Library Juice 3:48

Library Juice 3:48 - December 20, 2000 Contents: Careers in Librarianship Information Services for Higher Education : A New Competitive Space PRISM The Nation Directory News sites mistakenly blocked by filters, study says WTO and Libraries Social Criticism Review Carnegie, Andrew Re: Freed Librarian Calls for ALA Action on Cuba What's in a Name? Active/Passive Connotations of Information Presentation by John D. Berry, American Indian Library Assoc. Pres. Article by Todd Gitlin in the Chronicle of Higher Ed. TRAPPED IN THE HALL OF MIRRORS MG buried under the Reed College Library Living Juicy Delmar, NY Rant Quote for the week: "Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." -Jimi Hendrix Homepage of the week: Andrew Ashton http://home.earthlink.net/~andyemilie/ __________________________________________________________________________top 1. Careers in Librarianship Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 11:35:15 -0500 From: "Michael R. Lavin, University at Buffalo" <mrlavin[at]ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU> Reply-To: UB Libraries Distribution List <UBLIB-L[at]LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU> The current issue of the Labor Department's "Occupational Outlook Quarterly" has a lengthy article on careers in librarianship. Online version can be found at http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2000/Winter/art01.pdf Mike Lavin Lockwood Library __________________________________________________________________________top 2. Information Services for Higher Education : A New Competitive Space Carol Ann Hughes Questia Media, Inc. chughes[at]questia.com D-Lib Magazine December 2000 Volume 6 Number 12 (This article is based on a presentation made by the author at the 2000 LITA National Forum.) Introduction In this paper I want to reflect on the "competitive space" that librarians now occupy and strategies that may offer the best chance to maintain services important to our user communities in the turbulent years ahead. The term "competitive space" is applied rather tentatively since it may be perceived as a mildly loaded term -- especially from someone who now works for a commercial firm. But for at least the last ten years of my professional life in academic libraries we have seen higher education recognize itself as an important economic sector for our countrys continued prosperity, and we have heard repeatedly that the new economy is based on knowledge. Life today in higher education is lived in "competitive space." http://www.dlib.org/dlib/december00/hughes/12hughes.html __________________________________________________________________________top 3. PRISM Prism, the American Library Association Office for Accreditation newsletter, is now available at: www.ala.org/alaorg/oa/prism.html This first Web issue of Prism includes items on the following and more: COA accreditation actions, strategic priorities, the 2000-01 COA roster, and the schedule of reviews. For more information or a paper copy, please contact the Office for Accreditation at 800-545-2433 x2432. __________________________________________________________________________top 4. Nation Directory A searchable online collection of links to organizations, agencies, think-tanks, political parties, NGOs and groups. We're counting on our readers to help us make this Directory grow so please keep the suggestions coming to directory[at]thenation.com. And make sure to check the Directory out at: http://www.thenation.com/directory __________________________________________________________________________top 5. "News sites mistakenly blocked by filters, study says." December 15, 2000 Brian Livingston CNet News.com http://news.cnet.com/news/ Article at: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1278-210-4157009-1.html?tag=st.ne.1013.agif.1278-210-4157009 Web sites sponsored by Amnesty International in the United States and around the world are routinely blocked by the kinds of Internet filters some politicians want to require in all libraries and schools, according to a new study. The nonprofit organization that sponsored the report, Peacefire.org, is itself being blocked by a group of Internet service providers. The study suggests that news and information sites like that of Amnesty International are often blocked by Internet filters that search for words like "death" (as in death penalty), "kill" (soldiers allegedly killed civilians) and "sex" (officials investigate sex crimes). Peacefire says this proves Internet filtering companies do not visually examine suspect Web sites before "blacklisting" them, as is often claimed. [...] __________________________________________________________________________top 6. WTO and Libraries The SRRT/IRTF site has a nice page devoted to the WTO and libraries. It has links to internal and external content, as followed: Libraries and the World Trade Organization ALA Resolution on WTO Policies Affecting Libraries CLA Perspective on the WTO Meetings IFLA Position on WTO Treaty Negotiations SRRT Resolution on the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI) (1998) Resources for Further Reading, by Fiona Hunt, Derek