Library Juice 2:18 - Library Juice is now a book and a blog

Library Juice 2:18 - May 5, 1999 May is Labor History Month Contents: 1. Cinco de Mayo - http://www.latinobeat.net/info/html/cinco.htm 2. The Daily Bleed - A Radical Book of Days 3. Literary Calendar (Yasuda University, Japan) 4. "When ideas are capit@l: the knowledge economy" (Unesco Courier) 5. Ranganathan, Shiyali Ramamrita - web bio 6. "Beyond Bookmarks" - Call for Contributions 7. Historical Cost-of-Living Calculators 8. GENLOC - discussion list for genealogy and local history librarians 9. Subject Gateway on Religions - European consortium project 10. Call for Papers: The Bottom Line 11. Memo to Charles Brown from HCL staffers, Brown's response 12. Jennifer Cram on Power (article excerpt) 13. Powell's Books is now a Union Shop 14. Yesterday (May 4th) in History - From the Daily Bleed 15. Links related to the Haymarket Massacre 16. Name Authority for Monty Cantsin 17. [sic] Quote for the week: "When you take 'Personnel Issues in Information Management,' you learn how to supervise library employees, not how to be one. When you take 'Library Administration,' you would do well to remember that you are the one who is being administered, at least in the beginning and probably for a long time. ...[T]he program of instruction leads you to believe (in a twist on the old Huey Long boast, 'Every Man a King'): 'Every Librarian a Supervisor.' Now, common sense indicates that this will not be the case. Libraries are hierarchical. To suggest that eaach new group of graduates will soon be Supervisors is not based in reality... So prepare yourself, learn about unions, 'the folks that brought you the weekend'..." James Danky, "Libraries: They Would Have Been a Good Idea," a talk given April 17, 1997 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and published in Sanford Berman and James Danky, eds., _Alternative Library Literature 1996-97_, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998 ________________________________________________________________________ 1. Cinco de Mayo - http://www.latinobeat.net/info/html/cinco.htm This article from Latino Beat discusses and suggests several Internet sites to find out information about this day that commemorates the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 and serves as a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism. - cl Subjects: holidays | mexico From: Librarians' Index to the Internet http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/ ________________________________________________________________________ 2. The Daily Bleed - A Radical Book of Days http://www.eskimo.com/~recall/bleed/calmast.htm This is a database of significant events in history, accessible from a calendar on the web. Labor history and radical art and literature are well represented. It makes for extremely interesting reading, and is loaded with links to potential resources. If you have a little extra room in your inbox, I recommend getting the Daily Bleed by email. It comes in a single daily release of about 15k. The web version is graphics intensive, while the email is text only. You can subscribe to it from the website. ________________________________________________________________________ 3. Literary Calendar (Yasuda University, Japan) http://litcal.yasuda-u.ac.jp/LitCalendar.shtml An almanac of literary information. Click on the calendar for information and view past and future months/years for historic events, literary works, and authors. E-mail option and search engine also available. Submitted by: R. Tiess rjtiess[at]warwick.net From: ResPool - http://members.tripod.com/~rtiess/respool.htm ________________________________________________________________________ 4. "When ideas are capit@l: the knowledge economy" (Unesco Courier) >From NEWLIB-L: Hello New Librarians: An interesting article for those interested in the importance of knowledge and learning in society. Article covers present day issues & future predictions. The Dec 1998 issue of "The Unesco Courier" (also called "The Courier") has a special report entitled: "When ideas are capit@l : the knowledge economy" (pgs 17-36). For online version see: http://www.unesco.org/courier/1998_12/uk/dossier/intro.htm Regards Alistair Kwun Acquisitions Dept University of Auckland Library Auckland New Zealand ________________________________________________________________________ 5. Ranganathan, Shiyali Ramamrita - 1892-1972 - http://www.uniroma1.it/Mathematics/I-Ranganathan.html A brief discussion of the life and work of the "father of library science in India." A link at the bottom of this page leads to an American Library Association page discussing his Five Laws of Library Science (1931), a work which has had world wide influence on librarianship. - mg Subjects: people | librarians >From LIIWEEK: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/ ________________________________________________________________________ 6. "Beyond Bookmarks" - Call for Contributions >From LIBREF-L: I am greatly interested in identifying additional Web collections that have adopted/adapted Library classification schemes or controlled vocabularies for organizing Web resources for potential inclusion in my Web clearinghouse _Beyond Bookmarks: Schemes for Organizing the Web_. _Beyond Bookmarks_ is available at: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/CTW.htm I am not only interested in the application of international