Library Juice 2:19 - Library Juice is now a book and a blog

Library Juice 2:19 - May 12, 1999 Congratulations to ALA President-Elect Nancy Kranich! Contents: 1. Sex in the stacks poll 2. The Laughing Librarian - Brian Smith's site 3. The Toolbox - Librarians' Resource Centre 4. Libr.org Search Tool - Beta Test 5. Information Subway Media Guide 6. Music in the Public Domain 7. Eve Diel's Core Music - Email Compilation 8. Biography sites 9. 1999 Annual Best LIBRI Student Paper competition 10. Letter from Wizard Marks to Minneapolis Commissioner Peter McLaughlin 11. Chuck0's commentary on the Dr. Laura flap and other attacks 12. Vanity Fair Article about Dr. Laura 13. "Stop the Madness" - Satire 14. Housemans and Bookmarks fight back against threats of libel action 15. FYI France -- BNF Strike, the results Quote for the week: "Happiness is a warm librarian." -Steve Howie __________________________________________________________________________ 1. Sex in the stacks poll Jessamyn is taking a poll over on librarian.net that asks if you've done the nasty in the oversize ranges. http://www.librarian.net/poll.html Hmmm, what would be the effect on compact shelving.... -- Chuck0 http://flag.blackened.net/chuck0/home/ __________________________________________________________________________ 2. The Laughing Librarian - Brian Smith's site From: Brian Smith <bsmith[at]linc.lib.il.us> To: publib <publib[at]sunsite.Berkeley.EDU> Subject: Re: The Lipstick Librarian <shameless self-promotion> Links to The Lipstick Librarian, The Modified Librarian, and a few dozen more sites for library-related fun (although the definitions of "library-related" and "fun" get stretched a bit) -- along with my original material -- are available at my fairly new website, The Laughing Librarian. http://www.netjunk.com/users/lafnlibn/ Disclaimer: The Laughing Librarian is not my employer's fault and may be blocked by some filters. </shameless self-promotion> __________________________________________________________________________ 3. The Toolbox - Librarians' Resource Centre The Toronto Chapter of SLA has what I consider the best all-around collection of resources for librarians. It's called The Toolbox - Librarians' Resource Centre. It's updated monthly, and May edition is online. Take a look. http://www.sla.org/chapter/ctor/toolbox/resource/index.html -Editor __________________________________________________________________________ 4. Libr.org Search Tool - Beta Test http://libr.org/search I'd like to invite readers to take the Libr.org Search Tool out for a spin. It's a compilation of useful search interfaces from around the internet, similar to the well-known search compilations www.allonesearch.com and www.langenberg.com. The Libr.org search has smaller selection of resources than AllOneSearch, but higher functionality in the forms that it uses. It also has a unique feature: when you do a search the results come up in a new browser window, leaving the search platform in place in the original window for more searches, without having to reload it using the "back" button. This feature might not work in all browsers. I would appreciate your feedback as testers so that I can figure out how to make this feature work for everyone. The Search Tool defaults to a frames version to toggle between collections of resources, but a non-frames version is available, using the same frame content as separate pages. The Search Tool is made up of forms interfaces to the following resources: INTERNET SEARCHES - Inference Find - Northern Light - Hotbot SuperSearch - The Mining Co. - Librarians Index to the Internet - Search Engine Watch DESK REFERENCE - Encarta (Abridged) - Encyclopedia.com - 482 Dictionaries - Multilingual Dictionary - CIA World Fact Book - Currency Converter - Hoover's MasterList Plus - MediConsult Medical Reference - Progressive Possibilities Index - Quotations databases - National Gallery of Art ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE - Yahoo E-mail search - Residential White Pages - Business White Pages - Reverse Phone Lookup - Reverse Address Lookup - Zip codes + 4 - Yahoo Maps - How Far Is It? US LAW AND GOVERNMENT - FindLaw LawCrawler - LawGuru.com - CIIR Govbot - GPO Access Pathway Indexer - GPO Access - Agencies - The Zipper - Government Official Search - OpenSecrets.org Searches LIBRARIAN'S TOOLS - Internet Library for Librarians - Index Morganagus - Publist.com - Acses booksearch - Bookfinder.com - LC Simple Search Test it out and send me your feedback, and tell me if you think I'm flirting too heavily with copyright infringement. Rory Litwin Rory[at]libr.org __________________________________________________________________________ 5. Information Subway Media Guide http://www.speakeasy.org/citizen/infosubway/platforms.html A guide to non-corporate media sources put out by Seattle Independent Media Coalition. "Independent media outlets bring you the stories that don't make it past corporate filters. Find a TV show, radio program or newssheet that suits your