Yap, and Tom Childs WTO Bibliography, by Jonathan Betz-Zall The page can be found at http://www.pitt.edu/~ttwiss/irtf/wto.html __________________________________________________________________________top 7. Social Criticism Review - http://www.socialcritic.org/ A collection of links to selected readings in social criticism by authors who may differ from what is often heard in the mainstream media. They cover many issues: progress, science, technology, protest, sustainable development, economics, globalization, multinationals, environment, war, poverty, media, genetic engineering, individual countries, and much more. - dl Subjects: Social problems > From Librarians' Index to the Internet - http://lii.org/ __________________________________________________________________________top 8. Carnegie, Andrew -- 1835-1919 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/ Part of The American Experience series from PBS, this collection focuses on the life and times of Andrew Carnegie, "the richest man in the world." Includes biographical information, a look at the railroad and steel industries of the time, and what it took to get a grant from Carnegie for one of the 2,811 libraries he funded over 33 years. The timeline requires Flash for the interactive version only and the QuickTime player is needed to tour a mansion of the time. - jb > From Librarians' Index to the Internet - http://lii.org/ __________________________________________________________________________top 9. Re: Freed Librarian Calls for ALA Action on Cuba Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000 15:08:17 -0500 From: Ann Sparanese <sparanese[at]englewoodlibrary.org> To: member-forum[at]ala.org Robert Kent evidently thinks that members of the American Library Association - and the Association itself - should ignore real Cuban libraries, authentic Cuban librarians, and a sister library association, ASCUBI, to jump on his anti-Cuban bandwagon, orchestrated by the right-wing Cuban "virtual" entity, Cubanet, and himself - a person who has traveled to Cuba bought and paid-for by Freedom House and deported at least once, presumably for breaking Cuban law. I hope that ALA treads very carefully into this morass, given the almost 40-year documented campaign of blockade, assassination attempts, and propaganda against a small island that has chosen a different social system. This system does NOT include the persecution of librarians, but it certainly DOES include extreme wariness of dissident parties receiving material aid from the United States. They have laws against that. As we all are well aware, such activities are illegal in our country as well. By their own description, the so called "independent libraries" are simply private book collections supported and developed by a virtual entity calling itself "Cubanet"(www.cubanet.org). If you go to Cubanet.org, you will read about how they got started and who funds and solicits for them. Cubanet is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy, the United States Agency for International Development and "private" "anonymous" donors. It is part and parcel of what is known as "track 2" of the Torricelli Law - the requirement that the US government find ways to support, financially and otherwise, efforts at building "civil society" (U.S. definition) in Cuba. These are the precise words that Cubanet uses to describe its efforts with its libraries "project." Cubanet is a voice of the right-wing Cuban exile community in South Florida. The "foreign" representative of the libraries "project" is the "Revolutionary Democratic Directorate" an anti-Cuban government exile party, operating out of Hialeah, Florida. Not ONE of the private libraries' owners listed on Cubanet is a librarian. They are NOT persecuted librarians, they have never BEEN librarians, their vocation is not that of librarianship, they are NOT our colleagues by any stretch of the imagination - unless all political party functionaries with books in their living rooms have suddenly become our colleagues. Most are leaders and functionaries of various dissident political parties, such as Partido Cubano de Renovacion Ortodoxa, or the partido Solidaridad Democratica. I am NOT making the argument that those in opposing political parties in Cuba should be suppressed. But in reality, we know NOTHING about the activities of these individuals or these parties (lawful or unlawful) except what Cubanet and Kent tell us. What we do know is that they are using the title of "librarian" to rally people around their unknown political agenda. Simple logic would tell us to be more careful in making judgments: IF someone has books in their living room; IF someone calls themselves a librarian; and IF someone gets in trouble with their neighbors and/or with the government; THEN it's BECAUSE of the books in their living room?? How do we know that? There is no doubt that claiming to be persecuted because of books is a clever avenue to involve librarians in condemning Cuba, but is it TRUE? Is anyone in jail for having books? Have these people ever been imprisoned for lending books? Even Cubanet does not make that claim. Anyone who HAS traveled to Cuba, visited and