schemes such as Dewey and Library of Congress, but national and local library schemes as well. Of particular interest is the application of a *controlled vocabulary* for organizing or augmenting access to a Web collection. In addition to library schemes, I am also interested in the application of non-library standard schemes of organization to Web resources. As Always, Any and All contributions, queries, critiques, comments, questions, concerns, etc., etc. are Most Welcome. Regards, /Gerry McKiernan Theoretical Librarian Iowa State University Ames IA 50011 gerrymck[at]iastate.edu "The Best Way to Predict the Future is to Invent It!" Alan Kay http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/GASCH.KAY.HTML ________________________________________________________________________ 7. Historical Cost of Living Calculators Contributions to ResPool - http://members.tripod.com/~rtiess/respool.htm -------------- This site calculates comparable prices back to 1926 so if you know the current price of a given item you can quickly see what it would have cost in the past. http://www.mfs.com/education/work_calc/infldef.html Alice Donoghue, Librarian Barrington Area Library 505 N. Northwest Hwy., Barrington, IL 60010 Phone: 847/382-1300 x258, Fax: 847/382-1261 adonoghu[at]bal.alibrary.com http://www.bal.alibrary.com The views expressed represent my personal opinion and not necessarily the opinion of the Barrington Area Library. ----------------- This site offers a calculator that calculates inflation rates from 1800 to 1998 http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ David Chase Chase[at]mint.net ------------------ From: "Kelly Currie" <kelly[at]carlnet.org> This is a fun site in which you can enter a date (e.g. your birthdate) from 1900 to 1997 and find out headlines, prices of basic goods, etc. for that date in history: http://dmarie.com/asp/history.asp?action=process ------------------- Here are some good inflation calculators: http://www.newsengin.com/neFreeTools.nsf/CPIcalc http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/economy/calc/cpihome.html http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ Hope that's helpful. I had another site bookmarked that actually gave the price of items, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. Guess I need to finally organize those bookmarks! Frank Boyett The Gleaner -------------------- ________________________________________________________________________ 8. GENLOC - discussion list for genealogy and local history librarians Dear colleagues, We would like to announce the creation of GENLOC, a new listserv discussion list on the WWW. The list is intended to promote international networking among librarians and other professionals engaged in genealogy and local history services. GENLOC provides a medium for exchanging information and experiences, seeking assistance with difficult reference questions, promoting common professional interests and concerns, and encouraging cooperation. GENLOC is mainly an unmoderated list, belonging to the Genealogy and Local History Discussion Group in the Social Sciences Libraries Section of IFLA. It is sponsored by IFLANET and the National Library of Canada. Listowners are: Melvin Thatcher <ThatcherMP[at]ldschurch.org>, Jeff Svare <SvareJM[at]ldschurch.org>, and Hans-Christoph Hobohm <hobohm[at]fh-potsdam.de>. To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail to the following address: LISTSERV[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA In the body of the message type: SUBscribe GENLOC YourFirstname YourLastname *********************************************************************** * 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 * *********************************************************************** ________________________________________________________________________ 9. Subject Gateway on Religions Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 10:56:35 -0400 Reply-To: richard[at]PhilosophyNews.com Sender: "PRT-LIBN Philosophy, Religion & Theology Librarians List" <PRT-LIBN[at]LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU> From: Philosophy News Service * richard jones <richard[at]PhilosophyNews.com> Organization: http://www.PhilosophyNews.com Subject: [Fwd: European Partnership for Subject Gateway on Religion] To: PRT-LIBN[at]LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU -------- Forwarded Message -------- Hello! I'm coordinating a European consortium of institutions who are aiming at creating a so-called subject gateway on religion. It will be aimed at all age groups and provide an online learning space for open and distant learning. A key element of the gateway will be resource discovery and metadata encoding based on DublinCore and RDF/XML. We will propose the project for the IST programme within the 5th Framework for Research and Development in EU, which can support a project like this up to 100%. We are now looking for prospective partners within the library sector. There are a number of issues that needs to be addressed: Metadata standard, resource discovery, data storage, design and usability & rights management. And not at least the creation of a new, browsable subject classification scheme for online resources on religion (see below for background). If you are interested in this please ask for more information. Or if you know of any other library or association in Europe that might be interested, please forward this message. Any other opinion on this matter will also be welcomed. ---------------------------------------- BACKGROUND: Creating a new browsable, multilingual classification system from scratch might sound terribly ambitious and resource-draining. Before we outline how it could be done, let's look at the alternatives: The three most used universal classification systems are LCC, DDC & UDC. The problems with them are: 1) They reflect an anachronistic attitude towards religion, where Christianity occupies a very dominant position, other religions are not given their proper represantation they have in "real life" of today, and even some classes within Christianity are outdated. 