Library Juice 2:13 - March 31
Contents: 1. Intellectual Freedom Supplements to this week's Library Juice 2. Yahoo Internet Life column on filtering 3. Alaska Library Association Statement on Internet Filtering 4. Maryland Library Association Statement on Electronic Access to Information 5. LRB-2068/2 Requires Internet Filters (Wisconsin) 6. Two articles on filtering 7. American Libraries Online March 29 news stories (ad) 8. "A collection of (mainly) special search engines 9. ALA/SRRT Feminist Task Force Website 10. NY Times article, "Gender Bias on Campus" 11. Data Warehousing Career Newsletter 12. Scout Report sources on Yugoslavia air strikes 13. Long list of sources on the Balkans War, from AGITPROP NEWS 14. Librarians Against the Bombing of Kosovo & Serbia 15. "Big and Small Booksellers Take Battle Online" (article) 16. Open Net, Padlocked Libraries (Excerpt from NETFUTURE #87) 17. Materials relating to the Congress on Professional Education 18. "What I Really Learned in Library School," by Karen Elliot 19. Irene Newman's 104th Birthday 20. Blue Moon today Quote for the week: "I love the smell of a desperate librarian." -Principal Snyder to Mr. Giles (the librarian) on last night's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (3/29/99) ____________________________________________________________________________ 1. Intellectual Freedom Supplements to this week's Library Juice: This week's Library Juice comes with two supplements, which are on the web. The first is a discussion on the ALA Council Listserv following the recent Filtering Summit. It can be found at the URL: http://libr.org/Juice/issues/vol2/LJ_2.13.s1.html The second is selections from a discussion on LIBREF-L in December and January on the "tap on the shoulder" method of internet use policy enforcement. This is followed by some questions from the editor that make an attempt at reaching the underlying issues. It can be found at: http://libr.org/Juice/issues/vol2/LJ_2.13.s2.html ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Yahoo Internet Life column on filtering Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 04:20:43 -0900 To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org> From: "Ann K. Symons" <symons[at]alaska.net> Subject: Filtering Mime-Version: 1.0 Reply-To: symons[at]alaska.net Sender: owner-alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org FYI - A very interesting column in Yahoo Internet Life - with quotes from Karen Schneider. Charles Pappas Blocking Hate; Can Software Shield You from Extremist Sites Yahoo Internet Life, March 1999 http://www.zdnet.com/yil/content/columnists/pappas9903.html ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. Alaska Library Association Statement on Internet Filtering The Alaska Library Association recognizes concerns regarding access to the Internet. The use of Internet filters to prevent such access has been widely suggested, but poses many problems for libraries. Filters can block valuable information, thus preventing the library from fulfilling one of its primary missions. In addition, filters may prove unconstitutional in public institutions, since some of the information they block is constitutionally protected speech. The Alaska Library Association does not recommend the use of Internet filters in libraries and emphatically opposes attempts by federal and state governments to mandate their use. ____________________________________________________________________________ 4. Maryland Library Association Statement on Electronic Access to Information The Maryland Library Association supports the principle of open and equitable access to information and ideas, regardless of the format in which they exist. The Association upholds the right of each person to electronically access constitutionally protected information and ideas in libraries. The Association also upholds the confidentiality of user records as stated in State and Federal law. The Maryland Library Association reaffirms its endorsement of the American Library Association's intellectual freedom documents, including the Library Bill of Rights, the Interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read, the Statement of Professional Ethics and Libraries: An American Value. The Association also reaffirms its endorsement of the American Film and Video Association's Freedom to View Statement. Restrictions on electronic access to constitutionally protected information and ideas are not consistent with the Maryland Library Association's position on intellectual freedom and access to information. Therefore the Maryland Library Association emphatically opposes any State or Federal government restrictions on electronic access to constitutionally protected information and ideas, including mandating the use of Internet filters in libraries. Adopted by the MLA Executive Board on March 16, 1999. ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. LRB-2068/2 Requires Internet Filters (Wisconsin) From: Douglas Baker <dbaker[at]kenosha.lib.wi.us> Date: Friday, March 19, 1999 1:22 PM Subject: LRB-2068/2 Requires Internet Filters ATTENTION Representative Mike Huebsch (R- West Salem) has introduced a bill into the Assembly (now called LRB-2068/2) which will require ALL "educational agencies" which receive TEACH grants to install Internet filters. Failure to install the filter will make the agency ineligible for TEACH grants. "Educational agencies" means school districts, private schools, CESA's, technical colleges, private colleges, and public libraries. Federal courts have long held that there is a distinction between K-12 schools (which deal exclusively with minors) and postsecondary educational institutions. Federal courts make the same distinction between school libraries and public libraries. Internet filtering by a public library has been ruled illegal by a Virginia federal court. The court's opinion is available at http://lw.bna.com/lw/19980421/972049.htm We must get the message out that no Internet filter works very well. Useful sites are made unavailable, and porno and hate sites slip by the filter. This arbitrarily restricts information to students and library customers; while at the same time, it gives parents a false sense of security that their kids can't get to porno sites. Doug Baker Kenosha Public Library 812 56th Street PO Box 1414 Kenosha, WI 53141-1414 (414) 605-2160, Ext. 1024, Phone (414) 605-2170 FAX dbaker[at]kenosha.lib.wi.us ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Two articles on filtering Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 09:04:55 -0700 From: James LaRue <jlarue[at]csn.net> To: mai[at]burn.ucsd.edu Subject: another link for you Stumbled across your page today, and thought I'd pass on the URL for a piece I wrote for the Colorado State Library and the Central Colorado Library System -- a primer for Trustees on what filtering is, does, and doesn't do. It's at http://www.sni.net/~jlarue/iff.html Also, a good technical piece by a Colorado computer consultant about just why filtering CANNOT work: http://www.jefftech.net/libfilter.html Keep up the great work. === James LaRue * jlarue[at]csn.net * http://www.csn.net/~jlarue/ Voice: (303) 688-8752 FAX: (303) 688-1942 "When I'm good I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better." -- Mae West === ____________________________________________________________________________ 7. American Libraries Online March 29 news stories (ad) Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 15:34:02 -0600 From: "Gordon Flagg" <gflagg[at]ala.org> To: member-forum[at]ala.org Subject: American Libraries Online March 29 news stories (ad) Reply-To: member-forum[at]ala.org Sender: owner-member-forum[at]ala.org News stories appearing in the March 29 American Libraries Online http://www.ala.org/alonline/ * U.S. News and World Report Ranks Library Schools * First Lady Launches Children's Defense Fund Library * ALA Washington Office Director Henderson Announces Retirement * Internet Watchdogs Blast Overreach of SmartFilter * ALA Voices Opposition to Database Protection Bill * Phoenix Discards 2,000 Volumes Following Sewage Leak in Rest Room * Oklahoma City Library Staff Members Robbed at Gunpoint * Wellesley Fire Causes Little Damage * Plano Children May Need Parents' OK to Surf at the Library * Arizona Filtering-Mandate Bill Gains Ground * Savannah Decision Delayed to Await Black Caucus Report * Business Manager Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $400,000 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. ____________________________________________________________________________ 8. "A collection of (mainly) special search engines Dear colleagues, On Feb 23 1999 03:57:00 GMT "Bidwell, Pam" <BidPam[at]topnz.ac.nz> posted a question about free databases on the web. She got a few reactions by people mentioning several databases known to them. I would like to point out that there are already large collections of such databases on the Web, so that one doesn't have to rely on one's personal experience. You'll find them in the Databases part of my "A collection of (mainly) special search engines": http://www.leidenuniv.nl/ub/biv/specials.htm Marten Hofstede hofstede[at]rulub.LeidenUniv.NL from ResPool - http://members.tripod.com/~rtiess/respool.htm ____________________________________________________________________________ 9. ALA/SRRT Feminist Task Force Website Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 10:29:51 -0400 From: Rosemary McAndrew <mcandrew[at]crab.rutgers.edu> To: feminist[at]mitvma.mit.edu Subject: FTF WEB SITE Please take a look at our web site! http://www.lib.wayne.edu/ftf/ Check out