studied libraries knows that books are everywhere in Cuba and baggage is not checked -- at least not for any visitors I have ever known - for books!! (Of course, if you are traveling to Cuba on behalf of an agency of the U.S. government, that just might happen to you - as it might, if the shoe were on the other foot.) Kent & Co. purport to care about intellectual freedom, but they have nothing to say about the U.S. travel ban that prevents American people from freely traveling to Cuba and seeing for themselves. He expects to get the ALA to join his case when there are many of us who have met our authentic Cuban colleagues, who are aware of the reality of Cuban education, literacy AND freedom of expression. I wonder if any of Kent's excursions to Cuba have brought him into contact with any genuine Cuban librarians at all. Personally, I welcome the debate he intends to bring to the IRC. I think Mr. Kent's incessant calls to arms should be presented for full disclosure and discussion. I submit that the proper response would be for ALA to endorse more travel to Cuba by American librarians, and to come out strongly against a travel ban which limits our rights to KNOW that of what we speak. And no matter what IFLA, or any other group or individual has to say about this, given the history of US-Cuba relations, the AMERICAN Library Association has a special responsibility to tread very carefully on this issue. Ann Sparanese, MLS Englewood, New Jersey __________________________________________________________________________top 10. "What's in a Name? Active/Passive Connotations of Information" CRISTAL-ED on the concept of Information http://www.si.umich.edu/cristaled/postings/V69.html CRISTAL-ED is a great academic discussion forum hosted by the University of Michigan School of Information. I find the issues raised in this discussion topic extremely interesting. Here is Ray McInnes's introduction to this topic, of which he was "guest editor": What's in a Name? The indefinite connotations of information and the problems produced by such vagueness. My proposition is that in our profession we use the term information too loosely, too generally to have any useful meaning, especially for students upon whom we foist the term as a concept. The term is used to refer to raw data and other types of low-level statistics while at the same time being used for the high-level abstraction of knowledge. At the outset I must confess that in my new position of coordinator of instruction for research for the Research Across the Curriculum program at Western Washington University, I am somewhat hypocritical of my own argument when I use phrases such as "critical information-seeking skills" and talk of "information literacy" as a set of academic skills for our undergraduates. However, I know of no satisfactory substitute for the term information. Harold Cassidy, in writing about knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, says that "knowledge is information of all kinds, (which, as well as) the result of analytic activity ... embraces the (investigation) and reporting of experience." He believes that "knowledge about" constitutes a higher level of abstraction, while wisdom "is more than understanding (for it) implies not only knowledge and understanding of knowledge, but also understanding of experience in all its subtle and noncognitive aspects." (The Knowledge Explosion; Liberation and Limitation. Francis Sweeney, ed., New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1966, pp. 187-8). Three decades later, architectural historian Francis Morrone says it even better: "Could it be 'information' is the most overrated commodity on the planet today?" ("New York's Library in Cyberspace", The New Criterion, Vol. 15, Jan 1997, p. 79.) Morrone underscores his claim by noting Mortimer Adler's hierarchy of learning -- after beginning with information one progresses sequentially "to knowledge ... to understanding ... to wisdom." Morrone says that when one considers the "... Gettysburg Address and a string of nonsense characters containing exactly the same number of bits, the latter can actually be said to contain more 'information,' being higher in entropy or randomness. When we speak of information, then, digital or otherwise, we speak of more or less random bits." Thus, according to information theory, "knowledge involves a reduction, not an increase, in information; and that, by extension, understanding and wisdom mark further reductions in information." He also succinctly states, "Knowledge is the sculpture chiseled from the stone mass of information, as understanding is chiseled of knowledge, and wisdom of understanding." Nancy Freeman Rohde, a professor in the College of Education's Department of Work, Community & Family at the University of Minnesota, has investigated many different definitions of "information." ("Information Needs", Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 14, 1986, pp. 49-73.) She indicates that within the context of user studies information denotes "factual data or advice or opinion, a physical object, such as a book or journal, or the channel through which a message is conveyed, for example, oral