2) They are primarily made for physical collections where one primary class per item is important to find the right shelf. Online catalogues does not have this limitation, and can therefore be designed differently. 3) They are not easy to use. This is partly due to the first point which make them unlogical from a modern users viewpoint. But they are also very detailed, and classes are often buried very deep in the system. One approach to these problems is to combine a hierarchy of classes with a controlled vocabulary. The hierarchy will actually be several hierarchies combined. One for geographical coverage, one for the particular religious group (Lutheran within Protestant within Christianity) and one more phenomenological hierarchy with f.i. these top levels: Historical developments, Doctrines, Expressions, Practical religion, Relations. These various trees will together provide flexible, multi-dimensional classifications. A good principle (from a usability viewpoint) is also too limit any hierarchy to, say, maximum three levels. Naturaly, this will in many instances not give the necessary detail level. Therefore, the hierarchies can be combined with a flat, controlled vocabulary with all the details needed. Finally, such a gateway will not be complete without good options for interoperability with other systems for information retrieval. A mapping to one or more of the three systems mentioned initially, will therefore be needed as well. For further background reading on the issue, see the excellent analysis of various systems by Traugott Koch: http://www.ub.lu.se/desire/radar/reports/D3.2.3/ For further presentation of the proposal, please contact sphere-manager[at]teologi.uio.no for links to The Sphere Web-site. Dag__ \________________________________________________________________ __ Dag Tjemsland, Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo \ Pb 1023 Blindern, N-O315 Oslo, WWWeb: http://www.tf.uio.no \ Tel./fax: (+47) 22 85 03 00/01; Tel./fax home office: 22 71 53 88 \__ Torill Redse Forstekonsulent Torill Redse RBT-Riksbibliotektjenesten National Office for Research Documentation, Academic and Special Libraries P.O.Box 8046 Dep. N-0030 OSLO Tlf. +47 23 11 89 00/10 Faks +47 23 11 89 01 e-mail: torill.redse[at]rbt.no ________________________________________________________________________ 10. Call for Papers: The Bottom Line Sent to LIBREF-L The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances provides librarians, library trustees, and others concerned with library management, with current information related to the financial aspects of library operations. The journal focuses on cost measurement and containment, fundraising, development, fiscal policies and procedures, and the financial implications of technological change. The journal seeks to provide current, practical information that can be applied in all types of libraries. The Editor welcomes submissions which discuss budgeting, economic trends affecting libraries, endowments, leasing, outsourcing, insurance, grantsmanship, resource allocation, cost analysis, funding technological innovation and alternative sources of revenue. Authors should: Prepare articles that are specific enough for readers to apply to their local situations Report on experiences or the results of research Include facts and pertinent examples Employ a simple, readable style, even when the subject matter is complex Article Presentation Articles should be between 2000 and 4000 words in length, although shorter communications dealing with more immediate issues, responding to points raised in articles and raising new issues for discussion will also be included. Such items should be up to 1000 words in length. Articles should be typed with wide margins and double spacing. Two copies should be sent to the Editor together with a brief autobiographical note, 1-6 keywords, an abstract of approximately 150 words and a suggested title. Submission of articles All manuscripts and editorial communications should be sent to the Editor: James H. Walther, The Catholic University of America, School of Library and Information Science at 202-841-6567 or waltherj[at]gwu.edu ________________________________________________ James H. Walther, President Higher Education Association The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development 2134 G Street NW Washington, D.C. 20052 ________________________________________________________________________ 11. Memo to Charles Brown from HCL staffers, Brown's response MEMO Date: March 29, 1999 To: Charles Brown (HCL Director -Ed.) From: _____ and the undersigned staff Subject: Response to Media Update Memo of 3/11/99 We would like to respond to the Media Update and the HCL issues which are drawing the