Library Juice Number 1:43 - December 2, 1998
Contents: 1. Our Voice - Palestinian identity project from Birzeit University 2. ALA to vote on Gaza Resolution 3. _Review of Biblical Literature_ 4. Whiskey Creek Document Design 5. Dinah Sanders' proposed system for documenting the web design process 6. Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography [.pdf, Word] 7. Electronic Civil Disobedience and Hacktivism 8. INASP Resources for access to information in developing countries 9. CALL FOR PAPERS - JOURNAL for Global Information Management 10. SOS from Iaguba Diallo, Library Director, INEP in Guinea-Bissau 11. "French Library Fiasco" - an essay by Eric Fenster 12. List of LISTSERVS at the Library of Congress 13. Chapter 55, "Never Index Your Own Book," from Vonnegut's _Cat's Cradle_ 14. Art Crimes: The Writing On the Wall Quote for the week: Book reading is a solitary and sedentary pursuit, and those who do are cautioned that a book should be used as an integral part of a well-rounded life, including a daily regimen of rigorous physical exercise, rewarding personal relationships, and a sensible low-fat diet. *A book should not be used as a substitute or an excuse.* -Anonymous. (Spotted by Ann Symons on the bulletin board of the Lahaina Public Library in Hawaii) _______________________________________________________________________________ 1. Our Voice - Palestinian identity project from Birzeit University http://www.birzeit.edu/ourvoice/ Birzeit University, West Bank, Palestine, produces this engaging collection of original research, commentary, and other writings by staff and students at the University. Articles are organized in six sections: History, Politics, Culture, Society, Geography, and Economics. Some sections are sparse, but the overall quality of the works is high (especially with regard to Palestinian national and gender identities), and new pieces appear to be added on a regular basis. Current article topics include Islamic feminism; Shopkeepers, Peddlers and the Urban Resistance in the Palestinian Uprising; Women and the Intifada; The Black Banners and the Socio-Political Significance of Flags and Slogans in Medieval Islam; and a discussion with Edward Said. [MD] >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ _______________________________________________________________________________ 2. ALA to vote on Gaza Resolution This resolution, passed by the ALA International Relations Committee, will be presented to ALA council at the midwinter meeting. GAZA RESOLUTION 1998 Annual Conference CD #18.3 Resolution on the Libraries of the Gaza Strip/West Bank WHEREAS public, school, academic and other libraries in the Gaza Strip/West Bank are in very poor condition; and, WHEREAS scholars, students, teachers, and the residents of the Gaza Strip / West Bank have little or no access to any recent library materials; and, WHEREAS there are few trained library professionals and other support staff to provide adequate library service; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED that the American Library Association and its International Relations Committee offer assistance to the libraries and librarians of the Gaza Strip/West Bank in terms of resources, advice, expertise, and consultation as needed to assist in establishing good library services in the area, and that ALA cooperate with initiatives from other countries in the region to develop both short-term and long-range plans for library development in the Gaza Strip/West Bank. Endorsed by the ALA International Relations Committee June 30, 1998 ALA Policy 58.1 International Relations Policy Objectives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Library Juice commends this resolution and hopes for its passage but questions whether it will result in material assistance or merely lip service to the difficulties of librarians in the Gaza Strip/West Bank (Palestinian Autonomous Region). _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. _Review of Biblical Literature_ http://www.sbl-site.org/SBL/Reviews/reviews.html Published in both print and electronic formats by the Society of Biblical Literature, the _Review of Biblical Literature (RBL)_ is a "review of monographic literature in the field of biblical and related studies as well as reference works, commentaries, dictionaries, and biblical translations." This site hosts a database of over 400 reviews from 1996 to 1998. Users can browse by year, subject, author, or title. The database is also searchable by author, title, subject, reviewer, and keyword. Unlike most sites parallelling print publications, the review database appears to be current with the print version, with new reviews added on a regular basis. Additional resources include a Books Received Database and Instructions for Contributors. [MD] >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ _______________________________________________________________________________ 4. Whiskey Creek Document Design Whiskey Creek Document Design is an online journal covering all aspects of electronic document design. The editor, Diane Haugen, recently included Library Juice in the "quick takes" link section of the journal and notified me. The journal is nice for those involved in web publishing of any kind. The url for the journal is http://www.rrv.net/wcdd/. _______________________________________________________________________________ 5. Dinah Sanders' proposed system for documenting the web design process Dinah Sanders final project for the MLIS at San Jose State University was a proposal for a system of meta information documenting the design process in online environments. It is an interesting idea worth thinking about if you do a lot of design, especially for organizations with complex sites managed by groups of people that change over time. The URL for her proposal and related ideas, as well as a nice bibliography on web design, is: http://www.metagrrrl.com/design/index.htm _______________________________________________________________________________ 6. Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography [.pdf, Word] http://info.lib.uh.edu/sepb/sepb.html Version 22 of Charles Bailey's Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography (described in the November 22, 1996 Scout Report) has been recently released. The Bibliography is a selective collection of "over 800 articles, books, electronic documents, and other sources that are useful in understanding scholarly electronic publishing efforts on the Internet and other networks." Each section of the Bibliography is a separate Webpage, accessible from the Table of Contents. Last updates are noted, and links to full texts are provided when available. Users can also search using Boolean operators or download the Bibliography in Word or .pdf format. A collection of related links is also provided. [MD] >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ _______________________________________________________________________________ 7. Electronic Civil Disobedience and Hacktivism Electronic Civil Disobedience and the World Wide Web of Hacktivism A Mapping of Extraparliamentarian Direct Action Net Politics by Stefan Wray http://www.nyu.edu/projects/wray/wwwhack.html (sent to Media-L) _______________________________________________________________________________ 8. INASP Resources for access to information in developing countries To: NetInLib-Announce <netinlib-announce[at]targetinform.com> INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR THE AVAILABILITY OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION (INASP) announces INASP LINKS & RESOURCES - "Access to Information" New feature on INASP Web site As part of the Web site of the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications at http://www.oneworld.org/inasp/ The new INASP Links section, which can be found at http://www.oneworld.org/inasp/links/index.html provides a quick-access guide to selected Web sites and Internet resources which will be of special interest to the library and information science communities, and to scientists and publishers in developing countries. In particular it is designed to assist organizations involved in electronic networks for development, and those who are thinking of moving to an electronic environment for scholarly communication. The first two sections provide links to Web sites and resources on information and communication development, and electronic networks and ICT in developing countries. This includes links to organizations, professional associations, and NGOs active in thisarea, and who share INASP's objectives of improving access to information, and to strengthen book and journals publishing in the countries of the South. A separate section provides links to resources dealing with electronic publishing and computer-based scholarly communication. A short, for the most part descriptive annotation is provided for each Web site. In addition we include links to other agencies and networks involved in promoting sustainable development; together with links to organizations supporting book and library development, and book professional and other associations and learned societies. There are also a number of links relating to two INASP subject-specific programmes: (i) supporting health information provision; and, (ii) information provision for South-South rural development. A Resources section provides access to some of the best and richest Internet sites on development studies - and the major gateway sites for African, Asian, and Latin American studies - as well as offering links to some other useful Web sites and resources, including databases, bibliographies, newsletters, and more. Additionally, we provide links to, and short descriptions of, a small number of recommended Web guides, directories, and general gateway sites, as well as some recommended Internet tools, Internet training courses and tutorials, and guides to evaluating Internet resources. The INASP Links & Resources section will be regularly updated, and we would be pleased to receive suggestions for additional links that would be appropriate for inclusion in this section, particularly Web sites in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We would also appreciate reciprocal links from organizations, institutions, NGOs etc. included in our new links section. For more information: Carol Priestley, Director, INASP, PO Box 2564, London W5 1ZD Tel: +44-(0)181-997 3274 Fax: +44-(0)181-810 9795 E-mail: inasp[at]gn.apc.org or contact Hans M. Zell at inasp[at]gn.apc.org or hzell[at]dial.pipex.com _______________________________________________________________________________ 9. CALL FOR PAPERS - JOURNAL for Global Information Management LIBRARIES AND THE INTERNET: AN