Library Juice 3:34 Supplement

Library Juice 3:34 Supplement - September 6, 2000 Two reports from a March, 2000 trip to Cuba by a group of librarians ____________________________________________________________________________ 1. Rhonda L. Neugebauer's report from the March, 2000 trip Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 10:02:02 -0500 To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org> From: "Rhonda L. Neugebauer" <neugebau[at]twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu> Subject: [SRRTAC-L:4871] Report on Cuban Libraries Dear SRRT and PLGNET-L subscribers: With this message, I am sending you a copy of the report I wrote on Cuban libraries for International Leads (a publication of the International Relations Round Table of ALA) after leading a delegation of 17 librarians to Cuba in March 2000. The article briefly describes two of the many libraries that we visited and also provides some information about the Cuban Library Association (ASCUBI). Cuban libraries are an important component of Cuban society and serve thousands of people on a daily basis. Librarians in Cuba are eager to provide materials of all kinds to their users who are very well-educated about Cuba and about the world. Librarians look for and deposit in their collections materials with many different viewpoints, including materials that are critical of the revolution, materials written by Cubans living abroad and materials on human rights, such as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The development of libraries in Cuba has been hampered by the economic and political isolation of the country, a movement led by the U.S. with its singular support for and now Congressionally mandated economic blockade of the island. This 40-year blockade has made it difficult for libraries to develop as well as for people to survive with proper nourishment, medicines and supplies. To combat their poverty and isolation, Cuban librarians have worked with many professional associations, international agencies and universities all over the world in order to acquire books and materials for their libraries. Their primary manner of doing this is through gifts and exchange. One of the main messages we received from librarians in Cuba is that the librarians would appreciate donations of materials and supplies to help them continue to build their collections. The librarians also seek to establish relations with U.S. librarians and professional associations when they are based on honesty, mutual respect and professional support. As you may know, the issue of Cuban libraries is an extremely important one to understand because of the misinformation and outright lies that have been disseminated about the so-called "independent libraries" in Cuba. At the end of the attached article, I have added a note about the so-called "independent libraries" because a group of us visited two of those libraries and talked extensively with their owners. We confirmed that the "independent "libraries" have a purpose that is purely anti-Castro in nature, in deed and in action. We confirmed that the owners are not librarians. We confirmed that the owners are not independent. We confirmed that the owners have political objectives and are using their "libraries" to distribute anti-government propaganda. We confirmed that the owners have ties to groups in Miami as well as to the U.S. government--both of which have been involved in trying to overthrow the Cuba government. The owners of these "independent libraries" regularly receive materials directly from the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba (the official U.S. government diplomatic representation to the country). And, the materials are hand-delivered to the homes of the "librarians" complete with labels with their names and addresses (and paid for with our tax dollars). Of course, it is not news that the U.S. government, for decades, has sought to overthrow the government of Cuba and has financed right-wing groups in the U.S. and Cuba to promote the demise of the revolution and to kill Cuban leaders (also paid for with our tax dollars). Nevertheless, it is important to understand just who these "independent librarians" are, from whom they receive financial and material support, and with whom they have aligned themselves politically and for what purpose. The real librarians in Cuba that we met are aware of the misinformation that is being spread by the facetiously-named "Friends of Cuban Libraries" group headed by Robert Kent and Jorge Sanguinetty. Mr. Sanguinetty, especially, is well-known to the Cubans because he works for the U.S.