information needs." Regional hubs are listed first, followed by links into the directory according to media (television, internet, print, film/video, radio). __________________________________________________________________________ 6. Music in the Public Domain http://www.pdinfo.com/ Founded in 1986, PD Info (taken over in early 1999 by Haven Sound, Inc.) provides information and resources for identifying public domain materials. As part of that project, this site has been developed to help users understand what music they can freely use and how they may use it. As the site explains, the rules for public domain use are not as clear-cut as they seem, and users will find a concise and helpful overview of the differences between copyright and public domain, and how to identify and prove publicve publicdomain. The heart of the site is a 3,000 song alphabetical list of royalty-free music anyone may use in any way. Additional resources at the site include annotated links to other public domain sites and a brief list of examples of projects using public domain music. [MD] >From the Internet Scout Report: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/ __________________________________________________________________________ 7. Eve Diel's Core Music - Email Compilation Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about a Core Music Bibliography (or discography). I received some really great responses that have helped me out a lot. Since many people have expressed interest in the information I received, I have compiled the responses below. Thanks again for all your help! - Eve .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. I would suggest the Rough Guide series for Classical, Opera, Jazz, and World Music. They each list several hundred recordings, but they're rated so you can choose (what they feel) are the best and still have room to expand from there. They also serve as nice introductions to music appreciation in each of these areas. If you're collecting popular music as well, I think any of the popular music top-40-type guides would work well - Billboard publications, for example. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. I would suggest using the All-Music Guides (there are separate editions for jazz, classical, rock, etc.) -- see www.allmusic.com for info about the books. There is a music librarians association -- if they have a website, it would be linked from www.ala.org. Good luck .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. I am the head of the music collections here at UGA. Your request for a source of basic music materials was forwarded to me. I am also the chair of the Music Library Assoc. Resource Sharing/Collection Development Committee and we recently (2 years ago) published through ALA the Basic Music Library (3rd ed.). The last half of this publication lists a core collection of recordings. I must warn you that a number of the specific recordings may no longer be in print. I would recommend that you use this BML in conjunction with Schwann OPUS and match the repertoire to available recordings. You might also be able to get a vendor to supply recordings "based" on this list. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. TITLE: A basic music library : essential scores and sound recordings / compiled by the Music Library Association ; Elizabeth Davis, coordinating editor ; Pamela Bristah and Jane Gottlieb, scores editors ; Kent Underwood and William E. Anderson, sound recordings editors. EDITION: 3rd ed. PUBLISHED: Chicago : American Library Association, 1997. DESCRIPTION: xvi, 665 p. ; 29 cm. NAMES: Davis, Elizabeth A., 1947- . | Music Library Association. SUBJECTS: Music--Bibliography. | Music libraries--Collection development. NOTES: Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN: 0838934617 LC CARD NUMBER: 96-047351 /MN I hope this information will help you out. If you need anything else just drop me a line. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. I couldn't locate a list of core titles, but this page should help you: http://www.halcyon.com/aseaberg/uwbibl96.html Try Compact Disc World P.O. Box 927, South Plainfield, NJ 07080 Telephone 1-800-836-8742 or Fax 1-800-450-3472 This is the telephone/mail order side of the business. They have many stores in the part of the country. They do custom reports on any kind of music you want. I just got a Core'99 list but you can get whatever. They also have very good prices on CD's-better than many others such as Baker & Taylor or Ingram. Ask for Ira or Rocky but anyone can help you. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eve Diel Reference Librarian St. Charles County Community College St. Peters, MO 63376 ediel[at]scccc.stchas.edu __________________________________________________________________________ 8. Biography sites From ResPool - http://members.tripod.com/~rtiess/respool.htm >Can anyone recommend a good site devoted to biographies, or the date of >birth and date of death of well known people. > >Janon Fisher >Researcher >APBONLINE.COM .