L[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA> From: "CLAYTON KIRKING (Clayton Kirking)" <KIRKINGC[at]NEWSCHOOL.EDU> Subject: Library Destroyed To: IFLA-L[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA Please forgive any duplicate posting. September 24, 1998 Below is the text of a letter from Stephen Kaplan, Rector of Altos de Chavon School of Design in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Altos de Chavon is affiliated with, but not funded by, Parsons School of Design. An agreement exists between the schools which allows third year students to apply as degree students to Parsons, completing their degrees in New York City. Each year 12 - 18 students begin as juniors at Parsons, most on full scholarships. Over a period of years, and especially during the last three, the Adam and Sophie Gimbel Design Library has aggressively contributed materials and equipment to the library at Altos de Chavon. The Dominican Republic is a country in which all library materials are precious. Highly specialized resources are even more highly prized. I have been particularly proud to be able to arrange significant donations to Altos de Chavon. Working with Dominican students enrolled at Parsons, the Gimbel Library has been able to supply materials that fill a recognized need. The Library had become one of the "jewels" of the Altos campus. Yesterday hurricane Georges destroyed the library building and its collections of books, serials, magazines and slides. The Rector, alumni, students and administrators are devastated. After speaking with Mr. Kaplan, I volunteered to post his text to the art/design library and VRA communities in an effort to begin to rebuild the library. The areas of study at Altos are: Fashion Design, Fine Arts, Illustration, Interior Design and Graphics Design. Materials in these fields, as well as their allied and support studies were the basis of the library. The library housed materials in all languages. Mr. Kaplan has sent out the following letter to individuals associated directly with the school, I am sending this to the art/design library and VRA communities with the knowledge that we understand what a blow this loss has delivered--and will continue--to deliver to the mission of this exceptional school. Stephen Kaplan, Altos de Chavon School of Design, Parsons School of Design, and I will be grateful for any materials which can be given to begin to reconstruct this collection. Clayton Kirking Director Adam and Sophie Gimbel Design Library Parsons School of Design Rector Kaplan's text follows. Dear Friends of Altos de Chavon, No doubt you have heard of the devastation hurricane Georges caused to the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic received the storm full force and La Romana was devastated. The School of Design suffered a direct hit. Although the buildings still stand, there has been great damage. It seems as if classes will not be able to be resumed for two to three weeks. There is no water, electricity, nor phone service at this time. The airports are closed. The saddest loss at Chavon was our library. The roof blew off the building and the books were destroyed by wind and rain. It took seventeen years to build what many called the best art and design library in the Caribbean. Those of you who have used the library at Altos de Chavon know what a great resource it was. We are asking all of our friends, alumni, former artists-in-residence, our lecturers, and suppliers to consider making a donation to help rebuild the collection. Donations of books [magazines, slides] or money are tax deductible....Send or drop off donations at Altos de Chavon, c/o Parsons School of Design, 66 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10011. If you are donating a large number of books [or materials], call us and we will have them picked up or pay the shipping charge to get them to Parsons. Sincerely, Stephen D. Kaplan Rector The Altos de Chavon School of Design *********************************************************************** * IFLA-L is provided by the International Federation of Library * * Associations and Institutions (IFLA). For further information about * * IFLA activities, including organization or personal affiliate * * information, contact: IFLA[at]ifla.org * * * * URL: www.ifla.org * *********************************************************************** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I would hope [ALCTS] would consider expanding their clearinghouse function, developing an opportunity for volunteer participation, mounting disaster preparedness information and links on the ALA website, establishing liaison with pertinent international agencies, and in concert with the Fund for America's Libraries, to develop a streamlined way to channel offers of financial assistance to libraries that have experienced damage. ------------------------ With appropriate formatting, and the inclusion of a funding mechanism, the above would be a good resolution for Midwinter. Karen G. Schneider - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dear Sue (& other interested colleagues), Thanks for your message noting that something helpful for everyone interested in preparing their libraries for an unforeseen disaster would be for ALCTS to provide a guide. Actually, there are some excellent published guides already out there in the literature. For my classes in Preservation Management, I have the following titles listed on my syllabus reading list: Brooks, Constance. DISASTER PREPAREDNESS. Washington, DC: ARL, 1993. Drewes, Jeanne M. & Julie A. Page. PROMOTING PRESERVATION AWARENESS IN LIBRARIES: A SOURCEBOOK ... Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1997. Fortson, Judith. DISASTER PLANNING & RECOVERY. New York: Neal-Schuman, 1992. Kahn, Miriam. "Mastering Disaster: Emergency Planning for Libraries." LIBRARY JOURNAL 118 (Dec. 1993), p. 73-75. Murray, Toby. BIBLIOGRAPHY ON DISASTERS, DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND DISASTER RECOVERY. Tulsa, OK: University of Tulsa, 1987. Rhodes, Barbara J. HELL & HIGHWATER: A DISASTER INFORMATION SOURCEBOOK. New York: METRO, 1989. Trinkley, Michael. HURRICANE! SURVIVING THE BIG ONE: A PRIMER FOR LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS AND ARCHIVES. Atlanta, GA: SOLINET, 1993. Water, Peter. PROCEDURES FOR THE SALVAGE OF WATER-DAMAGED MATERIALS. 2nd ed. Washington: USGPO, 1988. There also is a splendid column on practical preservation activities published every 3 or 4 months, written by current LITA prexy Barbra Higginbotham in TECHNICALITIES (which I edit -- pardon the plug, but it covers many things including issues about recovery processes that people don't think about, such as how to fund them, staff them, etc.). Hope this helps, right away! /Sheila ************************************ Sheila S. Intner, Councilor at large & ALCTS President - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Alex -- Thank you for the rapid response to a stated need! Wow! I am impressed with the speed at which this page got designed and mounted. Seems like only last week when the general need for it as a resource was expessed on the Council listserv, er, ah, discussion list and here it is! I checked it (http://www.ala.org/alcts/publications/disaster.html) out and, for me, it hits the nail right on the head. My only quibble is the eternal location, location, location one -- is it located on the ALA/ALCTS page a spot that is intuitive enough for the non-regular user to find? I guess the answer is, if the person can search the ALA site then they will find it. Or perhaps the answer is in the metatdata -- has the site been cataloged in OCLC (or elsewhere) with a PURL? I'm not a cataloger but I think that is the correct jargon. :-) I hope American Libraries will create a story to give the new site some publicity and create awareness in the library community. Thanks again for the hard work and great site! -- Ethelle Bean, South Dakota Chapter Councilor Ethelle S. Bean, Director, Karl E. Mundt Library ____________________________________________________________________________ 13. Minnesota Library Association's "Statement on Internet Access" ***************************************************** Statement on Internet Access Adopted by Minnesota Library Association October 1998 The Minnesota Library Association believes that a democracy can only succeed if its citizens have access to the information necessary to form opinions and make decisions on issues affecting their lives. It supports the principle of open access to information and ideas, regardless of the medium in which they exist. In addition, libraries provide opportunities to access the world of information to those who would not otherwise have such access. Therefore, the Minnesota Library Association has endorsed the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights, Code of Ethics, Freedom to Read Statement, and its interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights. As an extension of these intellectual freedom principles, the Minnesota Library Association endorses a position of full and free access to the Internet in libraries. This position is strengthened by the Supreme Court ruling which states that communications on the Internet receive the same level of constitutional protection as books, magazines, and newspapers. The Association recognizes the issues and concerns generated from providing full access to the Internet. The debate regarding the use of filtering devices in response to these concerns is an important one. However, filtering devices block access to constitutionally protected speech and prevent the library users from accessing materials they determine to be most suitable for themselves. Therefore, the Minnesota Library Association does not recommend the use of Internet filters in libraries and opposes attempts by federal and state governments to mandate their use. The Minnesota Library Association respects the responsibility of all parents/legal guardians to guide their own children's use of the library, its resources and services. The Association recommends that libraries teach responsible and effective use of the Internet through handouts, online guides, training sessions, and Web pages highlighting library recommended sources. In addition, the Association encourages the management of this resource in ways that protect the privacy of Internet users. ____________________________________________________________________________ 14. Montana Library Association filtering resolution The Montana Library Association, Academic Special Libraries Division, unanimously adopted the following resolution on Internet filters: ------------- A Resolution on the Mandated Use of Internet Filters in Libraries Whereas, in light of recent and controversial efforts by federal and state entities to impose the mandated use of Internet filters on school and public libraries, and Whereas, libraries provide unfettered access to information in order to maintain an informed citizenry in our democratic society, and Whereas, objective evaluation of existing Internet filters reveals serious and inherent flaws in such software which unintentionally block valid sites while not blocking all sites which may prove potentially offensive to someone, and Whereas, prior restraint on access to information may be unconstitutional, and Whereas, librarians in public libraries do not serve a role as in loco parentis and cannot judge what a parent may wish for his or her child, and Whereas, sweeping state or federal constraints circumvent the rights of local citizens to exert local control Therefore be it resolved that the ASLD supports the principle of free and unrestricted access to information as a foundation of an informed citizenry in a democratic society, And be it further resolved that, the ASLD opposes broad mandates to restrict access to the Internet through the exclusive use of Internet filters. And be it further resolved that the Montana Library Association does not recommend the use of Internet filters and opposes attempts by the federal or state governments to require such use. We believe that decisions regarding use of Internet filters must remain at the local level. ____________________________________________________________________________ 15. Discussion of NOW chapter advocating filtering, note from Editor (first message is from Chuck Munson, to srrtac-l and librarians[at]tao.ca) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pretty disgusting. Pretty typical of liberal "feminist" organizations. In Library Filtering Case, an Unusual Ally http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/cyberlaw/02law.html -- Chuck0 Anarcho-Feminism Page http://burn.ucsd.edu/~mai/afem_kiosk.