Library Juice 4:13 - Library Juice is now a book and a blog

Library Juice 4:13 - April 11, 2001

Contents:

New Questia Search Interface
Eric Elred challenges Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act of 1998
Ethics in Computing
Diversity Related Library Listservs
Charles H. Kerr Website
Government greenwash planted in Pennsylvania libraries
Another view of "Q & A Cafe," by Mary Ann Meyers
Digital Divide Network
2001 Annual Award for Best LIBRI Student Paper
Friday the 13th Manifesto
Zapopan Muela's Odes to Public Libraries
Invoice of the libraries of the rights

Quote for the week:
"....[T]he library is a social institution. The physical space accommodates
admirably the human need for people to be in community with other people.
People like the library because there are other people there for them to
share the space with, talk to, or learn from."
Mitch Freedman, in a Library Juice Interview
http://libr.org/Juice/issues/vol4/LJ_4.8.sup.html

Homepage of the week: Jennifer Cram
http://www.alia.org.au/~jcram/
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1. New Questia Search Interface
Questia has a new search interface, which T. G. McFadden finds
problematic.
His description of the issues is on LISNews, at:
http://lisnews.com/article.php3?sid=20010405162034&mode=flat
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2. Eric Elred challenges Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act of 1998
* ERIC ELDRED, who posts classic literature online, has been
challenging a 1998 federal law that added 20 years to U.S.
copyrights.
--> SEE http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001040901t.htm
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3. Ethics in Computing -
http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/eos/info/computer_ethics/
Browse or search for information about the basics of
ethics in computing or specific topics such as privacy,
free speech, computer abuse, intellectual property,
risks, commerce, and social justice in this tidily
organized set of links. - sf
From Librarians' Index to the Internet - http://lii.org/
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4. Diversity Related Library Listservs
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~savega/listserv.html
From the website:
This is a selected list of library-oriented and diversity-related
electronic discussion groups. Available information about each list
varies; addresses are provided for subscribing to a list and for
posting messages. In many cases, you must first subscribe to the list
in order to contribute a message. Other library-related listservs can
be found in publications such as Directory of electronic journals,
newsletters and academic discussion lists (Parks Lib: REF Z286.E43
D57x), and Web sites such as TileNet and Diane Kovacs' Directory of
Scholarly and Professional E-Conferences. Note: A few electronic
publications useful for posting job advertisements (often, for a fee)
are also included here. If you have more information on any of the
diversity-related listservs below or others, please send me a message.
Thanks!
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5. Charles H. Kerr Website
After 6 weeks of laborious design, coding, debugging, nitpicking and backand
finger-aches, the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, the world's
oldest radical publisher has joined the Internet community at
http://www.kerrpubco.org.
Now in its 114th year, the Kerr Company is not only a living
link with the most vital radical traditions of the past, but also
an organic part of today's struggles for peace and justice in
an ecologically balanced world.
THE CHARLES H. KERR PUBLISHING COMPANY
info[at]kerrpubco.org
From: Brian Brasel <lipmagazine[at]home.com>
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6. Government greenwash planted in Pennsylvania libraries
[SRRTAC-L:6054] State supported propaganda (fwd)
Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2001 13:40:40 -0400
From: hudsonm[at]einetwork.net (Mark Hudson)
To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>
>From a librarian friend in Pittsburgh, about an industry lobbying group
that is producing and attempting to place in libraries a packet of
"environmental education" materials, in collaboration with the
Pennsylvania Department of Education. Anyone associated with the ALA
Task Force on the Environment know anything about this?
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 15:14:00 -0400
From: "McCullough, Holly" <mcculloughh[at]carnegielibrary.org>
To: pagp-discuss[at]topica.com, hudsonm[at]telerama.com
Subject: State supported propaganda
Thought you guys might have more info. or would like to know about
something I just received in my library (I'm a librarian). It is a very
expensively produced package entitled "sustaining Penn's Woods" put out
"as a result of underwriting and collaboration by the PA department of
Education in partnership with the ***Hardwood Lumber Manufacturers
Association of PA***, the Hardwoods Development council at the PA
department of Agiculture and other interested individuals and
organizations." It is a curriculum text with activities, questions and
answers, a cd-rom, a poster, two video tapes (one which is titled "An
Industry Committed to the Forest Resource". This packet is being
distributed to libraries across Pennsylvania.
Is it just me, or do others find it disturbing that the logging
industry
is educating our kids about the environment, "developed with criteria
for sound and effective environmental education, as well as the state's
new environment and ecology standards"?
**Hardwood Lumber Manufacturers Association of PA** Affiliate members:
Pennsylvania Forest Industry Assoc., Penn-York Lumbermen's Club,
Keystone Kiln Drying Assoc., Central Pennsylvania Loggers and
Lumbermen's Assoc., Professional Forest Industry Assoc.
Contact info.
H.L.M.A. Educational Inc.
545 West Chocolate Avenue
Hershey, PA 17033
717-312-1244, 1-800-232-4562
hlma[at]hlma.org
www.hlma.org/pennswoods
Environment & Ecology Education Advisor II
Bureau of Curriculum & Academic Services