INTERNATIONAL AGENDA. Patricia Diamond Fletcher, ed. We are soliciting research papers for a special issue of the Journal for Global Information Management. The goal of this special issue is to provide an international picture of the issues to and the responses by libraries to providing services and information on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Public, academic, school, business, and other special libraries will be the subject of the discourse. Current research on effectiveness of library networks and on the potential directions for libraries in a networked environment will be presented to share library best practices, policy, and services. Cross-cultural library issues are solicited. Topics can include: v Development of Internet services in libraries v Special populations for Internet services v Budgeting, accounting, and funding Internet services v Policy issues v Training and staffing issues v Global libraries v Collection development and dissemination v Providing for the information "have-nots" v International copyright v Transborder data flow Important Deadlines: January 10, 1999 -- submissions from authors due to editor***** March 31 -- papers due back to editor from reviewers April 15 -- papers returned to authors for final editing June 1 -- papers due to publisher for Fall issue inclusion Guidelines for submission can be found at the JGIM website: http://www.idea-group.com/jgim.htm Direct all inquiries and submissions to: Patricia Diamond Fletcher, Ph.D. Department of Information Systems 1000 Hilltop Circle The University of Maryland Baltimore County Baltimore, MD, USA 21250 410-455-3154 410-455-1073 (fax) <fletcher[at]umbc.edu> *****SEE ALSO ***** the "Call for Chapters" for World Libraries on the Information Superhighway (Idea Group Publishing). Papers submitted for the above special issue of JGIM may also be considered - if received in time - for inclusion in the book. CHEERS! ************************************************************* Patricia Diamond Fletcher, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Information Systems Director, IFSM Graduate Program Faculty Associate, MD Institute for Policy Analysis & Research The University of Maryland, Baltimore County 1000 Hilltop Circle Baltimore, MD 21250 410-455-3154 410-455-1073 FAX URL: http://research.umbc.edu/~fletcher ************************************************************** CHEERS! ************************************************************* Patricia Diamond Fletcher, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Information Systems Director, IFSM Graduate Program Faculty Associate, MD Institute for Policy Analysis & Research The University of Maryland, Baltimore County 1000 Hilltop Circle Baltimore, MD 21250 410-455-3154 410-455-1073 FAX URL: http://research.umbc.edu/~fletcher ************************************************************** *********************************************************************** * 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 * *********************************************************************** _______________________________________________________________________________ 10. SOS from Iaguba Diallo, Library Director, INEP in Guinea-Bissau From: Carsten Frederiksen <cfrederi[at]IPOST.KK.DK> Subject: SOS Guinea-Bissau To: IFLA-L[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA This SOS from Iaguba Diallo, Library director, INEP in Guinea-Bissau, has been forwarded to Mrs. Deschamps, President of IFLA. The FAIFE Office has tranlated the text from French to English. Guinea-Bissau SOS from INEP Library, Guinea-Bissau >From Iaguba Diallo, Library director, INEP (National Institute of Studies and Research) Entire pages of the country's history risks to remain blank... I think it is of the outmost importance to bring this alarming information to the knowledge of the international library community. The war that has oppressed Guinea-Bissau in June 1998, between the military Junta representing 90% of the army supported by the former fighters of the struggle for national independence and 10% of the army sustained by troops from Senegal and Guinea-Conakry, called by the head of state, has already a heavy balance, though still inexact. The balance of deaths is yet unknown, it counts around 250.000 displaced and refugees and enormous material destruction caused by intense bombardments with heavy arms, that has been the mark of the 50 days of confrontation. Figuring among the infrastructures mostly affected by the destruction is the National Institute of Studies and Research - INEP, which is the largest and most active research institution in the country. The complex that houses the INEP was situated less than one kilometre off the front line when the hostilities began. It has been transformed into an advanced camp of the Senegalese troops. The transformation of the complex into army barracks, the counterpart bombardments this inevitably attracts to the area has caused immense damages. Due to the cease fire signed August 25 1998 emissaries of INEP has with great difficulties been authorised to visit their place of work. The balance of their first conclusions can only be summarised into one word: disaster. All the rooms of the institute has been opened by force, emptied of their contents and transformed into dormitories for the soldiers. All the work papers have been ejected