Library Juice 2:40 - Library Juice is now a book and a blog

Library Juice 2:40 - October 20, 1999 Contents: 1. Shelving by height at LC? 2. Bibliographic Tools for the Alternative Press 3. Free Trial Access to Alternative Press Index via web 4. Queer Press Guide 2000 5. International Counterculture Archive 6. Information Retrieval (online journal) 7. Information Retrieval List (IRList) 8. The Pinocchio Plot to End Looksism Recommended Reading List for Children 9. CCBC - Cooperative Children's Book Center 10. New Logo for SFPL 11. Paper topics from Library Juice 12. Propositions for a theory of library service in the US 13. Participate in planning the future of the ALA 14. Housmans World Peace Database 15. The Situationist International Anthology 16. Whole Again: A Resource Guide 17. The Drawn Sword 18. Note on last week's telephone outage in San Jose 19. Quest for a Pirate Quote for the week: "The two professions most often identified as the models toward which all others strive are medicine and law. The goal of medicine is healing. Regardless of new pharmaceuticals or improved diagnostics, the goal is healing. The goal of law is justice. Regardless of computerized case searching or scientific forensics, the goal is justice. Librarianship, thanks to centuries of effort, has a simple and clear goal as well. Applying Ockham's Razor, that entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity, the goal is information equity. Inherent in this goal is working for universal literacy; defending intellectual freedom; preserving and making accessible the human record; and ensuring that preschoolers have books to read." -Kathleen de la Pena McCook, in her background paper for ALA's Congress on Professional Education: http://ala8.ala.org/congress/mccook.html Homepage of the week: [girl][librarian][goddess][Catherine Jones] http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/4088/ ___________________________________________________________________________top 1. Shelving by height at LC? Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 18:24:59 -0400 From: "Carol Reid" <creid[at]MAIL.NYSED.GOV> To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org> Subject: Another fine mess I am often out of any number of loops, so I certainly could have missed it, but ... Has SRRT or IFRT or any part of ALA taken a stand on the proposal by James Billington at the Library of Congress to begin shelving books by height and accession number (order received), rather than by classification? Two good articles on this subject are: "The Height-Shelving Threat to the Nation's Libraries" by Thomas Mann http://students.cua.edu/org/slislab/shelving.htm "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Shelving by Height at the Library of Congress" by Grace Palladino, Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 45, no. 40, June 11, 1999 Carol Reid New York State Library ___________________________________________________________________________top 2. Bibliographic Tools for the Alternative Press The Alternatives In Print Task Force of SRRT has updated its web page "Bibliographic Tools for the Alternative Press." This is based on the regular feature in _Counterpoise_ by the same name. This useful resource can be found at: http://libr.org/AIP/bibtools.html ___________________________________________________________________________top 3. Free Trial Access to Alternative Press Index via web **Alternative Press Index ** The most complete index to alternative & radical media. FREE ACCESS OVER THE INTERNET UNTIL OCTOBER 31, 1999 Go to: "Click here to register for FREE access to: Alternative Press Index" link at the top of the NISC Home Page http://www.nisc.com We invite you to FREE Access to the "Alternative Press Index" on BiblioLine until October 31, 1999. The Alternative Press Index (1991-present) provides access to over 148,400 records from roughly 380 alternative, radical, and left publications, which report and analyze the practices and theories of cultural, economic, political, and social change. API indexes such important periodicals as: Cineaste, The Ecologist, Socialist Review, The Black Scholar, and Women's Review of Books. For a listing of currently indexed publications including some additional titles from the Independent Press Association, go to: http://www.altpress.org/direct.html 90% of the publications indexed in API are unique, you won't find them indexed in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature or the Social Sciences Index. The Alternative Press Index produced by the Alternative Press Center in Baltimore is widely regarded as the leading guide to the alternative press. If you get requests for non-mainstream publications or articles on social, political, economic, and environmental causes, you need the Alternative Press Index. For more information read the product details at: http://www.nisc.com/dbmonth/api.htm Please