what's happening at ALA annual in New Orleans, e.g. Author's Breakfast or Women's Night Out; Sign on for the SHARE DIRECTORY; Read an Interview with Ginu Kamani (one of our Feminist Author's Breakfast participants from the San Francisco conference of '97); check out the feminist resources or send an email to me at my new address! Many thanks to Adriene Lim for her work on this. Rosemary McAndrew Co-Coordinator, Feminist Task Force ____________________________________________________________________________ 10. NY Times article, "Gender Bias on Campus" The Sunday New York Times leading editorial today (March 28, 1999) is entitled Gender Bias on the Campus: GENDER BIAS ON THE CAMPUS The American Association of University Professors last month reported that the gap in salaries between male and female faculty members of the same rank actually worsened from 1975 to 1998, even though the proportion of women teaching at universities and colleges grew over that period. Women are moving into academia in greater numbers, but they seem to be less valued and more likely to be relegated to lesser-paying jobs in lower-ranking institutions. for the entire editorial, http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/28sun2.html ____________________________________________________________________________ 11. Data Warehousing Career Newsletter Vance Bell wrote: From: vbell[at]dept.english.upenn.edu (Vance Bell) Subject: Data Warehousing Career Newsletter Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 13:32:21 -0500 (EST) Data Warehousing Career Newsletter http://softwarejobs.com/dataware.html Welcome to The Data Warehousing Career Newsletter! Established in 1996, The Data Warehousing Career Newsletter is the only publication of its kind. Each edition contains a sampling of data warehousing job opportunities, as well as news and views from the field, and articles on building and managing your d ata warehousing career. Contact: Rachel Meyers rmeyers[at]softwarejobs.com (From NewJour-L) ____________________________________________________________________________ 12. Scout Report sources on Yugoslavia air strikes ====== In The News ==== 22. Airstrikes on Yugoslavia BBC News: Kosovo Crisis [RealPlayer, Frames] http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1998/kosovo/ NATO Air Strikes Against Yugoslavia: "War in Europe" -- USIA http://www.usia.gov/admin/005/wwwh9m25.html Editorial Cartoons on Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia http://www.cagle.com/news/yugo/ Kosovo Issue Area -- CDI http://www.cdi.org/issues/Europe/kosovo.html Kosovo Crisis -- Jane's Defense Weekly http://www.janes.com/defence/features/kosovo/kosovohome.html Radio B92 Open Yugoslavia [RealPlayer] http://b92eng.opennet.org/ Kosova Crisis Center http://www.alb-net.com/index.htm Serbia Info http://www.serbia-info.com/ The major news story of the week is, of course, the airstrikes on Yugoslavia. For the first time in its 50-year history, NATO has made war on a sovereign nation that is outside of the alliance. The strikes have raised a host of troubling questions, and their impact on the humanitarian and political situation in Kosovo, the NATO alliance, US foreign policy, and NATO-Russian relations remains to be seen. In addition to their favorite online news sites, interested users will want to examine some of the following resources. Always a dependable and thorough news source, the BBC has posted a special report on the bombing, with breaking news, analysis, and an interactive map. The US Information Agency (USIA) has compiled a very large selection of excerpts from editorials on the strikes from newspapers worldwide, organized by region. Users interested in how the crisis has been represented by editorial cartoonists around the world will want to visit the sizable and constantly-updated collection of cartoons at Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonist Index. More detailed analysis is provided at the Center for Defense Information's (CDI) Kosovo Issue Area, which features maps, reports, fact sheets, and related links. Users curious about the military aspects of the operation will be hard-pressed to find a more authoritative site than Jane's Defense Weekly. Jane's Kosovo feature offers analysis, reference information on the military forces and equipment, and background on the political and ethnic situation in the region. Radio Station B92, one of the most prominent independent voices in Yugoslavia, was shut down by the authorities on March 23. However, a number of online mirror sites in Europe and the US have banded together to distribute B92 broadcasts and written reports via this site. Given the uncertainties of the situation and today's decree banning all contact with the foreign media, these reports may be sporadic or may stop at any time. Finally, for news