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Here are some sites I find useful: http://bioguide.congress.gov/ (Bios for all members of Congress since 1774) http://www.netsrq.com/~dbois/ (This is limited just to women's bios) http://www.biblio.tu-bs.de/acwww25u/wbi_en/ (This is a German site in English; very comprehensive) http://www.biography.com/find/find.html http://www.s9.com/biography/ Hope that's helpful. Frank Boyett .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. From: "Melody" <huldah[at]exotrope.net> http://www.biography.com/find/find.html This is a searchable database from A&E related to the Biography program. It contains over 20,000 people. http://www.netsrq.com/~dbois/index.html Distinguished Women of Past and Present, "contains biographies of women who contributed to our culture in many different ways. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. "The Dead People Server" The name says it all: http://dpsinfo.com/ Hensley Roberts .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Here is a site for historical individuals, which also has multiple links and searching capable databases. (whole plant earth!) http://www.ucr.edu/h-gig/horuslinks.html Here is an unsual site that some should find interesting. This site shows the gravesite when available for famous people. Check it out. Just, Danice J http://www.findagrave.com/tocs/pictures.html just, danice J .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Try the list selected by the Information Center of Utrecht University. http://www.library.uu.nl/ubuhome/freebase/algemeen/biogr.htm Greetings, Huib Verhoeff Information Officer Information Center Utrecht University __________________________________________________________________________ 9. 1999 Annual Best LIBRI Student Paper competition From: Nancy John <nrj[at]UIC.EDU> Subject: Libri Student Award: Deadline, May 31, 1999 To: IFLA-L[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA K. G. Saur Verlag Munich, Germany announces the 1999 annual award for Best LIBRI Student Paper Since 1950, through 49 volumes, LIBRI International Journal of Libraries and Information Services has been a leader among scholarly journals in the international library world. As part of its strategy to remain one of the premier library journals, LIBRI is issuing a call for "Best Student Paper of 1999." This competition supports LIBRI's goal of publishing the best articles from the next generation of library and information science professionals. We are proud once again to recognize the very best article with this special award. Students at all levels are invited to submit articles with clarity and authority. For 1999, there is no stated theme. Research papers should address one of the significant issues facing today's librarians and information professionals. Case studies, best practices, and pure research papers are all welcome. Length: approx. 5000 words Language: English Deadline: May 31, 1999 The best paper will be selected by a panel consisting of the members of the Editorial Board, the Advisory Board, and other international experts. The paper will be judged on the basis of originality of thought and observation depth of research and scholarship topicality of problems addressed the international readership of the journal The article will be published in the 1999:3 issue. The author of the winning article will be honoured with an award of 500.00 USD and with a complementary subscription to LIBRI for 2000. Manuscripts should be sent to the LIBRI Editorial Office Statsbiblioteket Universitetsparken DK 8000 Aarhus C Denmark. ================================ Nancy John Library Systems University of Illinois at Chicago Editor, Libri *********************************************************************** * 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. Letter from Wizard Marks to Minneapolis Commissioner Peter McLaughlin April 28, 1999 Commissioner Peter McLaughlin A-2400 Government Center 300 South Sixth Street Minneapolis, MN 55487 Dear Peter: Over the past winter, I have been receiving information from friends who work at Hennepin County Library about a move on the part of Charles Brown, Director of HCL, to remove head cataloger Sanford Berman. In 26 years at HCL, Berman, attempting to make the library system user friendly, has put HCL on the map. He has debated the Library of Congress in service to that vision -- and won. This is no small feat. As a result of his work, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks no longer have all books which pertain to their lives cataloged without cross reference in sociology under the medical and insulting term "homosexual." Likewise, Romany people are accessible to themselves through their own choice of name, Rom or Romany, rather than "gypsy," the previous subject heading and an insult. The same can be said for Ojibway and Dakota, and other people of color. Imagine yourself a child looking for your history at the *public* library and finding books