contact Debbie Durr by phone (410-243-0797) or Email at sales[at]nisc.com with any questions. Thank you for your time and consideration. NISC Other NISC publications include Gay & Lesbian Abstracts and Women's Resources International. ========================================================== National Information Services Corporation NISC USA 3100 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 USA Tel: +1 410 2430797 Fax: +1 410 2430982 sales[at]nisc.com www.nisc.com A Company in the Public Interest ========================================================== ___________________________________________________________________________top 4. Queer Press Guide 2000 I should like to bring your attention to THE QUEER PRESS GUIDE 2000 which is being published later this month. The book lists the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender publications world wide. The listings come from every continent except Antarctica and tell the reader the phone and fax numbers, the email and website addresses as well as the names of the key personnel at each publication, together with the needs that they have from potential contributors and freelancers. The following website address gives you further information. The book is published by Painted Leaf Press (cocadas[at]bway.net) and distributed by LPC Group. The ISBN is 1-891305-17-4. <A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/qpgy2k/myhomepage/business.html">"The Queer Press Guide 2000" Edited by Paul Harris</A> The book will be of use to writers, journalists, activists, editors, publishers, photographers, Public Relations gurus, Ad Agency mavens, organizations seeking to publicize their work and anyone else interested in the g/l/b/t press. Also included in the book is an interview with Shelly Roberts about how to self-syndicate your work. Best wishes, Paul Harris ___________________________________________________________________________top 5. International Counterculture Archive http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~yoffe/ INTERNATIONAL COUNTERCULTURE ARCHIVE PURPOSE: The Archive's goal is the collection and study of multimedia materials produced by, or dealing with, countercultural groups and movements of different countries. The Archive serves as a depositary for such a collection and provides assistance, expertise, necessary networking to scholars from different fields involved in the study of countercultural movements. The Archive is an interdisciplinary body. In addition to acquisition and processing of the materials, the Archive provides bibliographic description of the collection, reference support and serves as a link for scholars and collectors working in the field. STATEMENT: The Archive is a nonpolitical nonpartisan entity. Its collection policy is dictated strictly by the unbiased principles of academic inquiry, which presumes that the Archive will collect ALL materials pertaining to counterculture, without regard to the political belief, affiliations and philosophy of issuing bodies or individuals responsible for the materials content. COUNTERCULTURE: We define as counterculture groups and movements existing within any modern society and in any country which find themselves in opposition to governing and accepted mainstream ideology, values and the approved and sanctioned forms of self expression. Counterculture is a culture of opposition and minorities. It can be highly political and/or purely artistic, but it inevitably finds itself in opposition to the mainstream political thinking, aesthetical perceptions, styles, and forms and ways of self expression. WHY?: Counterculture is very indicative of major trends in the politics, culture and ideology of a country. Counterculture is a breeding ground of bold, original, radical and lunatic political thinking, aesthetical innovation and ideological and philosophical beliefs. Counterculture is a fruitful soil for the development of new and innovative artistic and stylistic trends, fashions, cults, and fads. It is an integral part of the political and cultural life of any country. Its study is necessary for a deeper understanding of the given country's history, culture, and national or regional psychology. ___________________________________________________________________________top 6. Information Retrieval (online journal) http://www.wkap.nl/journals/ir ISSN 1386-4564 Available electronically via Kluwer Online Aims & Scope Information Retrieval is an international forum for theory and experiment in information retrieval and its application in the networked information environment. The journal will publish articles reporting substantial research results in a wide range of techniques applied to a variety of tasks and a variety of media including, but not limited to: METHODS: Vector Space; Probabilistic Bayesian Logical Methods; Pattern Recognition; Signal Detection; Machine Learning; Natural Language; Semantic