or written communication." Integrated into a variety of areas of study, information, as a concept, "may not be used in the same way because the theoretical constructs of the researchers differ." To demonstrate, she discusses many studies with conflicting definitions of information. Perhaps more interesting for background reading is the wide-ranging survey of information by Norman D. Stevens. ("The History of Information," Advances In Librarianship, Vol. 14, 1986, pp. 1 -48.) Our "Information Age," he claims, is mistakenly considered as something new. "...although we still lack a definitive work on the history of information [it] has long played, in one fashion or another, a key role in society but, to date, we have not dealt adequately with the concept of information as a historical force." He goes on to say "a problem exists in a lack of identifying the importance of dealing with the history of information as a specific concept." He thinks that promising work is being done within the scope of the history of the book, which incorporates authorship, publishing and reading, and is an emergent discipline in its own right. Stevens adds to this, "works in information theory, library and information science, anthropology and archaeology, sociology, philosophy, psychology, and the like." Stevens identifies what he considers the five most important themes for a theory of information: Literacy The organization of knowledge Institutions and the dissemination of information Control and freedom The economics of information Like Professor Rohde, Stevens begins with definitions, and cites numerous studies which have considered the term. Stevens asserts that the term "information" as well as the related term "knowledge," continues to be used differently by people in different disciplines, and for different reasons. Not unexpectedly, these practices produce: "confusion, especially as aspects of the definition from one discipline may be appropriately used more widely or be adopted in part by those in another discipline. ... (S)o diverse are the definitions of information today that, for the most part, it is impossible to reconcile them. ... (I)n most cases, (because information) has not been specifically defined, ... little consistency (exists) in the way in which the term ... is used and defined, or not defined, resulting in an assumption, obviously not correct, that a broad underlying definition of information exists that encompasses all uses of the term in all fields that is commonly and correctly understood." According to Stevens, when scholars discuss similar ideas and issues, sometimes synonymously, and sometimes to make distinctions in the context of "information" three terms are employed: communication, information, and knowledge. At the close of his survey Stevens argues that, rather than continuing to have a number of disciplines, each claiming centrality to any study of information, there is a need to broaden the scope of the field to create a discipline in which information itself is the central focus. [Discussion follows this introduction, available on the web site] __________________________________________________________________________top 11. Presentation by John D. Berry, American Indian Library Assoc. Pres. ALASC LIBRARY PRESENTATION SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA OCT. 5TH, 1999 BY JOHN D. BERRY PRES. AMERICAN INDIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 1999-2000 PRESENTED BY: MR. DAVID CISMOWSKI Halito, Chee Chookmah ( In Choctaw this means Hello, Are you well?) These words which follow are being sent to you for your gathering there in California, from myself here in Oklahoma. As a brief aside Okla-homa are the words in our Choctaw language which mean: People - Red My hopes are, that to all of you there, that you will be able to say that you are well. It is traditional to introduce oneself before speaking. It is to be hoped that you will forgive me for not appearing before you myself, but this is not possible, so I must rely on my professional colleagues to deliver this poor substitute, and I hope that you will give this person your attention and courtesy. My name is John D. Berry, I am a son, a husband, an Uncle, and the proud father of a 2 year old son, and am 48 years old - which is the average age of survival for an American Indian male in this dominant Anglo culture. Here is the disclaimer; I am not a tribal leader, or a medicine keeper, nor a keeper of special or sacred knowledge. I am only a human being. I am currently serving, as the President of the American Indian Library Association and am a Choctaw, of mixed blood descent, a native son of Oklahoma, primarily educated in California and Missouri. I participate in my tribal culture and ceremonials where possible and am currently the President of Oklahoma State Universitys, Native American Faculty and Staff Association. My educational background is a BA and MA in Anthropology, with a specialization in Biblical Archaeology. This led me to travel widely throughout the Near East and the Western United States as a consulting archeologist and archaeological field worker for approximately 15 years. I thought it