attention of the media and questions from library patrons. We acknowledge that changes in cataloging policy and pratice are already underway and assume that additional changes will continue to be made. We are aware that the HCL catalog has influenced catalogers and cataloging from the smallest local library to the Library of Congress, but for HCL Information Desk staff it is the basic tool that enables our daily work. We hope that the changes will allow us to continue to provide the kind of service that our exceptional catalog has always facilitated. We also believe that participation in open and vigorous discussion of issues is optimal in making the best possible decisions for the system. We have taken seriously HCL administration's continuing invitation to staff to participate in the decision-making process. It seems, however, that the critical thinking skills and debate that we understood to be welcome in this newly decentralized Team environment are limited. In the case of Sanford Berman, the very person who's most qualified to engage in high level debate, ask the most nuanced and difficult questions, and inspire decision-making of a high order has been reprimanded for doing so. It troubles us that a staff member whose contributions to his field are widely recognised has been asked not to communicate with professional colleagues and staff on the subject of his particular expertise. We are uncomfortable with this breach of intellectual and professional freedom of speech. We hope that the prohibition on discussion of issues will be thoughtfully and carefully reconsidered, and look forward to an affirmation of the right of library professionals to engage in candid and robust debate without fear of reprisal. We believe that all libraries should encourage the full and free expression of views by staff on the crucial issues which face our profession.Finally we look forward to continuing active participation in the decision-making process at HCL, as well as the ability to continue providing the outstanding public service endorsed by the HCL Board's Vision statement and reflected in our national reputation as one of the finest libraries in the country. cc: Jack Cole, Library Board President SIGNED .......... (HCL employees - signatures not available) ....................................................... April 22, 1999 Dear ________, I have received your memo of March 29, 1999. I am sure you can appreciate, as an employee of this library system, why HCL will not comment on a complex personnel issue involving a specific individual. As a result of our efforts to protect the privacy of employees, HCL management has become the target of a particularly one-sided and unfair public discourse. It is unfortunate that unsupported assumptions have been circulated and treated as fact by HCL staff and others. Foremost in importance is the assertion that HCL management is trying to restrict any individual's right to freely express personal opinions. The free expression of ideas is at the heart of the library's mission. However, there is a significant difference between exercising the right to freely express your opinions and ideas *as an individual*, and using County resources (staff time, equipment, and material) to do so. From your memo, and from other related staff correspondence, it appears that some staff assume adopting a team-based structure means that HCL Administration will abrogate management responsibilities to some sort of minority opinion rule. In a team-based organizational structure, a dissenting opinion does not negate a decision. In addition, while staff members from all levels of the organization are encouraged to express their diverse perspectives as part of the decision-making process, those who choose to decline the opportunity to inform the process will not be heard. In the end, the *decision or outcome* remains the prerogative of the appropriate team or board, a designated staff person or manager, or the director. To continue the debate past the decision-making point, without offering new information, serves onlyu to communicate disagreement, not a desire to participate. It also appears that there is some confusion about the point at which managerial responsibility supersedes an individual's professional privilege. Managers have a *professional* responsibility to support and implement organizational decisions. What a manager says publicly has an impact on managerial effectiveness. It is unrealistic to believe that a manager can provide effective leadership to staff involved in a major project while also openly expressing an opinion that the project is unnecessary, ill advised, or even harmful. Over time, through training, experience and constructive dialog, I believe our still evolving team-based approach will become better understood and accepted as part of our organizational culture. On a very personal level, it is extremely disappointing to me that a number of the staff members who signed the March 29 memo are individuals with whom I have worked closely over the past five years, often supporting and encouraging their respective professional endeavors. The tone of the meo, the unquestionaing support it provides to an incomplete and misleading interpretation of events, and the scope of its distribution are all unfortunate. Sincerely, Charles M. Brown Library Director ________________________________________________________________________ 12. Jennifer Cram on Power "Organisations can be simultaneously attracted and repelled by the idea of empowerment. Empowering workers without actually giving them power seems to be what is desired. The ideal employees, it would seem, would be energetic, dedicated workers who always seize the initiative (but only when appropriate), who enjoy taking risks (but never risky ones), who volunteer their ideas (but only brilliant ones), who solve problems on their own (but make no mistakes), who aren't afraid to speak their minds (but never ruffle any feathers), who always give their very best to the organisation (but ask no unpleasant questions about what the organisation is giving back to them). Empowerment involves shifting decision-making from a smaller number of middle or top managers to a much larger number of lower-level staff and requires that larger number of staff to have the same information that their managers had, as well as an equally comprehensive vision of the organisation's direction, goals, and objectives. We talk endlessly about the power of a shared vision, failing to understand that the power lies not in the vision but in the sharing. A vision which is not built up from the common threads of the individual visions of all concerned, a vision which is handed down from on high, commands at best only compliance. The esteem in which we are held, individually or as a profession, our level of self-esteem, the resources we command, and the image we project by the way we behave are inextricably linked with the power we command and the way we use, misuse, or fail to use that power... It is personal purpose that puts the passion into the professional environment. Quite ordinary individuals with a commitment to a moral purpose can generate enormous power. Personal purpose is not as private as it sounds. In moral occupations such as librarianship, the more one takes the risk to express personal purpose, the more kindred spirits one will find. Personal purpose is not just self-centred, it has social dimensions as well, such as working effectively with others and providing the means for empowerment of others. Personal purpose in librarianship should be pushed until it makes a connection to social betterment in society. This is what it is at the one-to-one librarian-user interaction level. It has greater scope and meaning, and calls for wider action if we realise that societal improvement is really what libraries are about. If librarians have a problem with power, the problem is not that they do not have power, but that they do not fully use the power they do have, and they do not really believe they deserve to have it, anyway... While the organisational reality is that we all report to someone, we also need to believe that we can and should develop strategy, and plan for the future, rather than just comply with the plans of others, and that we can participate in the organisational decision-making processes, including those concerning budgetary allocations, as well as having autonomy to decide where the library money is spent. from "Manna, Manna, Manner: Power and the Practice of Librarianship," Keynote Address, Jennifer Cram, New Zealand Library and Information Association Conference, Oct. 1993 http://www.alia.org.au/~jcram/mana_manna_manner.html Jennifer Cram is (past?) President of the Australian Library and Information Association. ________________________________________________________________________ 13. Powell's Books is now a Union Shop You've probably heard by now that employees of Powell's Books, a huge independent here in Portland (how huge? Physically, a whole city block, the flagship store alone . . . in terms of selection, it says something that Powell's sells a lot of books to Amazon.com) last week voted for representation by the ILWU. The margin was narrow (161-155) so if any of y'all do business with Powell's, why not do what I do? Make a point of telling the staffer that you're shopping there because you support the union drive (and because today's Pete Seeger's 80th birthday?) Powells: http://www.powells.com Bruce Jensen PLUS: Public Libraries Using Spanish http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Thebes/8107 _____________________________________________________________________________ 14. Yesterday (May 4th) in History - From the Daily Bleed 1886 - Haymarket Square Bombing. A bomb kills seven Chicago cops as they attack demonstrators at a rally protesting police brutality yesterday at McCormick Reaper Works. Eight -- including speakers at the meeting -- are arrested. Four anarchists (August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer & George Engel) were subsequently hanged for murder after a show trial & another (Louis Lingg) killed himself. No evidence linking them with the bombing has ever been found & the Chief of police manufactured his own evidence. Illinois governor John P. Altgeld denounced the trial as a travesty & pardoned some (knowingly destroying his political career). 