Structures: TASK DOMAINS: Classification; Evaluation; Indexing; Interaction; Retrieval; Routing; Filtering; Summarization; Synthesis: MEDIA: Text; Hypermedia; Static Images; Scientific Datasets; Sound; Moving Images; Multimedia; Multi-lingual; Distributed Systems. The ideal paper may be theoretical, experimental or applied. A theoretical paper will report a significant conceptual advance in the design of algorithms or other processes for some information retrieval task. It will establish the validity or potential validity of the proposed ideas in terms of their relation to already accepted ideas and/or in terms of some modest prototype experiment or simulation. An experimental paper will report on a test of one or more theoretical ideas in a laboratory or natural setting. Experimental papers will be reviewed for both scientific and statistical merit, and will be expected to discuss the limitations and generality of the reported results. An application paper will report the successful application of some already established technique to a significant real world problem involving information retrieval. Information Retrieval overlaps with a variety of technical and behavioral fields. Papers on such technical issues as compression and optimization, and on issues of human behavior and cognition are appropriate insofar as they bear specifically on the issues of methods, tasks or media as outlined above. Variations from these prototypes, such as critical reviews of existing work and significant tutorials will be considered provided that they make a clear contribution to the field. Preference will be given to papers which unify concepts across several traditional disciplinary boundaries, with specific application to problems of information retrieval. Contact: Alex Greene Publishing Editor E-mail: agreene[at]wkap.com ---From NewJour-L - http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour ___________________________________________________________________________top 7. Information Retrieval List (IRList) Information Retrieval List (IRList) contains queries, meeting/publications announcements, job listings, conference proceedings, bibliographies, dissertation abstracts, and other material about information retrival. Facilitates the sharing of ideas and information on information retrival theory and technology. IRLIST Digest is distributed from the University of California, California Digital Library, 1111 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA. 94607-5200. Send subscription requests and submissions to: nancy.gusack[at]ucop.edu Editorial Staff: Nancy Gusack nancy.gusack[at]ucop.edu Cliff Lynch (emeritus) cliff[at]cni.org The IRLIST Archives is set up for anonymous FTP. Using anonymous FTP via the host hibiscus.ucop.edu, the files will be found in the directory /data/ftp/pub/irl, stored in subdirectories by year (e.g., data/ftp/pub/irl/1993). Search or browse archived IR-L Digest issues on the Web at: http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/idom/irlist/ These files are not to be sold or used for commercial purposes. Contact Nancy Gusack for more information on IRLIST. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN IRLIST DO NOT REPRESENT THOSE OF THE EDITORS OR THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. AUTHORS ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR MATERIAL. ---From NewJour-L - http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour ___________________________________________________________________________top 8. The Pinocchio Plot to End Looksism Recommended Reading List for Children Physical Appearance Discrimination Must End! The Pinocchio Plot to End Looksism's Recommended Reading List for Children SLEEPING UGLY, by Jane Yolen, Coward McCann-Inc., Publishers "Ebony Black and Little White Hair," in LOOK AT MY UGLY FACE: MYTHS AND MUSINGS ON BEAUTY AND OTHER PERILOUS OBSESSIONS WITH WOMEN'S APPEARANCE, by Sara Halprin, Viking Press THE BIGGEST NOSE, by Kathy Caple, Houghton Mifflin Company. MONSTER MAMA, by Liz Rosenberg, The Trumpet Club, Inc., Publishers. "The Wrestling Princess," a fairy tale by Judy Corbalis in THE OUTSPOKEN PRINCESS AND THE GENTLE GIANT, edited by Jack Zipes EGGBERT, THE SLIGHTLY CRACKED EGG, by Tom Ross, G.P. Putnam's Sons. THE MERCHILD: A LEGEND FOR CHILDREN AND OTHER ADULTS, by R. Morgan. BELINDA'S BOUQUET, by Leslea Newman OSCAR'S SPOT, by Janet Robertson. I LIKE ME, by Nancy Carlson. WHO WANTS ARTHUR?, by Amanda Graham ROSEY, THE IMPERFECT ANGEL, by Sandra Lee Peckinpah, Scholar's Press HIROSHIMA MAIDEN, a Wonderworks Video For young adults: THE BLUEST EYE, by Toni Morrison. BATHING UGLY, by Rebecca Busselle. SQUASHED, by Joan Bauer. TWENTY PAGEANTS LATER, by Caroline B. Cooney. SO MUCH TO TELL YOU, by John Marsden; Little, Brown and Company. TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME, JUNIE MOON, by Marjorie Kellogg. BORN