-funded and organized Radio Marti, a radio station set up by the U.S. government that illegally sends broadcasts into Cuba on a daily basis (needless to say, those broadcasts contain a point of view that is anti-Cuban government). His connections to anti-Cuban activities are also very well-known in Cuba. Based on our reception and our very detailed discussions in Cuba, the real librarians in Cuba know who their friends really are. Friends are individuals that respect each other, that do not seek to destroy or mislead, and that base their relationships on honesty, integrity and the values of our profession. I invite U.S. librarians to continue to care about and help Cuban libraries develop by contacting me to send donations, materials and to spread the word! Thanks for your support. For a version of this article with photos, please see the ALA website at www.ala.org/irrt/ then chose publications, International Leads, June 2000 issue. The attachment is a duplicate of this article, but it has better formatting. Saludos, Rhonda **************************************************************************** Report on Cuban Libraries By Rhonda L. Neugebauer In March of this year, seventeen U.S. librarians, scholars and educators participated in an 11-day educational tour of libraries, archives, universities, and cultural and historical sites in Cuba. Organized by Rhonda Neugebauer, the delegation traveled to five cities and held discussions with Cuban librarians and informational professionals about their work, philosophy, values, their perceptions of their role in society and their obligation to provide access and delivery of information to their patrons. Issues of mutual interest to both groups were explored and various aspects of U.S. and Cuban librarianship were examined. We were impressed by the dedication and plain hard work of our Cuban counterparts, their ability to provide a high level of service with limited resources, and their commitment to the continued development of services and collections throughout the country. Above all, we were impressed by the Cubans' willingness to share their experiences and their desire to establish relationships and strengthen exchange programs with United States libraries. This article reports on the highlights of our tour, conveys some of our impressions of this island nation and describes what we learned of Cuban libraries and librarianship. It explains in some detail the Jose Marti National Library, the National Technical Library School and the Cuban Library Association (ASCUBI). The similarities between Cuban and U.S. libraries are striking. Cuban librarians carry out many of the same activities as do their North American counterparts. They strive to build broad in-depth collections that reflect their cultural and national identity and provide information and reference services to researchers, other professionals and the public. They organize and preserve materials in diverse formats, create tools that aid patrons in the use of their collections and increasingly employ electronic technologies to format, communicate and deliver information. They also organize and participate in continuing education and degree programs, conferences, instructional workshops and professional associations. They lobby for increased funding and create national programs to facilitate library services and distance education. Cuban librarians are concerned about the effective use of their limited resources and the development of appropriate technology and Internet tools. Their ethics and values are reflected in their work to professionalize training programs for librarians and to organize Cuban libraries in a manner that provides for the equitable distribution of materials and services to all parts of the country, especially to the historically underserved rural areas. However, Cuban librarians face formidable challenges. Cuba is a poor country of about 11 million people, and it is small, about the size of the state of Pennsylvania. The economy is heavily dependent upon agriculture and tourism for the foreign exchange that is required to purchase commodities from abroad, including such items as food, fuel, clothing and books that are needed to supplement national production. For the past forty years, the U.S. has imposed an economic embargo that prohibits trade with Cuba. As a consequence, Cuba has existed in a kind of economic limbo vis-a-vis the rest of the world. In the early 1990s, the economy was thrown into disarray with the collapse of the socialist bloc and since then, Cuba has had to find new trading partners and financing. This dire economic environment has had a severe impact upon the nation. Consequently, inadequate library budgets inhibit the development of collections, services and preservation programs, severely restricting the purchase of such basics as books and journal subscriptions. In the 1990s, the economic problems were severe enough to reduce drastically most publishing efforts throughout the country. Even today, while publishing has partially recovered, press runs are still greatly reduced and fewer new titles and journal issues are published. Cuban libraries also face a chronic shortage of resources. The office supplies that we take for granted-paper, ballpoint pens, paper clips and computers-are hard to come by. The country faces regular problems with the telephone system and international telecommunications that impede library development. Despite these rather formidable obstacles, Cuban librarians are determined to find solutions to these problems and they have made progress toward their goals of collection building and improving services. They continue to add materials to their collections through