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sorry Chuck, but I don't think >Pretty typical of liberal "feminist" organizations. is necessarily applicable in this case. As the article states a chapter of NOW (100 folks in Dulles, Virginia) "filed a pro-filtering friend of the court brief" not NOW, the national organization. The article also reads "Loretta King, a spokeswoman for NOW, said the national organization "is not involved in any way" with the Loudoun lawsuit. The president of the statewide Virginia NOW, Connie Hannah, also distanced herself from the Dulles group's efforts, noting that the state organization issued a statement last June that strongly opposed Internet filtering. She said that while the Virginia NOW opposes sexual harassment in all its forms, library filtering was a flawed and constitutionally suspect solution." There is a distinction between a national organization and a chapter with 100 folks. By the way, what exactly do you mean by >Pretty typical of liberal "feminist" organizations<, I'm curious. This strange "comment" on my more "mainstream" sisters (and I do mean NOW not the Dulles chapter) sort of raises my fur, Chuck. ~Debbie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MIT LCS/AI Reading Room (617)253-5896~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I agree with people here that this is not cause for undue feminist bashing. Some reproach, however, as Chuck points out, is occasionally deserved. One example is his earlier one of NOW's exploitation of RICO to suppress anti-abortion speech. Another is Ms. magazine and Gloria Steinem's promotion of the now-discredited psycho-theories concerning "repressed (incest) memory" and "satanic ritual abuse." And, of course, it is not only 100 feminists in Virginia who would pass laws outlawing pornography. Carol Reid New York State Library - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Chuck0 [SMTP:chuck[at]tao.ca] Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 1998 5:50 PM To: SRRT Action Council Subject: Re: Why is NOW supporting Internet censorship in libraries? I'll lay off NOW for now, but I want to point out that Gloria Steinem admitted that she took money from the CIA at one point, which is cause enough to be wary of her. I'm sure there are lot of good NOW members out there and they should be concerned about this Loudon County chapter which has been swept into this 1950s time warp. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Okay, but why all the surprise about a feminist group opposing pornography? Now, I like my fashion magazines as much as the next guy, but I can't just brush aside arguments that pornography is harmful on grounds of, ah, intellectual freedom. I think the usual opposition to filters (and my own) is that they censor websites that are not set up for sexual arousal. We can be committed to intellectual freedom without extending library services to cover the provision of pornography in a public place. I am personally ambivalent about pornography, and I think there are potentially social/community issues which make it justifiable to keep pornography (to be distinguished in some way from erotica, I would believe) out of libraries. If there is an effect on others (and I don't know whether there is or not) then it's not so easy to call it a personal choice. I don't have a strong opinion about this issue. I just don't feel that we should be surprised that a feminist group has taken a position against pornography in libraries, even if feminist debate has vanished, or seems to have vanished, in the last decade or so. Rory Litwin - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Barta, Carol Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 1998 3:25 PM To: 'Chuck0' Subject: RE: Why is NOW supporting Internet censorship in libraries? I don't think they are entirely unreasonable in their stand. Many women are made uncomfortable by the public display of pornographic images. Though we don't filter at BCCC, part of our user agreement bans the public viewing of such images based on our sexual harassment policy. The standard in sexual harassment cases is "the reasonable woman..." If the students are viewing this in their dorm rooms we can't do much about it, but we ask them to stop, if they are viewing sexually explicit images in the library or computer labs. The policy has not been tested in court, but one teacher threatened to bring a suit if we did not institute the policy. The lawsuit and current legislation are a waste of time and energy. What we need is some creative cataloging genius to devise a system whereby one could search for information without stumbling on pornography and conversely search for pornography without having to sort through other kinds of information. Sandy??? Carol Carol Barta Director of Library Services Barton County Community College 245 NE 30 Road Great Bend, KS 67530 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It seems to me that the question of pornography is mult-faceted. And here, the feminist opposition to pornography misses the boat. There are at least 4 kinds of pornography: straight, lesbian for a