DIFFERENT: AMAZING STORIES OF VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE, by F. Drimmer ROAD SONG, by Natalie Kusz; Farrar Straus and Giroux AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FACE, by Lucy Grealy. THERESE, MY LOVE, by Shirley Dummer. The winner of the Pinocchio Plot to End Looksism Story-Writing Contest is Erin Flanaga, author of the trilogy ANGEL BY MY SIDE, which includes AMELIA'S STORY, LILY'S STORY, and GRACE'S STORY, published by Avon Books, age 12 and up. Check out our new website at: http://community-1.webtv.net/Lynn_Romer/ThePinoccioPlot ___________________________________________________________________________top 9. CCBC - Cooperative Children's Book Center http://www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc The Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) is a children's and young adult literature library located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The CCBC is a unique and vital gathering place for all who are interested in youth literature. Here on our Web Site you can find out more about CCBC collections, services, publications, upcoming events, and CCBC-NET, in addition to links to other resources in the field. All CCBC Collections are included in the UW-Madison electronic catalog, MADCAT. [Library Juice especially likes their alternative lit. for children collection and bibliography. -ed.] ___________________________________________________________________________top 10. New Logo for SFPL Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 13:54:37 -0700 (PDT) From: Karen Coyle <karen.coyle[at]ucop.edu> To: publib <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu> Subject: New Logo for San Francisco If you go to this page you see the proposed new logo for the SF Public library: http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/www/identity.htm Here's what I wrote as my comment: Admittedly, I'm not a SF resident (I'm in Berkeley), but I'm commenting anyway. The new logo does not say "library" to me -- it's about architecture, and libraries are about people. I'd rather see a logo with some people it. I was in Germany last year and a librarian who teaches library school there pointed out their "public library" sign, similar to our stick figure person and book. Their library sign was a book with open pages. She said that she always asks her students to look at the two signs and comment on the difference. The difference, of course, is that in the US ours has a person, and to her that symbolizes our commitment to people and to service, not just to books. It looks like SF has a commitment to a building. I don't think that's the message you want to get across. ---------------------------------------------- Karen Coyle karen.coyle[at]ucop.edu University of California Digital Library http://www.kcoyle.net 510/987-0567 ---------------------------------------------- ___________________________________________________________________________top 11. Paper topics from Library Juice Modify them to suit your needs. 1. Since both language and the world are always in a state of flux, bibliographic tools get old and decline in usefulness over time. Does the Library of Congress have a strategy for keeping its subject headings up to date? Is their strategy adequate? Will LCSH be sufficiently revamped? Will it fall into disuse and replaced by something else? What is the future of the LCSH? 2. In his 1950 paper, "Classification as the Basis of Bibliographic Organization," Jesse Shera wrote, "(T)here can no longer be any doubt that library classification has failed, and failed lamentably, to accomplish what it was designed to do," and called contemporary methods of library classification obsolete. Why did he make this statement? What might Shera say on the subject a half century later? ("Classification as the Basis of Bibliographic Organization." In Jesse Shera and Margaret Egan, eds., _Bibliographic Organization_, University of Chicago Press, 1951.) 3. Write a business plan for a non-profit combination library, infoshop, and cyber-cafe. Be detailed and realistic in your plan. You can seek loans, grants, membership in a public body, or any other means of support. Research into real possibilities in your own community is a good idea. 4. Controlled vocabularies have the advantage that the user can be sure of reaching material on a subject if she knows the term used in the index. Thesauri often have "see" references for common synomyms. For example, a certain thesaurus might have an entry for "Maldives: See Falkland Islands," or "Arab Gulf: See Persian Gulf." What is the feasibility of the creation of a functioning general thesaurus for use with a keyword search? That is, a thesaurus that can operate internal to a search engine to add synonyms to the search, an "active thesaurus." Has such an idea been pursued? Is oingo.com a good example? What are the obstacles and disadvantages? How could those be addressed? To what specific applications would an active thesaurus be best suited? 