to the outside and thus exposed to the inconsistency of weather. The holding of tens of computers containing the bases of the stock minutely collected during the past 15 years on all aspects of Guinea-Bissau has disappeared. The computers that havn?t disappeared have been broke open. Sensitive and rare materials like the unique list of numbered cartographies covering Guinea-Bissau have been exposed to dust and rain outdoors. The Library The library is one of the most important and vulnerable departments of INEP, encompassing the National Library deposits of the national intellectual production, and offices from the United Nations to the office of the National Bibliography, has been crashed open both through the roof and through the walls. The tropical rains that fall in Guinea-Bissau from the end of June are steadily entering the library. Its three levels, the basement, the ground floor and the second floor have become nightmares where thousands of books, reference documents, magazines, information manuals are scattered and computer cables are destroyed. It contained around 60.000 works, 1000 periodical titles and around 2.000 automated references constituting a national service centre for databases of computerised holdings, a significant number of diskettes with the structures and bases of registered holdings, a manual index with 15.000 references, machinery for production and sorting of documents, a lecture room with 40 seats, always overbooked. All these materials are scattered and exposed to rain and dirt. This year 1998, the library was doing a retrospective edition of the national bibliography 1987-1995 and a number of documentary products for research and promotion. Furthermore the national archives that are stored in the basement of INEP, are scattered and exposed to rain and dirt. Hundreds of audio cassettes recording the history of the struggle for independence narrated by its participants and witnesses are irrecoverable. Tens of cassettes on the oral tradition of the different regions of the country have disappeared. Photographs and films of the audio-visual archives have been dispersed and spread in the dirt. In other words entire pages of the historical memory of Guinea-Bissau are at risk of remaining irreparably blank or blurred. This is even more true as no general history of Guinea-Bissau can be found but in this institution of research. In a word the damages that has been suffered by INEP and the library reduce in birth the results of the efforts made since the achievement of independence to equip the library with a rich heritage accessible for those interested in reading and research on Guinea-Bissau. What is most painful, is that to this present date the complex containing INEP continues to be a military camp, despite the cease fire. The employees of the institute are not allowed to work there to save from destruction what might still be. The disaster has an inexorable consequence. This letter to inform you is also a SOS for the most important library in Guinea-Bissau threatened by annihilation. When the library ceases to be an army barrack a more specific balance will be effected and forwarded to you. I ask you kindly to forward this message to the various association members of IFLA all over the world. *********************************************************************** * 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 * *********************************************************************** _______________________________________________________________________________ 11. "French Library Fiasco" - an essay by Eric Fenster From: Eric Fenster <efenster[at]igc.org> Organization: Moscow Study Trips Subject: French library fiasco To: IFLA-L[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA Whatever its names--French National Library (BNF), Very Big Library (TGB), François Mitterrand Library, Tolbiac--and guises (general public, research, depository, virtual), the new French library was VDOA (very dead on arrival). The staff members have been on strike or supporting the strike for more than two weeks (a lifetime compared to typical French labor disputes), ever since shortly after the dysfunctional opening of the research floor. News reports have often been less than clear, if only because the issues are so many and complex, entangling working conditions and the inability to serve readers. The library administration has obfuscated, trying to pretend there are just a few computer glitches that will shortly be resolved, but observers with a more byzantine bent suspect the management is only all too happy about the strike because shutting down the library postpones discovery of the extent of the $1.5 billion failure. A design that could most politely be called utterly stupid has now clashed with and destroyed function. A simple glance at the building reveals much of the story: four 18-storey towers, about 800 feet apart, at the corners of a rectangle. Getting from one to the other can mean traveling as many as 36 floors down and up on a limited number of elevators that don't always work plus an endless trek. (Talk about unifying knowledge! CP Snow would be mortified.) Facing these obstacles assumes can get into the building in the first place, and a description of that process serves as a caricature of the whole enterprise. The stairs that must be climbed first are as wide as the