about yourself under an insulting term. Given the mission of the public library, to level the playing field for the economically disadvantaged, it should hardly be revolutionary to catalog the books without insult, but it has been. Sanford Berman, from out here in the far hinterlands, has moved the static Library of Congress to be inclusive. I have received phone calls, notes, and copies of memos from friends at HCL documenting how Charles Brown has been working to push Berman into retirement. The last maneuver was to move Berman out of his office and take away all of his work as supervising cataloger. Berman would then be given no work for however many years he might choose to stay (probably only 2 or 3, he's 67), but would be paid his salary since he has an exemplary record. Since Berman was making in the range of $60,000 plus per year, Brown was willing to continue paying out that kind of money without any work resulting, in an attempt to get rid of a man who has been a hard-working, tremendous asset to HCL. It was clear in these memos that Brown does not respect employees of HCL and is willing to humiliate them publicly for disagreeing with his opinions in the privacy of staff meetings where, as senior staff, they should be candidly discussing the best ways to run the library. [This is the same Charles Brown I called you about last year when he was planning to raise the fines for late returns on children's books. I asked you to stop it from happening (which you did, thank you so much) because children often get slapped around for costing their families money by forgetting to return their books on time. The kids, to save themselves a beating, don't return the books and the library loses assets.] The memos noted above went to employees throughout the HCL system, signaling that it is dangerous for library professionals to discuss *among themselves* the issues which determine how effective the library will be in serving the public. Already good librarians are looking for work elsewhere and anundertone of rage has invaded HCL staff. This will cost the county more money it can ill afford to waste since angry, discouraged employees' work will be affected in subtle but telling ways. Peter, Sanford Berman is a courtly gentleman of the old school. He reminds me of Sam Kaplan in that respect -- gorgeous manner, never condescending, never insulting. In the middle of this year-long assault, he has never resorted to calling Brown a dirty so-and-so, even though, from those memos, Brown richly deserves the moniker. I'm just sick about this, Peter, and while I do not know that there is anything you can do to reverse the decision, I hope that you can, at the very least, exact a public apology. Further, something needs to happen which will stem the bleeding out of good librarians from the system -- even though it means that other libraries will get some great librarians as a result. That something should include asking for resignations from Brown and some few others who are creating this hideous situation. HCL is a tremendously important resource and I do not want it to suffer from the stupidities of blind ambition. Sincerely, Wizard Marks __________________________________________________________________________ 11. Chuck0's commentary on the Dr. Laura flap and other attacks Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 18:29:49 -0400 From: Chuck0 <chuck[at]tao.ca> X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: librarians[at]tao.ca Subject: Fwd: Playing chess with the right wing Sender: owner-librarians[at]tao.ca Precedence: bulk I'm forwarding a message I sent to the anarchy-list about Filtering Facts. It explains many things that may of you are already familiar with. This is my attempt to bring library issues to folks who aren't librarians, but who are sympathetic to our goals. Chuck0 -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Playing chess with the right wing Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 17:30:24 -0400 From: Chuck0 <chuck[at]tao.ca> Reply-To: Chuck0 <chuck[at]tao.ca> To: AnarchyAreWe <anarchy-list[at]lists.village.virginia.edu> If you thought that politics were dull, events of the past month are proving otherwise. Some of you know about my ongoing battle in the library profession with the right wingers who want to mandate filtering software in every public library and school. Their side has suffered some bad court setbacks in the last 6 months, so they are getting increasingly desperate. On this issue I find myself in the eccentric wing of the establishment. This is kind of an oddity for me because I always find myself FIGHTING the establishment. In this case, the establishment is the American Library Association and they are being attacked now by the religious right because they are sticking by their basic principles, although they are quaking in their boots. The point of contention is of course children accessing the Internet in public libraries. The religious right simply thinks they need to "save" children from