only fair to study the dominant cultures roots, since most Anthropologists seem to study us. My MLS (actually an MLIS), Masters of Library and Informational Sciences is from the University of Missouri Columbia. My professional background with the MLIS, has lead me to employment experience in Academic Libraries and Special Libraries: these positions have been as a Reference librarian in a small liberal arts College; as head of Technical Services in a U.S. Dept. of Defense Library; as a Medical Librarian for Reference and Special Projects in the U.S. Food & Drug Administration; and most recently as a Reference Librarian w/ Collection Development responsibilities for the academic areas of History, Philosophy, Education, Music, Native American and African American materials for the Library here at Oklahoma State University which is an ARL Library as well as a Big 12 academic library. This year we celebrated our 2 millionth volume and this year my University, Oklahoma State Universities Graduate College, recruited me away from my Assist. Professor position in the Library, to serve as the Assistant Director of the Graduate College for my campus. I am also an enrolled Graduate Student working towards a Doctorate in Adult Education. I tell you about these things not to brag, for that is not our way, but so that you will know, that the words you hear, do not come from a person without experience in life and profession. But, enough about me. [FOR THE READER SAY THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE IN A LOUD VOICE!] You are in a service profession you will NOT get rich. If you expect to get rich and dont want to do SERVICE, get up and leave now, and go become something else. [READER: PAUSE FOR A MOMENT, OK NOW TALK NORMAL] OK, for everyone that stayed, here are just some thoughts for your consideration: When you accept your first position in the profession, much of what you have learned from Library School will become un-applicable to the position you find yourself in. The academic training is not without value BUT it isnt real life work! Some of you will instantly find yourself inside of a real life Dilbert cartoon. In other words what you encounter from supervisors and administrators will NOT reflect what you learned in school. Some of the most important aspects of your new life will require you to do several very important things. The following is said for your education and professionalism. 1. LISTEN at work, speak little unless asked what you think be very selective about what you say. Eventually, you will be listened to make it worthwhile for others to listen to YOU! Listen to your Patrons remember the REFERENCE INTERVIEW, when asking questions, be brief and re-phrase their question to clarify what is wanted, be clear, dont be afraid to ask again in another way. You can use this on your co-workers and supervisors too DO IT! 2. EDUCATION you dont get to stop learning. Learn the procedures and policies written and un-written for where you work! ! Learn from you co-workers, other professionals, and your patrons, and continue to train and educate yourself wherever possible. Study your community where you find yourself working and living not much can complicate your life more than working, or acting inappropriately towards the community you are supposed to be serving. This may be one of the hardest things for you to do. By virtue of who you are professionally you will be an educator, people will look to you for answers and learning do this well. 3. DO THE RIGHT THINGS by this I do not just mean the things at work. You were hopefully taught what is right and wrong by your parents. In addition, you will have been taught some core professional ethics and values. You may be asked by individuals, supervisors or groups, within your working environment or elsewhere, to violate some of these ethical values at some point. If it is at work, get it in writing always. Document what you do, how you do it, and who asked you to do it and if necessary, make very clear why you WILL NOT DO IT! Protect yourself. If worst comes to worst there are other places to work. If this happens you DID NOT FAIL you will walk away with your head up, knowing you did the right thing and you will have learned. This issue can arise in many venues from the community asking you to CENSURE or BAN materials; to allowing things in your personal life to go out of control. Take personal responsibility seriously. 