whole building complex, but in wet weather only a fraction of the access is somewhat safe. The wood chosen by the very pompous, self- satisfied architect, Dominique Perrault, gets so slippery that early visitors had to hang onto the occasional railing (in keeping with the architect's penchant for austerity, the bannisters are made of steel and are freezing to the touch) to avoid joining the list of injured; now there are some narrow paths where a nearly invisible skid-resistant covering has been added. Once at the top (and, by the way, wheelchairs have to roll in the street along with the cars to find a ramp because no access has been cut into the high curb), there is the giant space of the esplanade to negotiate, a marvelous experience when there is wind and rain. There are no directional signs to the target, an invisible down ramp. Yes, having climbed the stairs, one has to descend again to reach the entrance. Entering, at least, is easy; there are no doors. The building is completely open to the elements and cold wind, rain and snow follow readers into the main hall. During the hike, there is time to admire the glass towers. These were going to be transparent, part of Perrault's theory that the whole library should be about a void, something parallel to his architectural brain, but as the whole world now knows, after being reminded that this would bake the books stored there he added protective wood panels. These are about a meter wide, floor to ceiling, and each mounted on a central pivot to let in or shut off light. I counted about 8,000 altogether, so because of their rotation on the pivot this design flaw correction wastes at least 8,000 square meters of space (roughly 84,500 square feet) of floor space. Inside, the anti-information mission of the library continues. Directional signs have been deliberately camouflaged in various ways. Gray on gray is one. Putting them out of sight (in particular for toilets) is another. These examples are just an introduction to a longer list of follies: hazardous placement of elevator motors, a ventilation system with inadequate pipes and that cooks and freezes people, a choice of linoleum for basement floors that is quickly gouged into ruts by book carts, water from the Seine River constantly seeping into and flooding the building (by design of the architect), insufficient space for staff and books, outlandish costs (about $900 for each reader's chair!). Perrault's ego hangs over all of this, and he has divided his time between self-praise and forbidding staff from defacing their (his) offices with so much as a photo of their children. Not surprising, this mammoth project was implemented without troubling to consult librarians, throwing a wrench into everything from the acquisition, to the receipt, to the distribution of books. To begin with, the four towers represent the division of the library by themes, an organizational choice at the root of many of the problems. There are inevitable contradictions when the French library's insistence on a thematic structure is imposed on an acquisitions process involving the countries of the world with their different languages and publishing and purchasing methods. At best, it is inefficient; at worst, there will be major gaps in collections. When the planning errors resulted in too few books having been purchased and received for the opening of the public part of the library, the solution was to remove the expensive and extremely heavy bookcases so as to salvage administrative pride by concentrating the collection to make it look substantial. When more books arrived, the massive furniture all had to be moved back and reinstalled. Clearly, zero thought was given to the human beings who would have to work in the stacks. No windows, no place to rest, no place to put one's affairs, insufficient light (the lights go on and off automatically, so one has to bob in front of the detectors to keep them on), immense distances to walk daily because of the dispersal of the books too large to fit in the automatic carrousels, minuscule lunch breaks because of the long round trip to the cafeteria. During work these employees are confronted with sliding bookcases that jam but can't be moved manually and with the risk of being hit by the moving book carrousels when they derail. All this for often less than the minimum wage and the "understanding" of the administrators who content themselves with explaining that now it's too late to bring the towers closer together or to bring light into hell. In other words, it's forever. This is the context in which the so-called computer "bugs" are just another detail, albeit the debilitating one. Ill-conceived (absence of multi-criteria searches, for example), incomplete, untested, constantly crashing and foisted on a staff without sufficient training, nothing seems to work except the PR machine that insists the promised radiant future is just a few weeks away. The number of books a researcher is allowed to request has been reduced many-fold below what was promised because the books take forever to arrive, if they do at all, and frequently researchers' library cards falsely register books they have never seen, blocking them from leaving the library until the guards can remove the suspicion of theft and use a special pass to release them. So far, this automated tribute to grandeur is short-handed with twice