5. There is a common belief that librarians do not judge the truth of the information that they provide, that they merely provide access to versions of the truth that are available. But it is also expected that book selectors will consider quality in making their selection decisions. What is the relationship between quality and truth in a book or other information source? Is a version of the truth a form of advocacy? Are some forms of advocacy acceptable and others not? Why or why not? Is there any judgment of quality that is not also a form of advocacy for some unexamined perspective or way of thinking? Is this a question that librarians characteristically avoid? What are the implications of the question (or of your answer to the question?) 6. Could a statement about serving the public interest be an acceptable part of a library mission statement? What are some problems that might arise in the interpretations of such a statement? What are some solutions to those problems? Is there a history of the term "public interest" in library mission statements? 7. Assess the "Berninghausen debate." What is the history of the debate, including its continued life up to the present? Refer to the relevant literature. Express and defend your opinion on the issue. 8. Is the value of the public library measured as a part of the Gross National Product? How is it measured or how could it be measured in economic terms (if possible)? 9. In a 1983 essay, Jesse Shera wrote, "Twenty years ago, I thought of what is now called information science as providing the intellectual and theoretical foundations of librarianship, but I am now convinced that I was wrong." Why did Shera say this? What is your assessment of the relationship between librarianship and information science? Include definitions of the two terms and justify those definitions with reference to the literature. ("Librarianship and Information Science," in _The study of information: interdisciplinary messages_, Fritz Machlup and Una Mansfield, eds. John Wiley and Sons, 1983.) 10. Current community information, often in the form of brochures and flyers from local non-profit organizations or other community groups, is usually uncontrolled, uncatalogued, and likely to be missed in public libraries. What are some reasons for this? What are some possibilities for improving access to this type of community information? What types of community information might have a place in the library but usually aren't found there? 11. The library catalog can tell you where a book is supposed to be, but as library users know, is no guarantee that it will be there. What methods for measuring quality control in book stack maintenance are currently in existence? Can you design a measure? What are the obstacles to better quality in book stack maintenance? 12. What technological methods are employed or being investigated by the Library of Congress or private industry to ensure that books are in their proper location in the stacks? Is radio frequency tagging a possible help? (Consider existing and potential future technologies.) Are technological solutions suited to smaller libraries and open stacks? Can you "invent" a technological aid to book stack maintenance or book finding? 13. Explain the concept of entropy as it applies to information theory. Does greater entropy mean more or less information? What is the significance of this theory (if any!) ? 14. Examine the problem of library anxiety, particularly anxiety of patrons in approaching reference librarians. Are reference librarians aware of these patrons or are they invisible in the reference context? What contributing factors to library anxiety can you find in the literature? Can you think of any other contributing factors? Is gender a factor in library anxiety? 15. Librarianship became a feminine profession in the late nineteenth century. Why was this? Did the nature of the work change or was there some other reason? More men are becoming librarians today. Is this related to a change in the nature of the work? How do you account for this change? What conclusions can you draw? In your answer refer to the literature on the subject. 16. What role to librarians have in the legitimation of knowledge and what duties arise from understanding this role? Do librarians need to be aware of this role in order to influence culture through it? What are some of librarians' freedoms and limitations as legitimaters of knowledge? 17. Sanford Berman has written on the topic of bias in Library of Congress Subject headings. Explain some of his criticisms of LCSH. Select another vocabulary for subject access (e.g. Sears subject headings, a thesaurus for a specialized bibliographic database). Do you detect bias in this vocabulary? Give specific examples and show how they do or do not represent bias. Is there bias in your answer? Is it possible for a vocabulary to be without bias? What are the implications of this for librarians? Does the issue of bias relate to the mission of a library or other information service organization? 