4. EXPLOITATION Do NOT exploit others, do NOT allow yourself to be exploited. This is important for both those of you of minority ethnic heritage, and for those of you in the dominant culture. If someone asks you to participate in projects or grants, ensure that you have a say, ensure that you can participate in the direction of the project and/or the expenditure of the resources that may come along with it. Be polite about it but again get verbal promises or guarantees in writing. You may think it strange that I repeat this issue one burned twice wise! If it happens once shame on them, if it happens twice shame on you! 5. PARTICIPATION It is part of your Profession to participate. To participate in your own education, your professional organizations, your community. You will be busier than you ever thought possible. Prioritize, but participate when and where you can. You have a voice, use it wisely, use it selectively, but USE it. 6. PLAN Plan for your future and set goals. Do those things necessary to achieve your goals, whether educationally or professionally to enable you to be where you wish to be, doing those things which YOU choose. Plan for yourself, your communities, and the future generations to come. Work towards these goals. There are some saying, which I believe to be true wisdom, which is applicable throughout your lives: Our elders are our past and hold wisdom and memory. We are the present with knowledge of the modern world. We should join together, the elders and ourselves, to create the future, our future is our children. This does not mean to ignore yesterday, or today, but take the best of both and work towards the future. When you consider whether something is of importance, think of 7 generations. If you will think on the meaning of this, you will come to understand it. You are all young and strong, with dreams and ideals. Hold fast to those dreams and remember who you are and where you come from. Carry your ideals with you and let them strengthen you in the times to come. Let us all work towards the days when there are no more ISMS for our peoples to deal with. Let us work towards the days where all of our children are safe. The days when our children can become what they wish to become, and work wherever they wish to work, without glass ceilings, covert or overt discrimination based on the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, their personal preferences in ways to live, let us work towards the days when we really can live in freedom. The days when we can have clean air, clean water, clean land. Treat your mother earth kindly, for she supports all of us. You have a unique charge, to acquire, maintain in safety, and make available, the thoughts, dreams, stories and knowledge contained in books. Remember too the spoken word, the oral histories, the music and film, and forms of media yet to come. It is my hope that you will take this meager advice and think upon it, and combine it with who you are and your experiences, and those things that you know to be true. That it may serve you well, regardless of your heritage or ethnicity. I wish for all of you the best, and hope for all of you there, that you will find work that is meaningful to you and that makes you happy. Yah-KO-kee (with Thanks) for your attention, you be well. John D. Berry, President, American Indian Library Association, 1999-2000 __________________________________________________________________________top 12. Article by Todd Gitlin in the Chronicle of Higher Ed DUMB AND DUMBER: The presidential election reflects a new turn in the history of American aversion to intellect, writes Todd Gitlin, a professor of culture, journalism, and sociology at New York University. --> SEE http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i15/15b00701.htm __________________________________________________________________________top 13. TRAPPED IN THE HALL OF MIRRORS by Mary Ann Meyers "Although we may never know with complete certainty the winner of this year's election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear: It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as the impartial guardian of the rule of law." Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, December 12, 2000. When I was a kid my school sponsored an annual trip to the amusement park for students and their families. This was in the pre-Six Flags mega-park era, when fun was physical or mechanical in nature, but never resided in high-tech special effects. Our cheap thrills came from the ferris wheel and the roller coaster and from the sideshow attractions of target shooting, ring toss, or visiting the "Amazing Petrified Man." It was a simpler time. Almost every amusement park across the country had a "Fun House" where physical disorientation was the focus of the designer. It was a dark place where floors quaked beneath your feet, strange noises boomed and whispered, and stairs disappeared. The Fun House almost always showcased a "Hall of Mirrors." The hall of mirrors was a maze formed by many mirrors of the kind that distorted a kid's image. It was funny and exciting, but could become distressing. The purpose of the mirror maze was to foment anxiety and confusion among its victims. A young thrill-seeker's aim was to find a way out of the noise and confusion into the fresh air sounds of happiness and the pungent scents of popcorn and cotton candy. The problem was that every time you saw yourself in a mirror, you were seeing a distorted view of yourself and not the way out from the maze. Justice Stevens positions his opinion within the American character's hall of mirrors. He speaks in the vernacular understood by Americans - that of "winner" and "loser." The rule of law appears distorted, everything topsy-turvy, with Republicans denigrating Florida State Court's "legislative" actions and turning for relief to the federal system--while Democrats revile the "partisanship" of