the staff of the old library, yet can't provide books. In some reading rooms of the public [non-research] section, it's a struggle to even get at the catalog because the same computers are used for both that purpose and for Internet access. France being very backward in that regard, thanks in large part to the telephone company's policies and pricing, the library is an attraction for people who'd like to go on line and can't do it at home. Once a surfer gets hold of a computer, catalog searchers are shut out. For these caprices, the readers are charged admission, because a decision was made to break with the tradition of free access to the public, the public's, library--for which, in this case, they have already paid four times the initial cost estimate in taxes. (The question of whose pockets may have been lined in this highly political and chummy project hasn't even been raised yet.) Not to risk a reputation of being user friendly, the administration adopted a policy of charging a deliberately dissuasive 2-3 times what commercial shops do for photocopies, and when somebody needs a break from the calvary of trying to get books, he will find similar overpricing in the cafeteria. The same spirit probably explains why the administration has forbidden the library staff from participating on Internet newsgroups that discuss library issues! To restore some of the disorder, find the books the system is losing and have time for proper training, the staff want to close to the public on Mondays instead of being open seven days per week. The administration, having to make a pretense of comprehension, has agreed... but just for three months. The strike continues. I emerged onto the esplanade from my visit, thankful that it was not raining. There were still no signs to say where the streets were, or the metro stations, but I knew that if I wandered long enough in Perrault's empty space, I'd eventually find my way home. +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Eric Fenster efenster[at]igc.org Moscow Study Trips 08 May-07 June 1999 19 June-12/19 July or 26 June-19 July 1999 Anecdotal accounts from 1992-1996, FAQs, sample daily schedule and photos: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/efenster *********************************************************************** * 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 * *********************************************************************** _______________________________________________________________________________ 12. List of LISTSERVS at the Library of Congress These are the lists available through listserv[at]loc.gov AACR1 Cooperative Cataloguing AACR1 List AACR2A Cooperative Cataloguing AACR2A List AACR2B Cooperative Cataloguing AACR2B List AACR3 Cooperative Cataloguing AACR3 List AMFELLOWS American Memory Fellows BIBCO Program for Cooperative Cataloging CLASS Minaret Online Classification Database Users [LOC use only] CMLS-TEAM CMLS Advisory Team CO-E-CONF LC Internal Use Only CO-LOOKING-FORWARD LC Internal Use Only CO-LOOKING2 LC Internal Use Only CO-STANFORD-CONF LC Internal Use Only CONSEREX Encoded CONSER Executive Committee CONSRLIN CONSER Program Newsletter CONSRLST CONSER Cataloging Discussion List CONSRPOL Conser Policy Committee discussion list DANCE-HC Dance Heritage Coalition DIGCONV Digital Conversion Group EAD Encoded Archival Description List FEDACQ-L FEDACQ List FEDCAT-L FEDLINK Members Only; Cataloging Discussion List FEDLIB FEDLIB: Federal Librarians Discussion List FEDLIBIT Federal Librarians Information Technology Discussion FEDPOL FLICC Policy Working Group FEDREF-L The Federal Reference Librarians Discussion List FITG FITG: FLICC Awards Working Group FLC-FACL FEDLINK Advisory Council FLC-FEBD FLICC Executive Board FWG-AWRD FLICC Awards Working Group FWG-BUDG FLICC Budget & Finance Working Group FWG-EDUC FLICC Education Working Group FWG-LCBC FLICC LC Bicentennial Working Group FWG-MEMB FLICC Membership & Governance Working Group FWG-NOMN FLICC Nominating Working Group FWG-PERS FLICC Personnel Working Group FWG-PRSV FLICC Preservation & Binding Working Group FWG-SURV FLICC Survey Working Group ILSNEWS Library of Congress Moderated ILS News List INET-DEV LC Internet Tools Development Discussion Group LAW2000 Law Library LAW-2000 Project LC-ANNOUNCE Library of Congress Announcements [LOC use only] LC-INTERNET LC Employess Internet Discussion List LCBUG LC BWS Users Discussion Group [LOC use only] LCCN Library of Congress Cataloging Newsline LISTOWN LOC LSOFT Listowner Discussion List [LOC use only] MAC MARC Advisory Committee MOA-ARCH Closed List MUG Minaret Users Group NDLF-PLANTF National Digital Library Federal Planning Task Force NDLF-POLICY National Digital Library Federal Policy Group NDLPCORE LC Core Employees National Digital Library Program NDLPPRESS Project Team for Digitizing Garden & Forest NDLPTEAM National Digital Library Program Team [LOC use only] NISOAL NISO Committee AL List NLS-REPORTS NLS Documents for Network Libraries OCLCFED FEDLINK OCLC Users Discussion List OVOP-L LC Overseas Operations Discussion List PARL-INFO Parliamentary Information Centers Discussion Group PCCAVC Cooperative Cataloguing A/V Core Record Task Group PCCLIST Program for Cooperative Cataloging PCCPOL Program for Cooperative Cataloging PCCTG1 Program for Cooperative Cataloging PCCTG2 Program for Cooperative Cataloging PCCTRNG