being damaged by seeing the wrong things on library computers. These "inappropriate" things are naked women, bestiality, and more recently, bomb-making information. Thankfully, support for their cause is rather thin, but they are pulling out all the stops to whip up hysteria in their favor. They are and will continue to exploit the Littleton shootings for political gain. Recently they've enlisted Dr. Laura, a crappy radio talk show therapist, to convince her 20 million listeners that ALA has an active campaign to expose kids to sex with animals. ALA has been the target of the religious right for several years. The most vocal voice has been Karen Jo Gonauld, who is president of "Family Friendly Libraries." She made a name for herself in the D.C. area several years ago when she tried to stop the FREE distribution of the Washington Blade, a gay weekly, in the lobbies of suburban Virginia public libraries. She failed, but then she allied herself with the religious right and was influential on the Loudon County filtering case. One of her tactics has been to demonize the ALA and specifically, the Library Bill of Rights. And now Dr. Laura and the rest of her ilk have joined this attack on the Library Bill of Rights, which most public libraries have adopted. Why the attack on the Library Bill of Rights? The Library Bill of Rights (http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/lbr.html) has a clause which states that "A person's right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views." ALA and the library profession had the wisdom years ago to stand up for the rights of children to free speech. This statement against age discrimination has become controversial now that the Internet allows access to all kinds of things. The religious right, which has no concept of the rights of children, is in a rage about this "abridgment of parental rights." They are convinced that any teenager who sees some pornography is going to be traumatized beyond all hope. One of the most outspoken proponents of library filtering is librarian David Burt, who runs the Filtering "Facts" website (www.filteringfacts.org). I suspect he has been involved in Dr. Laura's recent campaign against the ALA. Oddly enough, her monologues leading up to the attack on ALA focused on pedophilia, so you gotta wonder if she was setting up ALA as a big pedophile supporting straw man. Last week, ToysRUs canceled a $1,000,000 program with ALA, citing Dr. Laura's criticisms of ALA. I wrote a long response, explaining how ToysRUs bailing out was a good thing, because libraries have been making too many cozy arrangements with the corporate world. I also criticized the cozy relationship that libraries and ALA has had with Bill Gates and his library foundation. I explained how his views on intellectual property are hostile to the principles of fair use which librarians believe in. I should also mention that several of us radical and anarchist librarians have been speaking out about ALA's choice of Colin Powell as the keynote speaker for this summer's conference. We've objected to the $20,000 that ALA is going to give this war criminal (a library corporation is chipping in another $50,000). So now David of Filtering Facts has responded by calling for Colin Powell to cancel his speaking appearance, saying that it is "inappropriate for the General to lend his presence to an organization that promotes free access to pornography for children." He is also calling on Bill Gates to stop funding libraries because he claims that they are promoting pornography: "While this is a laudable mission, many of these libraries are providing young children with unfiltered, unmonitored Internet access, including hard-core triple-x pornography. We demand that the Gates Library Foundation provide funds only to libraries that agree to take responsibility for protecting children from Internet pornography." (http://www.filteringfacts.org/gates.htm) While it may be tempting to laugh about these recent salvos in the culture wars, it is important to pay attention and to be involved. Public support for filtering is low, but we can see how the Littleton incident can quickly escalate the hysteria to the point where many children's lives are made more miserable. Chuck0 "I feel like I've been transported back to Ronnie Reagan's America" __________________________________________________________________________ 12. Vanity Fair Article about Dr. Laura Some of you may already know of the Vanity Fair article about the odious Dr. Laura. For those who don't, check out: http://www.achilles.net/~guy/laura/vanity.htm Regards, Bill T. __________________________________________________________________________ 13. "Stop the Madness" - Satire At 11:24 AM 5/7/1999 -0400, you wrote: >This rant against libraries is undoubtedly meant to be a satirical >approach to defending the internet against censorship. However, the >author seems unaware how close his absurd hyperbole comes to the >arguments of librarians' real