18. What is the origin of the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto (Missions of the Public Library)? What is its application in real terms? Does it have an effect? How? 19. Read the article "Epistemological Positions and Library and Information Science," by Archie L. Dick, in Library Quarterly, vol. 69 no. 3. In light of this article, consider the question of "Creation Science" literature in your library, in terms of collection development, reference service, and cataloging. 20. What is the history and development of ALA's "Poor People's Policy?" How is it being implemented? What should ALA do in the future in relation to poverty in America and the implementation or development of this policy? ___________________________________________________________________________top 12. Propositions for a theory of library service in the US from Michael H. Harris, "State, Class, and Cultural Reproduction: Toward a Theory of Library Service in the United States," _Advances In Librarianship, Vol. 14_ 1986, Academic Press, Inc. 1. Libraries are essentially collections of books (and periodicals). 2. Libraries will become something other than collections of books when, and only when, the creators and producers decide to package high culture in some form different from the printed book. 3. Any attempt to redefine the mission of the library to emphasize mass taste cultures will be vigorously resisted by high culture creating and producing institutions. 4. Any attempt to reduce library consumption of the symbolic products of the high culture producing institutions through cooperation, or use of non-print formats, will be vigorously resisted. 5. High culture creators and producers expect libraries to consume their symbolic product wihtout considerations of whether that symbolic product will ever be used. 6. High culture creators and producers consider librarians to be incapable of creating, producing, or legitimating high culture, and any attempt on the part of librarians to participate in the creation and production of culture will be vigorously resisted. 7. High culture creators and producers are opposed to censorship, but uniformly agree that library collections can be built in a uniform and neutral manner by simply attending to the clearly demarcated body of printed works endorsed by the creators and producers of high culture. 8. The power to define the canon - the Book - is asymmetrically distributed among those who create and produce high culture. 9. Librarians are directly linked to, and dependent upon, the creators and producers of high culture. 10. Librarians are high culture advocates, and attempts by some librarians to radically undermine the library's role in the producation of high culture will be vigourously resisted by most librarians. 11. Librarians acquire (consume), organize, preserve, and transmit high culture in printed form. 12. librarians identify, and acquire, high culture in printed form by selecting materials from "frames" (i. e. , review media, book lists, subsidized book examination centers, and information acquired in library school training) endorsed by the creators and producers of high culture. 13. Librarinas across the country are capable of building collections of remarkable uniformity via the use of an extremely limited number of "frames" in the book selection process. 14. Access to the "frames" is asymmetrically distributed among the creators and producers of high culture, thus some creators and producers are more likely to have their symbolic products consumed by libraries than others. 15. Librarians are opposed to censorship and select materials from "frames" in routine and neutral ways. 16. Examples of overt censorship by librarinas are extremely rare in comparison to the number of routhine and neutral selections that are made. 17. Librarians select books endorsed by "frames," and when they think of potential readers they do so in abstract and unrealistic terms. 18. Librarians ignore or distort evidence that contradicts their abstract definition of "readers. " 19. Librarians blame non-users for non-use of libraries. 20. Literacy in America is stratified by class. 21. Most Americans are incapable of decoding the symbolic resources of libraries. 22. Most Americans do not use libraries. 23. Library users are skilled readers. 24. Library users utillize libraries primarily to consult books (or periodicals). 25. Library use and non-use is stratified by class. 