from a pro-Kosovar independence viewpoint or a pro-Serbian viewpoint, users should visit the Kosova Crisis Center and Serbian Info site, respectively. Users interested in additional resources for understanding the Balkans and the diplomatic fallout of the strikes will find a number of items in the Scout Report Signpost the Scout Report's database. These include the International Crisis Group (ICG) South Balkans Reports Index, RAND reports on US and Russian Policymaking with Respect to the Use of Force, and The Department of Defense's BosniaLINK. [MD] Signpost http://www.signpost.org International Crisis Group (ICG) South Balkans Reports Index http://scout7.cs.wisc.edu/pages/00009315.html U.S. and Russian Policymaking with Respect to the Use of Force http://scout7.cs.wisc.edu/pages/00000247.html The Department of Defense's BosniaLINK http://scout7.cs.wisc.edu/pages/00001335.html >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1999. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ ____________________________________________________________________________ 13. Long list of sources on the Balkans War, from AGITPROP NEWS LIBERTARIAN PRESS AGENCY Berlin (LPA) USA/NATO/YUGOSLAVIA/KOSOVO WAR WEBSITES Version 2.0 Updated on March 28, 1998 Send new links to iconmedia[at]iconmedia.org MAINSTREAM MEDIA CNN: Strike on Yugoslavia http://cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9903/27/nato.attack.03/index.html Washington Post: Balkans Special Report http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/balkans/balkans.htm Reuters http://www.reuters.com/news/ France Press http://www.afp.com/ BBC: Kosovo Crisis, Balkan Flashpoint http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1998/kosovo/ INDEPENDENT MEDIA Anti-NATO web site http://www.welcome.to/nato Common Dreams News Center http://www.commondreams.org/kosovo/kosovo.htm eGroups: Kosovo Reports http://www.egroups.com/list/kosovo-reports/ Kosovo Dies For Independence, Out There News http://www.megastories.com/kosovo/index.htm Press Now http://www.dds.nl/~pressnow/ Z Magazine on U.S./NATO Bombings http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/kosovo.htm BACKGROUND ARTICLES Bombing Serbia is Dangerously Counterproductive, by Jonathan Power http://www.transnational.org/forum/power/1999/03bombing.html Email Assist for Yugoslavia, by Leander Kahney http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18765.html Frontline Documentary on Slobodan Milosevic http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/karadzic/trial/scharf.html Kosovo's Slippery Slope by George Kenney, In These Times http://www.inthesetimes.com/kenney2309.html Net Dispatches from Kosovo's War, by Leander Kahney and James Glave http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18755.html Notes on the Kosovo Problem and the International Community by Diane Johnstone, Dialogue http://www.bglink.com/business/dialogue/diana.html Prospects for Peace in Kosovo by Howard Clark http://www.nonviolence.org//wrl/nva0199-2.htm Yugoslav Net at the Brink, by Leander Kahney http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18767.html INFORMATION/ACTION CENTERS Amnesty International: The Road to Kosovo http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/kosovo/index.html Balkan Action Council http://www.balkanaction.org/links.html Balkan Internet Resources http://www.balkaninstitute.org/internet.html Balkan's Page http://www.igc.org/balkans/raccoon/kosovo.html Central Europe Online http://www.centraleurope.com/ceo/special/kosovow/intro.html Human Rights Watch: Kosovo Focus on Human Rights http://www.hrw.org/hrw/campaigns/kosovo98/index.htm Institute for War and Peace Reporting http://www.iwpr.net/ International Action Center http://www.iacenter.org/ NO TO NATO http://www.iacenter.org/bosnia/balkans.htm Kosovo Crisis Center http://www.alb-net.com/index.htm Kosovo Info http://www.kosovainfo.com/ENGLISH.htm Kosovo Privacy Project: Service of Anonymizer.com http://info.anonymizer.com/kosovo.shtml One World: Special News Reports http://www.oneworld.org/news/reports/special/kosovo.html Transnational Center for Peace http://www.transnational.org/new/index.html USA-NATO MILITARY AND MILITARY ANALYSIS Center for Defense Information: Kosovo Site http://www.cdi.org Cloud Cover Over Kosovo: Satellite Images http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/kosovo_clouds.htm Federation of American Scientist's Military Analysis Network http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/kosovo.htm Jane's Defense Weekly http://defence.janes.com/ NATO http://www.nato.int Pentagon's Operation Allied Force http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/kosovo/ UK Ministry of Defense: Kosovo US Air Force News: Crisis in Kosovo http://www.af.mil/current/kosovo/ US Information Agency: Kosovo