adversaries. > > http://www.citypaper.com/columns/framecyb.htm I and the author are completely aware of "how close his absurd hyperbole comes to the arguments of librarians' real adversaries" -- that is the essence of satire. Suzanne M. Stauffer, M.L.S. Doctoral Student, Information Studies Graduate School of Education and Information Studies University of California, Los Angeles 254 GSE&IS Building, Box 951520 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1520 http://scow.gseis.ucla.edu/students_m-z/sstauffe/HTML/home.htm Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity there will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions: for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. -- John Milton, Areopagitica __________________________________________________________________________ 14. Housemans and Bookmarks fight back against threats of libel action Two small bookshops - Housmans and Bookmarks, which are almost the only radical bookshops remaining in central London - are facing a renewed threats of libel action because they have stocked the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. Under the notoriously draconian libel laws in Britain, anyone claiming to have been defamed by a publication can sue not only that publication, but also any shops claimed to have sold the item concerned. Several years ago, some people criticised in Searchlight used this provision to attack a number of political bookshops around the country. Only one of those cases remains unsettled, and because it had been dormant for over two years it was assumed, effectively, to be dropped. However, this last case has recently been revived by the person criticised in Searchlight, and the two shops face a very serious legal and financial threat. So the shops are in turn reviving their defence campaign to raise both political and financial support for their stand. To support the continued existence of outlets for alternative and progressive literature, contact (and send donations to): Bookshop Libel Fund, c/o Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Rd, London N1 (tel + 44 171-837 4473); & c/o Bookmarks, 1 Bloomsbury St, London WC1 (tel + 44 171-637 1848). ============================ From: Albert Beale, Housmans Peace Resource Project 5 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London N1, UK Tel +44-171-278 4474 Fax +44-171-278 0444 E-mail worldpeace[at]gn.apc.org __________________________________________________________________________ 15. FYI France -- BNF Strike, the results Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 14:13:39 -0600 From: Jack Kessler <kessler[at]well.com> Subject: FYI France -- BNF Strike, the results FYI France: ! New books on the Front National, and more, at, http://www.fyifrance.com/FN/fnind.htm --oOo-- FYI France: BNF Strike results -- the Minister's letter Many of you have asked about the results of the Bibliothe`que Nationale de France strike, arguably one of the earliest "digital information labor actions" to have taken place anywhere, so far. The strike occurred last Fall, in October. One of the original and always central issues was the inability of the new digital information systems to live up to expectations -- defenders crying "unreasonable" expectations, and detractors contending "minimal" -- digital information thus finally reaching the bar of labor action and history: see FYI France, Oct 23 & Nov 15, 1998. So here is what the French did: a committee was established -- I can hear the groans already, many of them French -- a report was issued, recommendations were made... But this _is_ how these things are done. Even the "corporate" types who read this will admit that private firms look a lot less efficient from the inside than out, and not just in France. And the BNF after all _is_ a giant, public, and ancient institution: Yale University's Bart Giamatti used to complain of having to "run a 20th century enterprise using 16th century methods". Public institution governance does require patience. After patient waiting by all concerned, then, the national Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication, Catherine Trautmann, issued the following instructions for resolving the BNF strike and crisis, on March 16: (tr. JK) --oOo-- Monsieur Jean-Pierre ANGREMY Pre'sident de la Bibliothe`que nationale de France 11 Quai Franc,ois Mauriac 75706 Paris Cedex 13 Monsieur le Pre'sident, As you know, the difficulties encountered by the Bibliothe`que Nationale de France in opening its "lower - garden" level to researchers hold a significant place in my current concerns. These difficulties should not obscure the considerable work which has been accomplished by your organization, and all of its successes: the computerization of your printed works catalogs, the opening of your "upper garden" level to the general public, the open access to much of the collection, the launch of your "Gallica" Internet site, the move of the Richelieu collections, the improvement of the De'po^t Le'gal outside of Paris as part of the "Po^les