the Supreme Court and seek justice on a more local level. It's a game in which we've all lost something, and it remains to be seen what - if anything--we may gain from the lesson. Nothing has evidenced our out-of-whack American character, our society's lack of balance, loss of synergy, failure in integrity, more than this presidential election. We have trivialized the election process with our gamesmanship. American individualism has always found symbiosis with marketplace values of competition, exploitation, and winner-take-all and their concomitant virtues of self-interest, ruthlessness and waste. Avarice and greed color our creativity and innovation. We have set aside or demeaned other values present in the American character - our interactive tribal sharing, concern for our children and the elderly, fairness, the spirit of the law, public service selflessness motivated by love, the protection of our institutions from the barbarism of an uncontrolled capitalism. Mr. Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood fame, spoke on the Today show this morning and asked Katie Couric if she had yet learned the lesson he had--that the really important things in life rarely happen center-stage; they happen off to the side. The real things of life are the human connections between you and another, the simple and the deep - rather than what happens between one person and the multitude (paraphrase). We modern 21st-century Americans see "winners" and "losers" where there are no winners, only losers. We see the goal and devalue the journey to the goal. We dismiss our weak fellow strivers, and think ourselves strong; but we, too, eventually must admit our weakness. We are focused on winning, but real life is happening elsewhere. Enchanted with our own images and by our distorted views of our desires, our needs, our pre-eminence over others in matters economic, political, and social, we find ourselves trapped in a hall of mirrors. The way out is somewhere off to the side, away from our self-absorbed images of ourselves as either winners or losers. __________________________________________________________________________top 14. MG buried under the Reed College Library as told by William Abernathy, Reed class of '88 "Ahem. Sometime in 1987, Mark Verna took advantage of all those free credit cards you get when you leave college. Maxxed out a pile of cards, flew to Europe, and began a short-lived career as a credit fugitive. Upon leaving, he left his MG Midget parked in the lot behind the library and gave a friend (whose name is lost to the sands-o-time) the keys to the car. Asked him to take care of it, and he could drive it as much as he wanted. Such a deal, considering the MG Midget's unparallelled reputation for reliability. Rather than sink good money into Verna's bad car for the dubious honor of driving a ratty MG, the caretaker took little care of the car, and the neglect began to show. Th MG sat. The soft top stove in. Leaves, pine duff, and debris filled the indentation made there. The chain holding up the muffler relaxed, and the muffler sagged ever closer to the ground. Rust and mold colonies set up shop in the paint, scourging the once-proud British Racing Green with Luftwaffe-like ferocity. By the spring of 1988, somebody official (security, physical plant) threatened to have the derelict MG towed off, at which point the caretaker, in his final gesture of duty to Verna, moved the car off-campus to the Red House (40th & Schiller) where it sat for another month. Finally, one of the neighbors filed a nuisance complaint about the fetid MG, and the city, too, demanded that it be moved. Now in this time, best beloved, there was a great hole in the earth behind the Old New Wing of the library, whence the New New Wing would soon spring. I'm not sure whose idea it was to bury the MG there, but I strongly suspect the evil genius of Dave Conlin (anybody know where I can track him down?). The night before graduation in 1988 (I know, because I marched the next day, on zero sleep) the car was towed back down the hill, and about 20 guys set to digging a big herkin' hole in the bottom of the hole. Things we didn't think about in the planning stage of the prank: Though an MG Midget is, by car standards, very small, it nonetheless remains a very large object, particularly when its volume is described in negative space from dirt, which is rather heavy, and makes a bit of noise to move, particularly when a macadam-grade gravel aggregate is tamped into the surface. The noise (shovels, picks and mattocks piercing the soil and ricocheting tinnily off the aggregate) attracted the attention of one of the library janitors, who dutifully called security. Up until Liz announced above that it was she who was on the desk, I could've sworn it was Byshenk, but anyway, Allah Most Merciful smiled upon us that graveyard shift, as Dick the Security Guy responded to the call. Dick appreciated a good prank, knew how to act dumb when it was necessary, and in addition to having been a career enlisted man in the navy, had at one point odd-jobbed as a grave-digger. Whether it was his humor, his grave-digger's admiration for our cryptic ambitions, or