exchange and donation and the development of new programs. One innovative program has been the establishment of subscriber groups wherein patrons contribute books or pay a small sum (10 pesos per year*) to borrow new books. These groups, called Minerva Clubs, invite patron support for and donations to public library popular fiction collections and are an example of the way in which Cuban libraries have responded to increased need for books in face of the decline in publishing. The Minerva Clubs, started with donations of materials from Spain, serve large numbers of people and help libraries buy multiple copies of high-demand titles. Also, many libraries have developed a variety of children's programs with story times, games days, theater presentations and art and music appreciation days. The Jose Marti National Library (Biblioteca Nacional "Jose Marti"): At the Jose Marti National Library, our delegation met with Director Dr. Eliades Acosta Matos and about two dozen staff members who described the library, its collections and services. The National Library, founded in 1901, holds approximately three million items, including books, photographs, rare books, maps, music and materials in Braille. The librarians oversee several active publishing projects, including the Bibliografia Cubana and the Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional. In addition to serving as the main repository for Cuban intellectual patrimony, the National Library also provides services to the public including circulation, reference and children's services and serves as the principal organizer of a network of some 387 public libraries throughout the country. Librarians at the National Library provide training, cataloging and reference tools, program planning support, continuing education programs and technological support to public libraries as well as to about 500 school libraries, 500 health center libraries and 1000 information centers in the Havana area. After introductions and descriptions of the library's services and collections, Dr. Acosta brought up the issue of censorship and intellectual freedom in Cuban libraries. He said, "The materials we have in our libraries offer a variety of perspectives on the revolution. In our collections, we want diversity. We want to add materials of all types and perspectives. We have books by U.S. authors and books by Cubans that live abroad. We would like more materials that are published abroad, but we just do not have the funds to purchase them. That is why our exchange programs with libraries around the world are so important. Through exchange (canje), we add materials that we could not possibly purchase because of the cost. Many titles from abroad are in our libraries because of the exchange relations we have had with U.S. and other foreign libraries for decades. In addition to attempting to preserve the national patrimony, our collection development policies reflect the needs and desires of our people to be exposed to all kinds of ideas and perspectives." The National Library's plans for development include automation of their main and departmental catalogs, a union catalog for the country's public libraries, website development (photos taken of our meeting and an accompanying story were mounted on the news section of the website within an hour of our visit), Internet connections for public libraries, the publication of bibliographies, exhibitions of cultural artifacts and books, authors' presentations and the expansion of the new recreational reading Minerva Clubs to all of the localities that request them. The National Technical Library School (Escuela Nacional de Tecnicos de Bibliotecas): Talks with library school administrators and teachers were an important component of our trip. The enthusiasm of both the teachers and the students was infectious, but the outdated teaching materials alarmed us and spurred several of us to ask what we could do to help find more suitable equipment and add more current library science titles. Although education in Cuba is free, support for equipment, materials and teaching materials is seriously deficient (a situation found almost everywhere in the country). Several U.S. participants in the program decided, on the spot, to find ways to help the library school by sending library science texts and other professional materials. The school's head of reference, Cátedra Haya, mentioned that the school would appreciate receiving any discarded copies of American Libraries, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index (they currently work with the 17th edition), encyclopedias, thesauri, or software manuals. Even English language editions of reference works are useful because English is taught at the school. The National Technical Library School was founded in 1962 in the wake of the Literacy Campaign. The mission of the school is to provide technical and reference training for students who will work in public or regional libraries as "técnicos medios" (library technicians/paraprofessionals). Students come to attend the school from all regions of the country. They receive free housing, meals and a stipend as well as free