'There will come a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are strangling to-day' ---Albert Spies http://www.pitzer.edu/~dward/Anarchist_Archives/haymarket/Haymarket.html 1886 - In Milwaukee, meanwhile, members of the Polish Assembly of the Knights of Labor march from St. Stanislaus Church to the North Chicago Rolling Mills, shutting down factories on their way. The combined forces of city and county police are unable to stop the march, and the sheriff requests National Guard troops. Over 2,000 marchers reach the plant office & present demands for the 8-hour day & a wage increase. When the Rolling Mills rejects both demands, employees pour out & join the crowd. As hostility increases, the National Guard begins firing just above the crowd & the plant shuts down. Tuesday evening, Central Labor Union leader Paul Grottkau tries to calm tempers by proposing a citywide union executive board to bargain with employers. Spoken in German to a meeting of 1,500 workers, Grottkau's proposal is misinterpreted by newspaper reporters as an appeal to violence. Today (May 5th), state militia will shoot into a Milwaukee strikers' march & kill five people. 1970 - US: Four Kent State University students murdered by Ohio National Guardsmen at a demonstration protesting the U.S. incursion into Cambodia (see 30 April). Despite warnings from advisors that invading Cambodia (Operation Duck Hook) would lead to domestic bloodshed, Kissinger & Nixon decided to invade to prove Nixon's toughness. Nixon was boozing heavily & repeatedly watching �Patton� to bolster himself. Many staffers worried he'd gone off the deep end mentally. He directed staffers to take a public hard-line posture toward critics/protestors: "Having drawn the sword, don't take it out -- stick it in hard." With the Kent State killings the White House was stunned, more worried about mushrooming protest than the deaths, which many blamed on students themselves; J. Edgar Hoover advised that one of the women killed had been "sleeping around" & was "nothing more than a whore." VP Spiro Agnew fulminated about "traitors & thieves & perverts & irrational & illogical people in our midst." [the White House? --ed] America's campuses exploded, finally joined in the streets by middle America, by workers, & even dissidents within the government itself. http://www.cris.com/~Mppa/ethics.html http://www.kent.edu/sociology/lewis/LEWIHEN.htm 1970 - US: City of Chicago unveils a new monument to policemen killed in Haymarket Square. Chicago police, with a tradition of indiscriminately shooting & killing unarmed workers & their supporters, honored. The statue, oddly enough, keeps getting knocked over. 1970 - US: 5,000 demonstrate at College Park, Washington, D.C. 450 policemen unable to disperse them, 600 National Guard sent in -- to protect them, right? (Excerpted from The Daily Bleed, a daily calendar of radical history, archived on the web: The Daily Bleed - Sinners & Saints galore "Better to go hungry than to feast on lies.": http://www.eskimo.com/~recall/bleed/calmast.htm ________________________________________________________________________ 15. Links related to the Haymarket Massacre Illinois Labor History Society - article on the riot http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/haymkmon.htm Images: http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/disasters/haymarket_photos.html Haymarket Martyrs Memorial - photographs and history http://www.graveyards.com/foresthome/hmarket.html Haymarket Massacre Internet Memorial http://www.netizen.org/haymarket/ (Note: the server may be messed up, giving a false 404 error) ________________________________________________________________________ 16. Name Authority for Monty Cantsin >From the Editor: While I was enjoying the anarchist book fair in San Francisco recently I had a conversation with my friend Chuck0 (known as the Chief Anarchist Librarian) in which he raised an interesting question about Neoism from the point of view of thecataloger. It's an interesting issue... The name "Neoism" is partly a joke, but it stands for a genuine avant garde art movement that has its origins in Situationism, Fluxus, and the Mail Art movement. Librarians who handle art, philosophy, or cultural studies collections may need to be know how to handle its products. Certain features of the movement present a unique problem. Although the expositions of the Neoism that emerge from it are frequently extremely difficult to understand (the products are generally textual manifestos, and the object of criticism or interest is the concept of Reality itself), certain intentions are clear. One of them is to challenge the idea of authorship and of ownership. The primary way this challenge is repeatedly expressed is through the use of agreed-upon pseudonyms by anonymous "neoist" and "anti-neoist" participants. The first of these pseudonyms in use (at the time of the original expressions of neoism in 1984) was Monty Cantsin. Neoist artists, whose true identities might be known to scholars of the movement, would often simultaneously publish manifestos under this name or others (such as that of the famous soccer player Luther Bliss). Much Neoist art will never find its way into libraries, but some of it must. There is a neoist magazine called SMILE, which has numerous articles by "Monty Cantsin" and other Neoist identities. The question arises of how a cataloger should treat the author. Should the librarian respect the intention of the neoist and make authority records based on the name "Monty Cantsin," or should she discover the real names of the artists and avoid losing the information? To use the name "Monty Cantsin" would in a sense be to participate in the Neoism. On the other hand, it would also be a lot easier, and in most cases "Monty Cantsin" (or Luther Bliss, Luther Blissett, Elliot Cantsin or others) would be the only name available. In those cases, should the librarian