his contempt for Verna's MG that stayed his hand I'll never know, but he turned a blind eye to the proceedings, and whoever was in the dispatch office that night had the good taste to write the log entry in pencil. It took us a good many hours to excavate the automotive sepulcher, and there was no beer left by the time our work was done. We popped the tires (a curiously satisfying act, the pleasure of which I've never experienced before or since) and rolled it into its final resting place. Kilian (yeah, Kilian showed up out of nowhere) took a leak on the car, and I said "Hey, it looks just like you!" We mashed down the windshield and started piling in the dirt, of which there was much. Another hour of filling and tamping ensued, and when all was said and done, the earth was once again smooth over the MG, and there was nothing left to do or say. I graduated hours later, and that was it for me. Grandma wondered at the reception how I could graduate with such dirt under my nails. They poured the concrete subfloor within the week. It's still down there, a practical joke waiting for future generations of archaeologists to uncover. "Apparently, they buried objects of value beneath places of learning. We believe it may have been an offering to their god of wisdom..." __________________________________________________________________________top 15. Living Juicy This from the Ten Speed Press catalog: Living Juicy: Daily Morsels for Your Creative Soul by SARK SARK gives us the juice to nourish our creative souls with this map and miniature guidebook. Each daily affirmation is designed to stop those dry and cracked feelings and give us those sweet, wild moments we crave. 5 X 7 inches, 380 pages, full color $15.95 paper (Can. $25.95) ISBN 0-89087-703-3 __________________________________________________________________________top 16. Delmar, NY Rant LU: Library expansion weirdos Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 04:24:37 -0800 From: Andrew Ashton <hubbinsd[at]yahoo.com> To: libraryunderground[at]topica.com Hi, I generally lurk in the background of this list...Enjoy reading the discussions though. I feel compelled to post something about the verbal assault I received yesterday while walking out of the Bethlehem Public Library in Delmar, NY (just outside of Albany). BPL is planning a huge ($8,000,000) expansion project. Needless to say, the town is pretty sharply divided over spending that kind of money on a library. Keep in mind this is in a town that seems to have approximately 1000 cops for every taxpayer. Anyway, it is a great public library; it is well-staffed, the collection is decent (though the electronic resources could use a shot in the arm), and every employee I've talked to seems happy to work there...A rarity. A children's librarian recently told me that their story hours have a permanent waiting list. In short, it is a great community resource. The money would come out of new taxes..Not taken away from other programs. Though I'm somewhat sympathetic to people who don't want to have to pay more taxes for stuff they don't want or use (READ: U.S. defense spending), I'd like to smack the creepy weirdo who approached me outside the library yesterday. Our exchange went like this: Creepy weirdo (trying to hand me a pamphlet): "Hello, I hope you'll vote 'No' Tuesday on this stupid library expansion. Me: "No, sorry, I plan to vote for it." Creepy weirdo: "But they're going to spend $8 million on a LIBRARY!! Without even exapmding the parking lot!" Me: "I've never once had a problem parking here." Creepy weirdo: "But it's stupidity! On a LIBRARY!!" Me: "What can I say, I like to spend my money that way" Creepy Weirdo (now inches from my face, gingivitis breath and all, screaming,): "Well thanks a lot for the fucking stupidity brother!! Thanks a whole hell of a lot". {Flips me off} I'm 100% for this guy hanging out in front of the library and trying to win people to support his side. Hell it's a lot of money, especially if you don't particularly respect the library (which this guy evidently doesn't). But screaming crap like that at people who disagree with you while there are little kids around and popping an artery over a library expansion are just plain stupid. What really bugs me is that this guy seemed more concerned that the money was actually going to be spent on the library facilities instead of on the parking lot. The Strip Mall mentality (aka the American Automobile Slum) has really conditioned people to think only in those terms and it's ridiculous, especially in Bethlehem...it is, thankfully, one of the most un-strip malled suburbs I've seen. I believe if they did expand the parking they would need to change the zoning laws to allow for higher volume traffic construction in the town, and that would spell doom for one of the only areas outside the city of Albany that doesn't have box stores on every corner (yet). Pardon my directionless rant. Itch scratched. --------------------------------- Andrew Ashton __________________________________________________________________________top 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. 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