tuition. The school currently offers a two and one-half year study program for nearly 300 students who work towards a library technician degree after finishing their high school studies. Fifty-five teachers are affiliated with the school (some teach part time about their specialties). The school offers a curriculum that includes courses on general library topics (reference, cataloging, collection development, history of the book, the book trade and publishing, bookbinding, etc.), yearly practicums in nearby libraries, visits to all types of libraries, and, during the third year, a semester-long assignment in an institution near the student's home town. Reports, exams, and a "trabajo de titulación" (a work similar to a thesis) are also required. On our tour of the school, we saw classrooms, workrooms where the students compile projects and reports (some are similar to poster sessions), the computer room (with four 386 machines, only one of which has a hard drive), the typing room (typing is taught because most of the libraries in which graduates will work do not have computers yet), the school's archives and the library. Their future development plans are to obtain newer equipment and teaching materials, to add Internet access, to automate the school archives and library holdings and to establish more exchanges with libraries abroad. (The director of the school was in Mexico at the time of our visit, working to set up an exchange with Mexico to allow students to study abroad.) The Cuban Library Association (Asociación Cubana de Bibliotecarios, ASCUBI): Our delegation met with ASCUBI representatives in the National Technical Library School where they had just set up new offices. Marta Terry, President of ASCUBI, and nine members of the national Executive Board welcomed us to Cuba and described the work of the association. ASCUBI has been active in international organizations including IFLA and it was the lead organizer of the 1994 IFLA conference held in Cuba. The national association has about 1200 members and represents all library workers, including both librarians and library technicians. There are chapters in nine of the 14 provinces. Because of the low membership fees ASCUBI maintains, there is little or no money to send librarians to international conferences. Cuban library workers pay a membership fee of about one peso per month for dues to ASCUBI (about US$.60 a year). ASCUBI representatives expressed considerable interest in U.S. librarianship and ways in which they might participate in ALA initiatives. American Library Association Sister Libraries Initiative: At most of the libraries, we presented the Spanish language brochure prepared by ALA that details the new Sister Libraries Initiative. The Initiative encourages U.S. and foreign libraries to form relationships that promote the sharing of information and problem-solving techniques while participants learn about other cultures and the global issues facing all libraries. The host libraries were presented with mementos (bags, pens, and pins) from the Libraries Build Communities campaign organized by ALA President Sarah Long. The Cuban librarians were impressed with the program's goal of matching libraries for mutual support and education. Several of them promised to investigate the possibility of joining the ALA effort. The ALA International Relations Office deserves special recognition for sending the information and gifts to distribute to our Cuban hosts. Note about "Independent Libraries": Several members of our delegation visited two of the so-called "independent libraries." These "libraries" operate out of private homes. One family had a bookshelf of materials that seemed ordinary by Cuban standards; the other family had no books. The families told us that they receive books and other materials by mail and by hand delivery. The second family we visited stated that materials (books, reprints of magazine articles and print copies of website pages) were delivered to them regularly by persons from the U.S. Interests Section; others were published and donated by the Cuban American National Foundation (an anti-Castro organization in Miami). We were told that the families received monthly deliveries of these materials and some monies from contacts in Miami and Mexico. Both families told us of their long histories of opposition to the Cuban government and the usefulness of the materials delivered by the U.S. Interests Section personnel in their efforts to encourage opposition to the Cuban government. Based on this experience, it is my opinion that the information circulated on innumerable library listservs, including several ALA listservs, about these "independent" libraries, the "confiscation" of library materials and the persecution of their owners is either totally false or greatly exaggerated. The individuals that operate these "libraries" are not independent and they are not librarians. They are uncredentialed and they depend for materials upon donations from sources that oppose the Cuban government. Based upon personal observation and interviews with the individuals in charge of these "libraries," I have concluded that these individuals are