http://www.usia.gov/regional/eur/balkans/kosovo/ US State Department: Special Section on Kosovo http://www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/kosovo_hp.html YUGOSLAVIA GOVERNMENT Yugoslavia Foreign Ministry http://www.smip.sv.gov.yu/ Yugoslavia Ministry of Information http://www.serbia-info.com/ Yugoslavia Official Web Site http://www.gov.yu/ ----------------------------- Our site A Luta Contiinua http://come.to/luta is already featuring 80 entries against NATO aggressions to Yugoslavia. Please, do forward Give us the chance to say things are not the way Mr. Clinton says. ----------------------------- The following, all on ZNet, can be reached via the top page at http://www.znet.org The Current Bombings: Behind the Rhetoric - Noam Chomsky Essay on the context, rationales, and true motives... Thoughts About Bombings - Michael Albert Why the bombings, why now, what's in the future... War is Peace? - Andre Gunder Frank Contextualizing the history and particularly the role of NATO David McReynolds on NATO/Kosovo The quandry of bombing's opponents and the issues involved Bombing Serbia... - Stephen Zunes ...why didn't the prior non-violent efforts by the Kosovars attract external support? A Call for a New Peace Front - Jan Myrdal A reaction to the boming in context and looking forward... Comment from TFF on NATO/KOSOVO Some short and potent arguments/claims... NATO's Humanitarian Trigger - Diana Johnstone Some background regarding the ethnic hostilities and current crisis Another Diana Johnstone Link A major essay on the entire regional problem...with a minority but highly informed perspective. Holbrooke, Timor, and Kosovo Holbrooke's history reveals current hypocrisy very graphically A Very Instructive Satire Reworking Clinton's speech to refer to Japan bombing New Mexico on behalf of Latinos here...funny and insightful From: "Rollo Tomassi" <DR.HILARIUS[at]prodigy.net> ------------------------------------- From: "Antti.rautiainen" <antti.rautiainen[at]kolumbus.fi> To: Dion Giles <dgiles[at]central.murdoch.edu.au&> <alter-ee[at]lyris.most.org.pl&> <caravan99[at]list.free.de&> iww-news[at]iww.org These ones are from albanian perspective. Kosova Crisis Center http://www.alb-net.com/index.htm Albanian news from Romania http://kosovo.maronet.ro/ Massacres by Serbians http://www.alb-net.com/warcrimes-img/warcrimes.htm http://www.kosova.com/reqak.htm http://www.kosova.com/citak/citaka.htm Antti Rautiainen - antti.rautiainen[at]kolumbus.fi Kaikki mit” et halunnut tiet”” j””kaapistasi! http://www.rauhanpuolustajat.fi/kulutaharkiten/index.html ---------------------------------------------- ARTISTS AND WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE... YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT BAD TASTE! Email: lamp[at]igc.apc.org - Website: http://www.igc.apc.org/laborart __________________________ To subscribe to AGITPROP NEWS, the LAMP weekly digest of news and humor for artists and activists: Send to: listserv[at]email.rutgers.edu Message: subscribe agitprop_news (Your Name) your[at]address ____________________________________________________________________________ 14. Librarians Against the Bombing of Kosovo & Serbia Socially responsible and progressive librarians and library workers oppose the US-led NATO military attacks on Yugoslavia's Kosovo and Serbia. This is the wrong means to the just end of ending Serbia's repression of Kosovo's Albanian majority. Missiles and bombs will not resolve this conflict and, as an intervention in an internal civil conflict involving an undeclared war against a sovereign nation, will only fan the flames of ethnic hatreds. It must be noted that NATO and the US ignored the peaceful and organized protests of the Kosovars beginning in 1989 when Milosevic revoked the autonomy of the Kososvo region, It was not until the emergence last year of the violent and ultra-nationalist Kosovo Liberation Front that the world and the US government took notice. Eight years passed during which the problem could have been addressed diplomatically. Now, with the bombing underway, the Serbs will use the opportunity to crush all organized Albanian resistance. There is no doubt that the current crisis in Kososvo,as previously in Bosnia, is a result of Serbian extremism and ethnic nationalism. Bombing Serbia is, however, not the only alternative. Indeed, it strengthens Milosovic's ultranationalistic appeal, while it is unlikely to create anything but disorder and dissaray and an atmosphere in which the important Serbian democratic movement will find it impossible to develop. We must find a way through the UN and renewed, patient and skillful diplomacy to assure autonomy for Kosovo and stay the hand of Milosovic. We suggest the massive deployment of UN observers between the two sides and further negotiations involving truly "mixed," representative delegations. There is, of course, a great deal of hypocrisy involved in the US concern for the Kosovars when one considers the indifference of the US to the similar plight of the Kurds, suffering at the hands of our ally Turkey. Be that as it may, the policy being pursued now, in which NATO and the US in particular bomb Serbia until Milosevic says "uncle", cannot be the only alternative. If it is, how many innocent Serbs will die, how much of Serbia will be destroyed, laid waste, while Milosevic hunkers down for the duration and, worse, uses this period to unleash terror against all opponents including but not restricted to the KLA? We say Support the democratic movement in Serbia. End the senseless and counterproductive bombing. [to add your signature to this letter, please write to Mark Rosenzweig at iskra[at]earthlink.net] ____________________________________________________________________________ 15. "Big and Small Booksellers Take Battle Online" (article) forwarded by Sandy Berman March 29, 1999 COMPRESSED DATA Big and Small Booksellers Take Battle Online By LAURIE J. FLYNN Ever since the first mega-bookstore rolled into the suburban strip mall, small independent booksellers have cried foul, accusing the chains of big-foot practices. Now the wailing can be heard in cyberspace. The independents are rankled over advertising deals that Internet search engines like Yahoo, Lycos, Excite, Hotbot, which is a unit of Wired Digital, and Alta Vista have forged with the two biggest on-line bookstores -- Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, a joint venture of Barnes & Noble and Bertelsmann. Under those deals, a user's Web search, almost regardless of the topic, will yield a list of search results accompanied by a banner ad for Amazon or Barnesandnoble.com -- whether a book on that topic exists or not. Even more grating, the independents say, is that when someone searches specifically for an independent bookseller by name, they may still be served up an ad for Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble .com. In some instances, the ads actually purport to carry a book about the independent bookseller. Search on Lycos for Bookstreet, an independent bookseller in Ukiah, Calif., for example, and you get a hot-link ad -- one that requires just one click to move to the advertiser's Web site -- that says "Books about Bookstreet at Barnesandnoble.com." Likewise, a Yahoo search for Powell's Books in Portland, Ore., brings up a hot link to "Books about Powell's Books at Amazon.com." Some of the approximately 3,000 independents that sell books on line contend that the practice is fraudulent: often, such books do not exist. It is also anticompetitive, they contend, comparing it to someone from Barnes & Noble walking into a small bookstore and pasting up ads to lure customers away. John Conroy, vice president of Soda Creek Press, a small publisher that operates the 1bookstreet.com Web site, said that many of the independents have discussed the issue informally among themselves, but had not decided on a course of action. Barnes & Noble insists that nothing sinister is afoot. "Banner technology does not discriminate," Ben Boyd, a Barnes & Nobel spokesman, said. His company's advertising deals with the search services simply call for a banner ad to pop up, whatever the topic entered into the search box. "If you type in 1-2-3 the same thing happens." (He's right. Such a search elicits this hot link: "Books about 1-2-3 at Barnesandnoble.com.") The controversy is parallel to complaints earlier this year by EstÈe Lauder and Playboy Enterprises, which each filed lawsuits against Excite on similar grounds. EstÈe Lauder is suing, for example, because a search for "Estee Lauder" on Excite brings up banner ads for an on-line retailer, the Fragrance Counter. In its ads, the Fragrance Counter portrays itself as a reseller of EstÈe Lauder products, which it is not. ____________________________________________________________________________ 16. Open Net, Padlocked Libraries (Excerpt from NETFUTURE #87) ----------------------------- NETFUTURE reader and educator, Jamie McKenzie, not known as a technology refuser, has sounded an alarm about our "ill-considered affair with networked information". In his online article, "A Brave New World of Padlocked Libraries and Unstaffed Schools", he worries that the story of declining funding and the padlocking of libraries goes unmentioned by most of the "legitimate press" as stories of Internet stocks and futures dominate their pages and screens. The article is mostly a collection of reports McKenzie has gathered from educators in the trenches. These reports support the notion -- certainly familiar to NETFUTURE readers -- that in some places, the pressures to network schools are so intense that priorities are