26. Libraries reproduce these same class relationships. Library Juice likes these propositions but wonders if Harris, in retrospect, would not place so much focus on high culture. It seems clear that mass culture, sometimes even falsely labelled "alternative culture," is equally an instrument of hegemony. Anyway, a great article. I just picked up a copy of of the 2nd edition of Harris, Hannah & Hannah, _Into the Future: The Foundations of Library and Information Services in the Post-Industrial Era_, (1998 Ablex) and I'm going to get caught up. ___________________________________________________________________________top 13. Participate in planning the future of the ALA Date: Wed, 06 Oct 1999 13:22:53 -0500 From: Sarah Long <slong[at]nslsilus.org> The ALA Executive Board is charged with planning for the association's future. Last March, as we worked on a plan for the next century, we realized that we needed to be more inclusive in our efforts. As an initial step, we are inviting ALA Division Presidents and Executive Directors, two representatives from the Round Tables and key ALA staff to join us at the planning table later this month. In addition, we are seeking input from you and from the entire ALA membership. What trends should we be considering? What do you see going on in the wider world that will have an impact on libraries, librarians and, by extension, ALA? What changes are having an effect on your own planning for the future? For example, the incredible growth of electronic, full text information available to the desk top is a factor we must consider. A special mailbox has been set up to receive your good ideas. In fact the address is: newideas[at]ala.org. Just state your observation as concisely as possible and send it along. I will be reading these along with other ALA leaders and staff. We will use your observations to inform our planning work. We look forward to hearing from you. Sarah -- Sarah Ann Long President, American Library Association, and System Director North Suburban Library System 200 West Dundee Road Wheeling, IL 60090-2799 (847) 459-1300, ext. 125 (847) 459-0380 FAX slong[at]nslsilus.org http://www.sarahlong.org ___________________________________________________________________________top 14. Housmans World Peace Database This database lists over 3000 national and international organisations in 170 countries. An abbreviated annual version of the database is printed as the World Peace Directory in the Housmans Peace Diary. But the full World Peace Database, and defined extracts from it (define, for example, by type of organisation and/or by geographical area), are available to order on computer disc or as adhesive labels. Send for full details to: Housmans Peace Resource Project 5 Caledonian Road London N1 9DX, UK Tel. +44-171-278 4474 Fax. +44-171-278 0444 Email worldpeace[at]gn.apc.org ___________________________________________________________________________top 15. The SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL ANTHOLOGY has now been completely retranslated and uploaded. The original book translations were quite accurate, but the new online versions are clearer and more idiomatic. They are also easier to work with because the BPS website now has a comprehensive index, with over 2000 name and subject entries, covering every person mentioned, every revolt and revolution (chronologically and by country), and hundreds of other topics from anarchism to Zen. Check it out at http://www.slip.net/~knabb/index1.htm * * * BUREAU OF PUBLIC SECRETS P.O. Box 1044, Berkeley CA 94701, USA knabb[at]slip.net http://www.slip.net/~knabb ___________________________________________________________________________top 16. Whole Again: A Resource Guide http://www.wholeagain.com/news.html Whole Again: A Resource Guide - "New Age and Alternative Reading Room" --links from Tim Ryan, co-editor with Pat Case of the related print directory last issued in the 80s. ___________________________________________________________________________top 17. The Drawn Sword: engravings and woodcuts from the MacBean Stuart and Jacobite Collection http://george.qmlib.abdn.ac.uk/macbean.html Created and maintained by the University of Aberdeen Historic Collections, this site offers access to images of 1,278 loose engravings and woodcuts that form part of the MacBean Stuart and Jacobite Collection. In addition to the images, the collection contains approximately 3,500 books and 1,000 pamphlets which "cover every aspect of the Jacobite rebellions, the causes and effects, and the personalities, royal, national and local." Users have two options for retrieving images: a keyword search or simple browse. Since the latter is simply a list of captions for all 1278 images and is not divided into any categories, users will probably find the keyword search more efficient. Each image is accompanied by a caption "detailing the subject and where known the artist, engraver and printer." [MD] > From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1999. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________________top 18. Note on last week's telephone outage in San Jose As I mentioned in a brief note to subscribers, last week's Library Juice was kept from publication by a massive telephone outage in downtown San Jose. About 5000 customers were without phone service for three days, which included a Sunday and a holiday. In those three days I would normally download about 250 emails, respond to some, tag or file others, and finally send out a 40K Library Juice to 1100 subscribers. I would also be on the phone constantly to connect with friends, pursue job leads, take care of SRRT/AIP business, and, wiht any luck, sell my car. None of this happened, and instead I went on a three-day mandatory vacation. It was marvelous. The pace of life slowed to the point where I was actually aware of my surroundings. When I felt that urge to communicate I had to actually leave the 200 square foot room that I rent and spend some time talking to housemates, neighbors, and drop in on friends nearby. I learned about the extent of the phone outage talking to some people waiting around the neighborhood's one working phone booth. This real-life contact is infinitely more satisfying. I know this all the time, but usually feel that I don't have time for it. I normally live a moderately wired life - more email than most, but no cell phone, pager, or PDA. So much time spent communicating through media that make distance irrelevant - shallow media, disembodying media - cuts me off from the physical world and from humanity in the real, as opposed to the virtual, sense. And I don't realize it until I'm forced to take a vacation from technology. The mind pulls in its electronic extensions and you begin to see your immediate surroundings anew. The sense of being a part of the physical world deepens, and the nature of a life of information is thrown into relief. What forgotten connections - to genuine community, to the land, to the past - would be recalled if we lost the bodiless plane of existence called Information Technology? In what way are the information have-nots the spiritual haves? I sometimes question the ultimate value of Library Juice and wonder how often it touches the real world. If it only functions as a free internet comsumer product it wouldn't be of much worth in my estimation. Are the thoughts in contains encountered as real thoughts or merely consumed and forgotten in a process of half-satisfying human-computer interaction/diversion? At the reference desk I can see it when I affect someone's life. With Library Juice, all I know is that I am channeling yet more information. I know that yet more information is not what is needed, and yet I also know that it's my chosen occupation and a major feature of the contemporary social world. I only hope that things will change. In the meantime I'm enthusiastically using the internet to the fullest and trying to help keep progressive interests on the leading edge in librarianship. I am not going to withdraw from the use of technology as a result of what I learned from this phone outage, but I will try to remember that I long for a more physical, local, less mediated life, and I may start practicing something like the Orthodox Jewish sabbath: one day a week without technology or labor - no computer, no TV, no answering the phone, just time with friends, family or housemates in a comfortable place. The rest of the week, information technology has its costs and its advantages. (At least until Y2K.) Maybe the need for immediacy and human interaction will eventually become widely felt and will result in a new valuation of neighborhood libraries... ___________________________________________________________________________top 19. Quest for a Pirate http://www.ebs.hw.ac.uk/EDC/CAC/pirates/pirates.htm This online exhibit presents the history of pirates including their weapons, lifestyle, treasure, and maps of the most famous pirate operations: Spanish Main, Barbary Coast, Madagascar, Indian Ocean, and Port Royal. There is brief information on famous pirates including Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, female pirates, and even Sir Francis Drake. Additionally, there is information on ships and the search for the Pirate Ship - The Whydah, finally unearthed in Cape Cod. Related links are included. From Edinburgh's City Art Centre. - dl Subjects: pirates Librarians' Index to the Internet http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex/ ___________________________________________________________________________top L I B R A R Y J U I C E | http://libr.org/Juice/ | | Original material and added value in Library Juice | is copyright-free; beyond that the publisher makes | no guarantees. Library Juice is a free weekly | publication edited and published by Rory Litwin. | Original senders are credited wherever possible; | opinions are theirs. Your comments and suggestions | are welcome. Juice[at]libr.org This page was created by SimpleText2Html 1.0.3 on 19-Oct-99.