dissidents who distribute anti-government propaganda from their homes. Some of these materials are provided by the U.S. government and by individuals in Miami who pay for the materials and postage. The individuals involved in these activities cannot be considered independent of interests outside of Cuba. *The official exchange rate in Cuban banks is 1 peso to the dollar. The exchange rate outside of banks but still official is 20 pesos to the dollar. So, the 10 pesos per year charge could be considered the equivalent of $10 or $ .50, depending on where one might exchange the pesos. Cuban libraries and institutions on the Internet: 1. José Martí National Library: http://www.lib.cult.cu. To see the photos of our visit, go to http://www.lib.cult.cu/noticias/Marzo/IIencuentro.htm. 2. Instituto de Información Científica y Tecnólogica (Institute of Scientific and Technological Information): http://www.idict.cu 3. Academia de Ciencias (Academy of Sciences): http://www3.cuba.cu/ciencia/acc/. 4. Association of Cuban Librarianship (ASCUBI): President, Marta Terry martaterry[at]hotmail.com. 5. Escuela Nacional de Técnicos de Biblioteca (National Technical Library School, Vice Director Moraima D. Lorigados Hernandez), Calle 34, no. 513 entre Quinta y Septima Avenidas, Municipio Playa, Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba. Telephone: 22-4502 or 29-4461 6. University of Havana Library: http://www.uh.cu/biblioteca/Web_page_BC.htm. 7. Biblioteca Provincial Ruben Martinez Villena (Public Library): Obispo 59, entre Oficio y Baratillo, Habana, Cuba; bpvillena[at]binanet.lib.cult.cu 8. Casa de las Americas: http://www.cult.cu/casa/. Director, Ernesto Sierra. beacasa[at]cult.cu 9. Cuba Museum Guide: http://www.cubaweb.cu/museos/ 10. Instituto Cubano del Libro (Cuban Book Institute): http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/libro/icl/ 11. List of public libraries (partial list): http://binanet.lib.cult.cu/red.htm 12. Sociedad Cubana de Ciencias de la Informacion (Cuban Society of Information Science): http://www.idict.cu/socict/socict.htm 13. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (Cuban Institute of Friendship with People): http://www2.ceniai.inf.cu//ICAP/; icap[at]ceniai.inf.cu To help Cuban libraries: To help any of the institutions mentioned above, contact Rhonda L. Neugebauer, Wichita State University, 1845 Fairmount, Box 68, Wichita, KS 67260-0068; (316) 978-5079 or (316) 651-5744. neugebau[at]twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu or rhonda[at]southwind.net Rhonda L. Neugebauer Reference Librarian and Subject Specialist Wichita State University Libraries President, Wichita Area Library Association Publisher: E-resources for Latin American Studies http://www2.southwind.net/~rhonda/eresources/ Box 68 Wichita State University Libraries Wichita, KS 67260 (316) 978-5079 (work) email: neugebau[at]twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu or rhonda[at]southwind.net (preferred) ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Larry Oberg's report from the March, 2000 trip Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 18:21:34 -0700 From: Larry Oberg <loberg[at]WILLAMETTE.EDU> Subject: Robert Kent and Friends of Cuban Libraries (fwd) To: IFLA-L[at]INFOSERV.NLC-BNC.CA To: Charles Harmon, chair, and members of the ALA Committee on Professional Ethics. From: Larry R. Oberg, University Librarian, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon Re: Robert Kent and Friends of Cuban Libraries. Dear Charles and Committee members: On Monday, 3 April of this year, I returned from a two-week research trip to Cuba. The trip was organized and conducted by Rhonda Neugebauer of Witchita State and included some fourteen other librarians from around the country. During our stay, we visited many libraries and spoke with countless librarians and support staff. Our stay included visits to the Biblioteca National "Jose Marti;" the Biblioteca Publica Ruben Martinez Villena in Havana; the Biblioteca Provincial "Elvira Cape" in Santiago de Cuba; the Biblioteca Central "Ruben Martinez Villena" of the University of Havana; and public libraries in Matanzas, Cardinas and Varadero. We also visited the Instituto de Historia de Cuba; The Archivo General de la Isla de Cuba; the Escuela Nacional de Tecnicos de Bibliotecas in Havana; several elementary and secondary school libraries; and the Latin America literary incubator and publishing house, Casa de las Americas. In Santiago de Cuba, a few of our group also visited two of what Mr. Robert Kent of the Friends of Cuban Libraries calls "independent" libraries. We spoke at length with the people who are responsible for these "libraries." Please allow me to summarize a few of the conclusions I have reached about Cuban libraries in general and about the "independent" libraries that Mr. Kent has championed in innumerable postings on innumerable library listservs. Please understand that these are my personal conclusions and are not intended to represent the perceptions of other members of the group. 