male audience, lesbian for a lesbian audience, and gay male. I have heard the following arguments against pornography: 1) that the participants are forced into it and loose control of their lives - and - 2) that it causes the readers to react violently against women. Neither seems to be true in the gay male pornographic industry. In response to the first -- Witness the reaction of the porn stars to the AIDS crisis - they started using condoms and did public relations spots in magazines and movies urging widespread condom use and the development of safe sex practices. If the gay men in the porno industry can do take matters into their own hands; then the straight, gay, and bi women should be able to as well. Maybe the problem is not the porn industry but the socialization of women so that they still fail to take charge of their own lives. In response to the second, I do not think that gay male porno causes violence against women - and in all my years of reading the gay male press, I have not heard of any claims that it causes gay men to commit violence against gay, straight, or bi men. So this leads me to several conclusions: 1) that it is not pornography that is at fault, but that the individuals involved are using it as a shield from accepting responsibility for their own actions, 2) that research on pornography has been limited to that pornography geared towards straights audiences and that research on gay audiences needs to be completed to determine if the claimed responses in straight audiences are duplicatible in gay ones, 3) and that gays are more sophiscated than straights and can deal with pornography without become anti-social and/or violent and, if they are in the industry, know how to deal with the demands of the producers, directors, and consumers. Thoughts? -- Stephen - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From the editor: Thinking about pornography is difficult, and not only because of shame. I feel that it is hard to understand many things about human life, and where our senses get aroused it's only that much more difficult to think. I am personally ambivalent about pornography, and erotica, for the same reason that I am ambivalent about our culture's absorption in images of all kinds at the expense of reality. I fear that pornography in particular can interpose itself between people who might otherwise connect more completely. The idea that it causes violence against women could turn out to be absurd, and yet it could still be true that the time spent looking at pornography could affect people's real relationships in some uncomprehended way. Maybe it substitutes a relationship with oneself, to some degree, for a relationship to another. Maybe it can influence men to see women as sex objects more than they would otherwise. Possibly more of a problem, most men take it for granted that some form of external stimulation is necessary for masturbation. When pornography is used this way (and that is its primary use), what happens to the imagination? Wouldn't it be healthier for our psyches to use only our own minds to get aroused? The imagination has a way of revealing ourselves to ourselves in a way that no other feedback can, as Freud and many others have known. Pornography doesn't exactly have that power to keep us honest. On the other hand, it seems to me that pornography (and erotica) could just as easily be a harmless pleasure for many people, and it could be simply a good thing that society's shame surrounding it continues to vanish. Perhaps the problems that have been associated with it have to do with enjoying it alone rather than with friends or lovers. It is difficult to know. Any hypotheses that are subtle enough would be impossible to test. It is even difficult to know whether pornography is harmful to children, and in the absence of any positive knowledge it's reasonable for parents to be afraid. The issues in a public library are more particular than in society at large, because the space in a library is shared, and is affected by what happens in it. Libertarian arguments are not as strong in a shared environment, where no-ones life is confined to their own private sphere. While I don't have much hope for research in the area to find out anything really informative, I hope for more of a dialog. I believe that many people who are opposed to pornography have silenced themselves out of fear of seeming prudish and old fashioned, or an expectation of getting trashed in an unpleasant argument with a dozen angry men. I think it's also a case where people feel that their own opinions about it are so self evidently true that they don't know how to begin communicating with people who have a different point of view. The answer to that is to critically examine your own feelings, ask yourself seriously why you feel the way you do, and then be open about it. ____________________________________________________________________________ 16. The Idiosyntactix Culture Jammers' Encyclopedia http://www.syntac.net/hoax/ No room to annotate it! Sorry! ;) ____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ | | | # # ##### ##### ## ##### # # | | # # # # # # # # # # # # | | # # ##### # # # # # # # | | # # # # ##### ###### ##### # | | # # # # # # # # # # # | | ###### # ##### # # # # # # # | | | | | | # # # # #### ###### | | # # # # # # # | | # # # # # ##### | | # # # # # # | | # # # # # # # # | | #### #### # #### ###### | | | | | | http://www.libr.org/Juice/ | | | | Except where noted, items appearing in Library Juice | | are copyright-free, so feel free to share them with | | colleagues and friends. Library Juice is a free weekly | | publication edited by Rory Litwin. Original senders | | are credited wherever possible; opinions are theirs. | | Your comments and suggestions are welcome. | | mailto:Juice[at]libr.org | |__________________________________________________________|
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Date: Thursday, October 29, 1998 11:59 AM