severely skewed in order to find the funding for the equipment. The hardware effort drains resources away from essential school programs and often leaves the school or district without the funding to provide a robust professional development program or sufficient technical support. Networks arrive with enormous appetites for dollars and staff time. Feeding the "network beast" becomes a preoccupation. (http://www.fromnowon.org/feb99/padlocked.html) I have the vague impression that the occasional skeptical voice such as McKenzie's is more discernible within the general technological fervor of the mainstream press than was the case a couple of years ago. Just recently the *New York Times* ran an article in its education section under the title, "Amid Clamor for Computer in Every Classroom, Some Dissenting Voices" (Mar. 17), and Pamela Mendels regularly gives play to such voices in the online version of the *Times*. I wonder, though, whether, as a society, we will ever wake up from the strange collective trance whereby we sleepwalked our way into a hugely expensive computerization of education without ever having thought to ask what educational goal we were aiming for -- let alone whether computerization would serve that goal. An article here and there notwithstanding, I don't see many signs of the waking up. The scary thing is that the computers we have so automatically yielded to are the perfect instruments for training us toward the kind of sleepwalking state that makes further yielding more likely -- so much so that few people today even recognize any longer how unhumanlike is the one-sidedly algorithmic nature of the computer's re-shaping of our activities. The logic of algorithms can indeed flow automatically, and we all too easily move with that logic, for it is usually the path of least resistance. Might we be locking ourselves into a downward spiral from which escape will be ever more difficult? (Thanks to Nelson Logan for bringing McKenzie's article to my attention.) SLT -- From NETFUTURE Issue #87, March 30, 1999 On the Web: http://www.oreilly.com/~stevet/netfuture/ ____________________________________________________________________________ 17. Materials relating to the Congress on Professional Education Forwarded for Mary Ghikas by Don Wood: **Please pass the following along to all appropriate lists.** Materials relating to the Congress on Professional Education are on the ALA website -- http://www.ala.org/congress/ There are a number of commissioned or contributed papers, as well as other background materials, at the website or linked to the website -- with more to come. A discussion list has also been opened to encourage broad conversation on the issues to be covered by the Congress. That list of open now and will remain open for approximately 30 days following the conclusion of the Congress. To subscribe: Send an email message to LISTPROC[at]ALA.ORG. Leave the subject line blank (or, if your system requires a subject line, enter "subscribe" -- *without* quotation marks). As the *only* line of text enter the following: subscribe edcongress [Your First Name] [Your Last Name]. Do not include the brackets in the message. You will also find lists and subscription information on the ALA website: http://www.ala.org/membership/lists.html ____________________________________________________________________________ 18. "What I Really Learned in Library School," by Karen Elliot >From MSRRT Newsletter, Spring '99 (new) issue, available at: http://www.cs.unca.edu/~edmiston/msrrt -- What I Really Learned in Library School By Karen Elliott Creativity is prized only if it will get you future employment. Working in teams is good. Autonomy is bad. Never assist your classmates with homework assignments if you are not specifically told to work in groups. Looking in two or three sources is not enough to sufficiently answer a reference question. Trying at least two print sources, two websites, and perhaps a Dialog search is ideal. Sucking up really does get you somewhere. Libraries are never about politics. Libraries are always about politics. Taking a business administration approach to librarianship is to be desired. All intelligent and talented librarians invariably wind up working in the private sector, as well they should. If you feel like you're in an MBA program instead of an MLS program, it must be a good school. "Librarian" might be a dirty word. Use "information professional" to be on the safe side. If you don't want to learn programming or how to implement databases, you have no ambition. If you don't want to go into administration, you have no ambition. Reference librarians answer over 50% of reference questions incorrectly because they didn't go to our school. All good reference librarians want to become information brokers or information consultants. All