1. CUBAN LIBRARIES - The materials budgets of Cuban libraries are dramatically underfunded. But, libraries are not alone in this regard. The financial crisis that this island nation has undergone since the collapse of the Soviet bloc (something the Cubans refer to as the "special period") has had a severe impact on book publishing, industry, construction and many other areas of the economy, including of course, living standards. - The Cuban librarians that I met were, with a few exceptions, highly professional, talented and capable. They are committed to professional excellence and are clearly abreast of current trends in North American and European librarianship. - The Jose Marti National Library and the major provincial and city libraries are busily preparing for automation. The National Library's systems staff has developed a plan for a national union catalog and network that only awaits funding for implementation. (A nationwide science and research network is also being created by the National Institute of Science and Technology (Havana), which we also visited.) - Most of the libraries that we visited have clear collection development policies and standards. The national library collects materials on all topics and does not limit its collections to materials that support the ideology of the Cuban government. They actively solicit, for example, copies of materials published by dissident Cuban authors who reside abroad. At the same time, they do not necessarily add all of the vehemently anti-Fidel materials published by dissident Cubans who reside in Miami, just as North American libraries do not actively seek out and buy all of the anti-gay and lesbian tracts published in Colorado Springs and other centers of right-wing Christian publishing. - Cuban librarians take their outreach obligations seriously and have invested heavily in bookmobiles and branch libraries in isolated rural locations. They are particularly committed to making libraries services available to rural Cuban children. - School libraries are ubiquitous in Cuba. Almost all elementary and secondary schools have libraries and librarians. (We might compare this to the situation in the United States.) We spoke at length with a group of second graders in a Matanzas elementary school who asked bright and intelligent questions of us. They were reading Jose Marti's The Red Slippers. THE "INDEPENDENT" CUBAN LIBRARIES Some of our group visited two "independent" libraries. Both of these were listed, with addresses, in one of Robert Kent's numerous postings on library listservs. The following bulleted items represent my personal understanding of what we found: - The first "independent" library we visited was in Santiago de Cuba. It was located in private home and consisted of two bookcases filled with books, one in the living room, another in a back bedroom. I would estimate that this collection might have included 200 volumes. The woman who tended the collection spoke freely and openly with us about herself and her "library." She insisted that the main objective of the library was to make materials available to children, but could produce no children's books. Many of the books in the "collection" were published in Cuba, although perhaps the bulk were published in the United States, Mexico, Spain and other countries. She showed us a copy of a single issue of the Cuban periodical Educacion as an example of how she wishes to make books available to students. She told us that she was considering removing the back cover of the issue, however, because it includes a quote from Fidel Castro. She told us that most of her relatives live in Havana and that she regularly records and broadcasts anti-Cuban government statements on Radio Marti and Radio Mambi, both of which beam anti-Cuban government programming to Cuba from the United States. - The second "independent" library that we visited was also in Santiago de Cuba. This "library" had no books or materials at all. The family that lived in the apartment said that they had distributed all of the materials they had to other sympathetic individuals in preparation for leaving for Miami. They have received exit visas from the U. S. government and expect to depart Cuba in May. They explained that they had never collected books per se, but rather had relied upon deliveries of pamphlets, reprints of articles and other materials directly from the U. S. Interest Section in Havana. These materials, they noted, were hand-delivered by Americans who came to their home in an automobile. They thought that these materials were better than books because they not only supported their political beliefs and also could be used to enlighten others. They agreed that these materials were useful in their efforts to bring others to their anti-government position and to recruit others to the anti-Castro movement. MY CONCLUSIONS: - Marta Terry, the president of the Cuban Library Association, and other Cuban librarians pointed out to us that they have tried many times to contact and work with these "librarians." The independent "librarians" with whom we spoke have never approached the established libraries because the vaguely feel that they would be rebuffed. - Mr. Kent continually insists that the "independent librarians" of Cuba are our peers