Pennsylvania Department of Education
333 Market Street, 8th Floor
Harrisburgh, PA 17126
717-783-6994
Let me know if you know anything else about this.
Thanks,
Holly
Holly McCullough
mcculloughh[at]carnegielibrary.org
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7. Another view of "Q & A Cafe," by Mary Ann Meyers
Another view of "Q & A Cafe", an ONLINE Reference Service
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:25:48 -0500
From: "Mary Ann Meyers" <ljmmam[at]hypermall.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>,
<jwang_94121[at]yahoo.com>
Cc: "Rory Litwin" <rlitwin[at]libr.org>
Over the past two weeks I have been thinking about this article and
reading PubLib responses to it. I enthusiastically support online
access to live, qualified reference librarians via the Internet.
However, I do not see how this service is significantly different from
present telephone reference service. On the other hand, it does allow
public libraries to establish a united presence and a resource of
free information service online. It makes
use of another avenue to increase public awareness of library
services, and it establishes another outreach to homebound patrons.
For those reasons, in addition to the willingness of a major portion
of the public to migrate to online services, I believe these
libraries' efforts to provide online reference are excellent
endeavors.
Most responses to the original posting by J. Wang pointed to the
continual use of libraries' and library systems' particular
bricks-and-mortar reference service. From my perspective, the real
issue is how the Internet, library establishment fears, and
commentators from outside the profession frame the definition of
library reference service and reconstruct the definition of a
professional librarian.
Threaded throughout Mr. Truong Phuoc Khánh's article were some
phrases and sentences indicating how he or forces external to the
professional librarian (including that of library institutions) might
redefine librarian professional motivations, service
orientation, and ethics:
"Bay Area libraries have banded together to launch a new service. . .
..QandAcafe is a pilot service that allows people to have their
questions asked -- and answered -- for free
during real-time Web chats with the original searching experts:
reference librarians. . . ."
The service is not new, but the method of delivery is new. Librarians
have been doing free and "real-time" service via telephone long before
the Internet. What is new or different about the service? Only the
medium is new.
"[M]atches the speed of search engines with the smarts of librarians,
offering a tantalizing glimpse of a not-too distant future for those
who seek answers and information in the Internet age. . . .patrons
post questions and the librarians try to respond within
minutes. . . ."
"Speed" and "smarts" delivered at the same time, if not in those
terms, has surely always been a goal of librarians. Patrons demand
it all the time, and librarians often deliver.
However, the emphasis on speed feeds a monster that will never be
satisfied. The faster our society goes, the more speed it wants--and
speed is no measure of information quality. Do we want to market
librarians as speedy production workers, delivering "smart" answers
(whatever that might mean) like little automatons. Or would we and
the public be better served by emphasizing other aspects of library
reference service? Or perhaps we should offer "levels of service"
online as we do otherwise, e.g.,
Choose the kind of answer you want:
Probably correct quick-check (within 50-60% range) or,
'This makes sense to me' as I look at what's 'instantly'
available on the net (within 50-75%) or,
Everybody else here likes this Internet-provided answer the
best (within 50-80%) Using authoritative sources (95+% correct)."
Variable guarantees might limit library information liability
anticipated as a present-future issue.
"Live online information is one way libraries can thrive in the
Internet world. . . ."
Maybe, but will this serve public needs; and will librarians and the
profession's ethos thrive?
"[W]orrisome buzz . . .an inevitable byproduct when information is a
click away. . . ."
Is the phrase "worrisome buzz" a factual statement, a subversive and
destabilizing statement, a semantic slip? I do a lot of Internet
searching at home. Information is not "a click away." It is most
often several clicks away; and if a searcher is using a
commercially-supported site or a dotcom as a source, the information
is even more clicks away--and the information is content-poor (or
otherwise tainted). And yet, again, I must agree that often any
answer obtained via the Internet--speedily found or not--often is
acceptable to the public at some level.
"But even in this Web information era, many people still want someone
to sort through the useless, weed out the incorrect, answer the
obscure and provide some human reassurance. . . .'what we end up
getting are the questions they can't find for themselves. . . .'''
Indeed. Now how do we educate the public so that they know to turn to
online public library reference service for our self-definition of not
only our library "science" expertise, but our library service art?
How will we define ourselves and our services?
"Reference librarians now must know how to . . . create Web pages."
Says who? Librarians are not technicians. Librarians use these
"tools" to do their professional work. I know of no reason, other
than library administration capitulation to economic/budgetary forces,
for librarians to "must know" how to "create Web pages." Unless
Library "Human Resources" (~cringing at terminology~) find this
requirement useful as a way to sort through applicants. Rather,
librarians must use their professional expertise to tell technicians
what the content should be and how they, the librarians, in
consultation with a technician, want the content presented. I
acknowledge the pragmatic solutions libraries and librarians apply
when budgets are inadequate for needs. Still, professional librarians
should resist definitions imposed on them by those outside the