good catalogers want to catalog Internet sources and nothing else. They should also be experts in SGML and metadata, otherwise they are not to be taken seriously. Outsourcing the cataloging of all printed materials is a good idea. Children's librarians are masochists. Nobody understands them and nobody wants to. Anyone without an MLS who calls herself a librarian has delusions of grandeur. Taking yourself and your chosen profession less than seriously is verboten. Distinguish yourself only by scholastic achievements and not by personality traits. Collection development is all about balancing budgets and dealing with vendors. No intellectual activity should be required. Filtering the Internet is bad unless: a) it's the children's section, or b) your library board wants it. While corporate librarianship is ideal, academic librarianship can also be acceptable if it is in an ACRL institution and you are tenure-track faculty. Political activism isn't allowed at work. Unless you win. If you can't quote Ranganathan's five laws of library science verbatim, you suck. Don't wonder (aloud) why the techies in your department aren't in computer science degree programs. Don't expect any of your professors to have worked in an actual library any time in the past 20 years. Don't expect any of your professors to have worked in an actual library any time ever. ____________________________________________________________________________ 19. Irene Newman's 104th Birthday William Gordon wrote: 17) Following is a copy of the letter I have sent to Miss Irene Newman of Stoughton, Wisconsin to congratulate her on her 104th birthday, and career as a librarian. Miss Newman was brought to my attention by Erlene Bishop Killeen, Council-at-Large. Dear Miss Neuman It is my great pleasure to offer you congratulations on your recent 104th birthday. I was fascinated to read your story in the Stoughton Courier Hub and to learn of your long and distinguished career in librarianship. Our records show that you joined the American Library Association on January 1, 1927 and that you have been a member without interruption for 73 years. On behalf of ALA, I'd like to thank you for your lifetime support of our association. Your commitment and dedication over the years is remarkable. Please accept my best wishes for many more healthy and productive years. ____________________________________________________________________________ 20. Blue Moon Today forwarded by Fred Stoss -- Here comes the Blue Moon...03/30/99 (NASA) The second Blue Moon of 1999 can been seen this Wednesday night when the moon becomes full at 2200 UT. To see the moon simply go outside shortly after sunset. It will be shining brightly just above the eastern horizon. By midnight it will rise high in the southern sky and illuminate the landscape with bright moonlight. The moon won't appear to be blue on Wednesday. It's called a "Blue Moon" by astronomers simply because it will be the second full moon in the month of March. The moon has assumed a bluish color at times in the past, for example after the eruption of Krakatoa in 1853 filled our atmosphere with obscuring dust, but such events are unrelated to the term "Blue Moon" as it is used today. According to research by folklorist Philip Hiscock the term "Blue Moon" is at least 400 years old, but its popular meaning has shifted many times. The earliest known references to a blue moon were intended as examples of obvious absurdities. If a 16th century person asserted "That's as likely as a Blue Moon", they meant that it simply couldn't be. As time passed the expression evolved to mean something that rarely or never happened. Hence the expression "Once in a Blue Moon" which is still popular today. A second, modern definition of a Blue Moon as the second full moon in a calendar month was apparently introduced to popular culture by a mistake in the magazine Sky & Telescope 53 years ago. (The author recommends this month's excellent article in Sky & Telescope on the history of the Blue Moon.) (To which the sender recommends the following Web sites from Sky & Telescope: Whats a Blue Moon? http://www.skypub.com/sights/moonplanets/9905bluemoon.html#fever Once in a Blue Moon http://www.skypub.com/sights/moonplanets/mar99bluemoon.html FWS] With Spring beginning in the northern hemisphere and the nights growing warmer, this week should be a pleasant opportunity to view the second Blue Moon of 1999. While Blue Moons may not be as rare as commonly thought, they can be like all full moons a sight of rare beauty. Best Wishes, Mitch Battros Producer - Earth Changes TV http://www.earthchangestv.com/mainmenu.htm ____________________________________________________________________________ L I B R A R Y J U I C E | http://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: Wednesday, March 31, 1999 08:36 AM