use the actually more informative name "anonymous" or respect the intention of the artist and go with the Neoist pseudonym? Here are some links for some background information on Neoism: SMILE magazine, the Neoist publication: http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html Manifesto of Neoist Performance: http://www.neoism.org/squares/neoist_performance_manif.html Neoism newsgroup: news:alt.culture.neoism A Monty Cantsin-related Neoist project: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~cantsin/neoism/cantsin.cgi http://www.neoism.org A bit of background: [22] The Thing called Monty Cantsin is an explicitly empty figure, a name open to occupation by anyone who wishes to stand in the stupid guru's place in order to see that it doesn't exist. There is, in fact, no such individual as Monty Cantsin; he is a pure alias. In principle, anyone who wishes to adopt this false identity, this identity as falsehood, and for whatever motives, whether it be to preserve the strictest anonymity or from the most venal band-wagon opportunism, can claim to be Cantsin. Canadian 'total media artist' Monty Cantsin is something between an enigma and an institution. He is a being around whom a vast contemporary mythology has accumulated. Nemesis seems to dog his footsteps; retribution is incapable of tracking him down. He is voracious of appetite, prolific of explanation, eternally on the brink of affluence yet forever in the slough of debt. He is, moreover, a prince among parasites, a model of optimism, and a master of obtuseness. He can achieve more, and at less cost to himself, than a gypsy. He is as ancient as the hills, as genial as the sunshine, as cheerful as an expectant relative at the death bedside of wealth. He is unthinkable, unforgettable, unejectable, living on [in] all men for all time. Nations die and rise again; Kings come and go; Emperors soar and fall ... but Monty Cantsin lives on and on.^18^ The stupid guru is always a locus of exaggeration: a "vast mythology" surrounds the leader of even the tiniest sect. Here, the purposely vacuous description could apply to any guru, and that is its point: it is offered as a null set, and hence as the proper set of the guru himself. He lives on and on because he never existed, just as no guru, no king, no pop star has ever existed. But that is not to say that one can ever go beyond him. In the very act of evacuating this figure, his sovereignty is reconfirmed. The history of Neoism demonstrates that once one stands in his place one can easily forget one is standing nowhere: Cantsin becomes a disputed figure, as certain Neoists claim to be the real Cantsin in the very act of inviting others to partake of Cantsin's persona (a rather messianic offer: this is my body), as if mere contact with this name was enough to erase the memory that there is nothing at stake in the name, that emptiness is all that was ever at stake in it.^19^ One is reminded of the wars for possession of the term *dada,* equally vacuous and equally invaluable. Thus Cantsin is not only an anarchistic be-your-own guru, a figure of a *poesie fait par tous,* but both the attempted subversion of this structure and the immediate failure of that subversion in a proprietary struggle. from Stupid Undergrounds by Paul Mann Department of English Pomona College Postmodern Culture v.5 n.3 (May, 1995) pmc[at]jefferson.village.virginia.edu ________________________________________________________________________ 17. [sic] http://www.popped.com/sic/ This is just to let you know that the official launch of [sic] magazine took place very quietly in the early morning hours of April 3. [sic] is a new webzine focusing on concrete and sound poetry along with related reviews, interviews, recordings, and the like. Of course these are not stringent guidelines, as our current content proves. Right now we are featuring an interview with Concrete poet, and editor of Coach House Press, Darren Wershler-Henry. We also have artwork from Neil Hennessy, and myself, as well as a few extra's thrown in for good measure. We are currently accepting submissions for our next few issues (we will always be "currently" accepting submissions), check the site for details, and mailing info. Besides this we are looking to create an online directory of small presses, and small press publishers. This will include literary presses, zines, webzines, comix, and everything in-between. Listings will include contact info, location, type of material published, and samples if available. Eventually we would like it to be fully searchable and allow you to order material directly from the presses. Hopefully this can grow to become a valuable resource for both the small press community, as well as small press enthusiasts. If you want to become a part of this project, please get in contact with us right away, there is no cost involved, and space is unlimited so spread the word. In fact, please forward this email on to anyone you feel might benefit, or be interested in [sic]. Right now our marketing plan consists of three little words: "word of mouth." I hope you enjoy our first issue. [sic] will continue to expand over the next few months, so please bookmark us... pretty please. Contact: Lucas Mulder, editor, sic[at]popped.com ________________________________________________________________________ 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 This page was created by SimpleText2Html 1.0.3 on 5-May-99.