Cooperative Cataloguing Training Subgroup PRESS Announcements from the Office of the Librarian REFTALKLC Reference Forum Steering Committee ROMANIA-L Not in use yet ... Coming Soon ... SF-LIT Science Fiction and Fantasy Listserv USCOPYRIGHT U.S. Copyright Office NewsNet USMARC USMARC USMARCCI USMARC _ Community Information Format User's Group UTECH Unicode Technical Issues Task Force (MARBI) WEBTEAM Library of Congress Web Developers WHRG U.S. Women's History Resource Guide ZCLIENT Public Domain Z39.50-1995 Client Discussion List ZDL-PROFILE Z39.50 Digital Library Profile [LOC use only] ZSTARTS Z39.50 Profile for the Stanford Project _______________________________________________________________________________ 13. Chapter 55, "Never Index Your Own Book," from Vonnegut's _Cat's Cradle_ (Sent by Jo Falcon to the email distribution list for her indexing class, SJSU SLIS, Spring 1998.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As promised in class, here's Chapter 55, "Never Index Your Own Book," from Kurt Vonnegut's _Cat's Cradle_ (1963: Holt Rinehart Winston, NY). I've edited slightly, mostly to take out things that don't make sense till you read the whole book and to save myself carpal tunnel syndrome. [The narrator is on a plane en route for the Island of San Lorenzo and is reading a history of the island (major characters: the dictator Monzano and the rasta-Zen prophet Bokonon), written by Philip Castle, whose father founded the hospital called the House of Hope and Mercy in the Jungle.] As for the life of "Aamons, Mona," the index itself gave a jangling, surrealistic picture of the many conflicting forces that had been brought to bear on her and of her dismayed reactions to them. "Aamons, Mona," the index said, "adopted by Monzano in order to boost Monzano's popularity, 194-199, 216n.; childhood in compound of House of Hope and Mercy, 63-81; childhood romance with P. Castle, 72f; death of father, 89ff; death of mother, 92f; embarrassed by role as national erotic symbol, 80, 95f, 166 n, 209, 247n, 40-406, 566n, 678; engaged to P. Castle, 193; essential naivete, 67-71, 80, 95f, 16n, 209, 274n, 400-406, 56n, 678; lives with Bokonon, 92-98, 196-197; poems about, 2n, 26, 114, 119, 311, 316, 477n, 501, 507, 555n, 689, 718ff, 799ff, 800n, 841, 846ff, 908n, 971, 974; poems by, 89, 92, 193; returns to Monzano, 199; returns to Bokonon, 197; runs away from Bokonon, 199; runs away from Monzano, 197; tries to make self ugly in order to stop being erotic symbol to islanders, 80, 95f, 116n, 209, 247n, 400-46, 566n, 678; tutored by Bokonon, 63-80; writes letter to United Nations, 200; xylophone virtuoso, 71." I showed this index entry to the Mintons, asking them if it didn't think it was an enchanting biography in itself, a biography of a reluctant goddess of love. I got an unexpectedly expert answer, as one does in life sometimes. It appeared that Claire Minton, in her time, had been a professional indexer. I had never heard of such a profession before... She said that indexing was a thing only the most amateurish author undertook to do for his own book. I asked her what she thought of Philip Castle's job. "Flattering to the author, insulting to the reader," she said. "In a hyphenated word," she said with the shrewd amiability of an expert, "_self-indulgent_. I'm always embarrassed when I see an index an author has made of his own work. It's a revealing thing... a shameless exhibition.... "He's obviously in love with this Mona Aamons Monzano... He has mixed feelings about his father... He's insecure... He'll never marry her... I've said all I'm going to say," she said. * * * Sometime later, Ambassador Minton and I met in the aisle of the airplane, away from his wife, and he showed me that it was important to him that I respect what his wife could find out from indexes. "You know why Castle will never marry the girl, even though he loves her, even though they grew up together?" he whispered... "Because he's a homosexual. She can tell that from the index, too." _______________________________________________________________________________ 14. Art Crimes: The Writing On the Wall http://www.graffiti.org/ Art Crimes was the first graffiti site on the Web, and with over 2,000 images of graffiti from over 80 international cities, it is probably the largest. Art Crimes' stated goal is to "provide cultural information and resources and to help preserve and document the constantly disappearing paintings." The site provides a comprehensive education on graffiti art for all visitors and also offers assistance to artists and writers who wish to contribute to Art Crimes' efforts to preserve graffiti by making it digital. Take advantage of the bibliography of books and articles, and links to Websites on graffiti and art in general. The What's New section provides a list of ongoing Web features at Art Crimes. For example, among the October listings, "HUH? has a whole new look" is a show of graffiti on Polish train cars. Artists should look under "How to Contribute to Art Crimes" for resources to help them get their art online, including tips on scanning and HTML tutorials. [DS] >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ _______________________________________________________________________________ L I B R A R Y J U I C E | 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: Tuesday, December 01, 1998 11:04 PM