and colleagues. In neither of the two cases that I cite above do the principals have degrees or training in librarianship, nor do they even appear to be what we might call "book-oriented" people. They are not librarians by any definition that we would understand. - Neither of the two "independent" libraries that I visited are marked or signed in any way as libraries. One had no collection whatsoever and the other had a modest collection of materials of a size that one might expect to find in any Cuban home. The one collection that I saw was not cataloged or even organized by subject. There was no circulation apparatus and this collection had no materials to support its primary collecting goal, children's literature. - The independent "librarians" that I met are all self-professed political dissidents, dedicated to the overthrow of the Cuban government. (They spoke with us openly and apparently without fear of reprisal about their anti-government activities.) They are closely allied with the U. S. government, the U. S. Interest Section in Cuba and with Cuban dissidents in Miami and Mexico. Several had been arrested by the Cuban authorities, but they emphasized that these arrests had nothing to do with their "independent" library activities. The arrests, in all cases, were for subversive and clandestine activities carried out to undermine the Cuban government. It is my distinct impression that these libraries are, on the one hand, a public face and a recruiting tool for a dissident movement within Cuba and, on the other, a means of "jumping the queue" to get an immigration visa to the United States. MR. ROBERT KENT Upon my return I found that I had received a copy of a letter, dated 15 March, from Mr. Robert Kent to Charles Harmon and the members of the ALA Committee on Professional Ethics. In his letter to you, Mr. Kent presents censorship of Cuban library collections and suppression of the "independent" libraries as an established fact. With this firmly established, he anticipates duplicity on the part of Ms. Neugebauer and, by extension, those who accompanied her. He cites the stated objective of the group, "to hold discussions between U. S. and Cuban librarians on key aspects of librarianship such as philosophy, values, ethics and professional practices," as evidence that she "apparently has no intention of supporting intellectual freedom during the library program she will be conducting in Cuba." He concludes by suggesting that her activities in this area "may be subject to an inquiry by the ALA Committee on Professional Ethics." I accompanied Ms. Neugebauer on all of the visits that the group made in Cuba and I wish to make the following comments: - In all encounters with Cuban librarians, and indeed with Cuban citizens, Ms. Neugebauer and the other members of the group conducted themselves at the highest professional level; a level that does honor to our profession and the American Library Association. - In all of our meetings with Cuban librarians, Ms. Neugebauer and other members of the group asked penetrating questions about government interference in collection development, the independence of Cuban librarians, and other questions that probed their philosophy, values, ethics and professional practices. - I know that Ms. Neugebauer and the other members of our research group are deeply committed to intellectual freedom and oppose censorship in all its forms. It is therefore deeply disturbing to me to be accused, in advance of the fact, of dissimilation and derelection of professional standards. For myself, I believe that many of you know that my name, my publications, and my professional activities have always strongly supported intellectual freedom and the autonomy of librarians in the development of their collections. My record in this area will withstand the deepest scrutiny. It seems to me that Mr. Kent's charges against Ms. Neugebauer should be dismissed out of hand. His activities and his charges against Cuban librarians are unproven and, certainly, conflict with what I found in long and probing conversations with these very librarians. Mr. Kent's rhetoric is inflamed and his charges reflect more accurately his politics than they do the practice of Cuban librarians. Finally, I want to state that I know Ms. Neugebauer to be a honorable and principled librarian, someone who is committed not only to high professional standards but who is also dedicated to the truth wherever it may lead. Mr. Kent's charges are outrageous and unfounded and I request that you and the members of the committee dismiss them out-of-hand. Larry R. Oberg University Librarian Mark O. Hatfield Library Willamette University Salem, Oregon loberg[at]willamette.edu ____________________________________________________________________________ L I B R A R Y J U I C E | http://libr.org/Juice/ | | Library Juice is supported by a voluntary subscription | fee of $10 per year, variable based on ability and | desire to pay. You may send a check payable in US funds | to Rory Litwin, at PO Box 720511, San Jose, CA 95172 | | 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. 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