Associe's" project... The list of all of the actions and achievements already accomplished by the BNF is long, and has produced a first - rate cultural and scientific resource of great value to the nation. Nevertheless, certain steps remain to be taken to improve the functioning of your institution, and the extensive study which just has been undertaken on this subject to me appears to have been particularly positive. In conformity with the agreement established as a result of the strike of October - November 1998, between representatives of the staff and the management of the institution, nine working groups completed their analyses at the end of January, and based on these M. Albert Poirot, Inspecteur Ge'ne'ral des Bibliothe`ques, recently submitted his summary report to me. I would like to tell you how much I was struck by the enormity of the task which has been accomplished in so short a time by all of the members of the working groups, and by M. Poirot, as well as by the quality of M. Poirot's report. On reading the report, important recommendations emerge clearly, and it appears to me imperative -- considering the long period of waiting by both the staff of the BNF and its readers -- that they be applied quickly to the principal problems which the report describes, taking into account the financial implications of the solutions which have been proposed. I know that you already work constantly to optimise the information systems and the communications network in order to enable the direct delivery of documents to users, a task which I consider as you do to be a primary objective, and I can assure you that you yourself as well as your services have my entire confidence in this undertaking. In addition, so that the establishment which you direct will function in the most coherent and efficacious manner possible, using to their very best advantage all of the skills of your personnel, I wish you to undertake a series of measures immediately. Some of them will come from your organization directly, others require cooperation with the central administration of my Ministry: specifically the Direction du Livre et de la Lecture and the Direction de l'Administration Ge'ne'rale. These measures are the following: * You will propose to me, before May 15, a program of projects for the building at Tolbiac as well as a policy of improvements, for the years 1999 and 2000. These projects are to lead to an improvement in the document delivery network, and in the working conditions of personnel, particularly in the book stacks. * You will strive to give a renewed dynamism to personnel policies, by assigning a more important position and more ambitious objectives to the management in charge of this area, and by ensuring that the highest management of the BNF will be available and open to those who work in the personnel area. * It is my wish that all possible measures be taken to train personnel regarding the development of the information systems, particularly those involved with the release of the Version 2 scheduled for the end of this year. * I am to receive an account of the study of your institution's opening hours, undertaken by yourselves in cooperation with the Direction du Livre et de la Lecture and other interested parties. It is my wish that proposals in this area be submitted to me by the beginning of June. * The organization will find a way to improve, perceptibly, the procedures for reception of the public, and to develop policies for distance access. * A program of evaluations of the BNF will be proposed by the Direction du Livre et de la Lecture, working with the management of your organization and the Inspection Ge'ne'rale des Bibliothe`ques. * You will prepare a projet d'e'tablissement to be confirmed by a contrat d'objectifs between the Ministry and the BNF, cooperating with the Direction du Livre et de la Lecture and the Direction de l'Administration Ge'ne'rale. * A new evaluation of the adequacy of both the number of personnel and of their qualifications, for the good functioning of the organization and full use of its capacities, will be submitted to me by the end of this year. * As to personnel policies, to me it appears essential that the work of the personnel be appreciated at all levels. You are to establish, in particular, the Comite' Technique Paritaire and the Comite' d'hygie`ne et de Se'curite' as lines of communication between management and representatives of the personnel. * Moreover, you will take steps to reinforce the coherence of the operation of all services. Internal organization will be changed to permit better informing of personnel, as well as their greater participation in the operation of the organization, notably by their participation on inter - departmental committees. An internal organization chart defining these responsabilities will be developed. * It is my wish, as well, that job training and continuing education policies be reinforced. The creation of a center for job training and professional documentation at Tolbiac will be studied. At the same time, the mobility of personnel, inside the organization as well as outside, will be facilitated, taking into account individual situations. Finally, the extension of social benefits will be pursued through a multi - year program. Thank you for seeing that all of these measures are put into place with the least delay, and that personnel regularly are informed of their development. I wish to be informed myself by the Direction du Livre et de la Lecture of the progress of this work. I am convinced that at the end of this current initial period the "lower - garden" level will reach all of its objectives and will be able fully to satisfy its users. Nor do I doubt that the BNF will be able to provide the distance services which it offers using its internal network and the Internet. Thus the entire nation will be able to obtain the greatest part of the exceptional achievement which your institution represents. Je vous prie d'agre'er, Monsieur le Pre'sident, l'expression de ma conside'ration distingue'e. Catherine TRAUTMANN [The original French as of today may be read online at, http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/actualites/ listed as, "Rapport de synthe`se sur les re'flexions conduites par les neufs groupes de travail de la Bibliothe`que Nationale de France Paris, le 16 mars 1999". JK] --oOo-- Editor's note: Others will be more adept than I am at interpreting the languages of diplomacy and bureaucracy which are involved here. It seems obvious that the personnel problems have impressed the Minister. And she continues to feel that the information systems, and specifically the Internet access, must have the highest priority at the BNF -- if, that is, "primary placement" in her letter gives these matters the same priority which they would enjoy so - placed in a similar letter in a US context -- but then things are not always obvious in France. To the very American question, "show me the money?", there seems to be no answer offered here. But then this was not the occasion, perhaps. Still, budget is an ongoing problem, particularly with information systems: the Minister acknowledges this in her polite but chilling reference to "implications financie`res des solutions", at one point -- the "no - free - lunch clause", they call this in corporate America -- one hopes that personnel, and information systems, will not get starved and certainly not see one robbed to benefit the other at the BNF, as happens so often in corporate "reorganizations". But then money thrown at problems does not resolve the, either. The new BNF formula for this balance will be watched carefully by many others. Recent visitors to the BNF assure me that conditions still are as difficult as they have been but that the attitude of the staff is much, much better. Now comes the critical period, when concrete progress must be shown in all areas -- not too much, lest mistakes be made, nor too little, lest the cynics nod their heads in resignation and unfurl their banners once again or, worse, simply give up and go home. Mme. Trautmann knows this, as do M. Angre'my and any of the BNF staff with experience in management and administration. The enthusiasts and cynics do not -- those inevitable folks -- but then they are not running the place. The BNF now has, at least, gone through its labor movement "baptism of fire" -- hopefully learning from its experience and even perhaps providing valuable lessons to the rest of us on how human institutions are going to cope, or not, with digital information. It ain't easy. One question for the rest of us is whether / when / how "labor movements" elsewhere are going to begin taking on the questions of the digital information age? --oOo-- FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071 - 5916 * | FYI France (sm)(tm) is a monthly electronic | journal published since 1992 as a small-scale, | personal experiment, in the creation of large- | scale "information overload", by Jack Kessler. / \ Any material written by me which appears in ----- FYI France may be copied and used by anyone for // \\ any good purpose, so long as, a) they give me --------- credit and show my email address, and, b) it // \\ isn't going to make them money: if it is going to make them money, they must get my permission in advance, and share some of the money which they get with me. Use of material written by others requires their permission. FYI France archives may be found at http://infolib.berkeley.edu (search fyifrance), or http://www.cru.fr/listes/biblio-fr[at]cru.fr/ (BIBLIO-FR econference archive), or at http://www.fyifrance.com , or at http://listserv.uh.edu/archives/pacs-l.html . Suggestions, reactions, criticisms, praise, and poison-pen letters all will be gratefully received at kessler[at]well.sf.ca.us Copyright 1992- , by Jack Kessler, all rights reserved except as stated above. --oOo-- __________________________________________________________________________ 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 12-May-99.