profession. As a professional librarian, I am a content selector and
manager and must be prepared to perform that function in re producing
online library materials. I may, in a pinch, choose to find a way to
create a web page (big deal, templates are now out there and the
technology will move toward making web page creation simpler); but
those outside the profession do not define my function and role in
using a new medium.
"QandAcafe bills itself as the ``authoritative source for expert
information. . . .'' QandAcafe is designed to handle reference
questions that can be researched online, including full-text articles
from magazines and journals, encyclopedias, almanacs and directories.
Librarians are asked to aim for an answer within seven minutes."
Yes, "authoritative" is a self-definition that should be emphasized.
Not all answers (as implied roundabout in the article) researched
online can be 95+% guaranteed authoritative answers. Some more timely
and authoritative answers are found off-line. The request to "aim for
an answer within seven minutes" is exquisitely offensive to
professional service. No librarian holding a position would be
dawdling around looking for an answer--or, if so, they should be
looking for other work. The "request" no matter how phrased sounds
like the imposition of a production-line approach to information
delivery.
"In addition to finding information, QandAcafe librarians 'push' Web
pages containing useful material to the patron's computer screen so
patrons can view the data simultaneously with the searches. . .
..Transcripts of the sessions are e-mailed to patrons afterward,
including URLs of Web sites used during the search. . ."
The "push" is useful as long as librarians aren't required to "push"
pages preferred by their commercial sponsors/partners over other
sources. Will librarians "push" pages featuring specific
advertisements/sponsors/partners over better sources?
"Public libraries aren't alone in this information evolution; they are
going toe-to-toe online with commercial enterprises like Webhelp and
others that charge a fee for queries. . . ."
Nothing new here--public libraries are doing this all the time as part
of their service ethic.
"That's just what public libraries are all about: providing access to
information for free,'' said Martha Walters, Palo Alto's library
systems administrator."
Possibly a useful catch-phrase for management to use with the public,
but only a partial picture of what public libraries are all about.
Libraries are all about a lot of things, access to free information
is just shorthand for their most obvious service to society.
"[The] bee woman became even more anxious upon learning that the bees
had been spotted in Kern County."
Here's something else that "public libraries are all about": Seeing,
sensing, intuiting that a patron needs something more--perhaps
something that a patron can't effectively formulate, vocalize, or
write. Further, libraries are about empathizing and connecting with
people like the "bee woman." How do we communicate our whole picture
to people along with notions of authoritative, diligent, attentive,
and timely (different than speedy) delivery of information?
The Q and A Cafe paradigm sounds like a sensible move for library
systems. Now if we can just avoid the pitfalls of allowing outsiders
to define the profession for us, if we do better public relations
education about the profession and its outlets, and if we avoid
shallow misrepresentations of our profession--we might have something
good here.
Cordially,
Mary Ann Meyers
ljmmam[at]hypermall.net
Original Message -----
From: "Jacob Wang" <jwang_94121[at]yahoo.com>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 7:45 PM
Subject: [PUBLIB] Read about "Q & A Cafe", an ONLINE Reference Service
Published Monday, March 19, 2001, in the San Jose
Mercury News. See:
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/search19.htm
or read below:
Pilot program tries to
provide reference
service in minutes
BY TRUONG PHUOC KHÁNH
Mercury News
Contact Truong Phuoc Khánh at tkhanh[at]sjmercury.com or
(650) 688-7505.
=====
Jacob Wang
699 36th Avenue #308
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 387-0729
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8. Digital Divide Network
Dear Public Librarians:
The ALA Washington Office has worked in partnership with the Benton
Foundation, several federal agencies, and other organizations to develop a
database on public access points for information, technology, and Internet.
The following announcement from the Benton Foundation explains how to use
the database and its contents.
The database still has bugs and many entries need to be "cleaned-up".
Please try this resource and provide your comments and feedback to me. If
you find mistakes, duplicate entries, or other problems, please notify Andy
Carvin at the Benton Foundation via email (see below).
Thanks.
Saundra L. Shirley
sshirley[at]alawash.org
**************       ************   ************
(Source:The Benton Foundation's Communications Headlines discussion list
announcement dated 3-9-01)
The new version of the Digital Divide Network has now gone public:
http://www.DigitalDivideNetwork.org
Please feel free to visit the new site and check it out. While the general
layout is similiar to our previous site, we've enhanced the network with
several major features.
The most important new feature is the Digital Divide Database, a national
directory of over 20,000 digital divide-related services around the US,
including places where citizens can get free Internet access and IT
training. These listings represent public libraries, CTCs, HUD
neighborhood
network sites, PowerUp sites, TIIAP/TOP grantees and Urban League centers,
among others.
In order to take the database for a test drive, go to
DigitalDivideNetwork.org and find the spot on the right-hand side where it
says "Get Connected!" Type in a zip code and press the submit button. (for
those of you outside of the US, a zip code is a US postal code containing
five or nine numerical digits, such as 10011 or 32903-3532.) You'll then be
brought to a graphical map with little black circles on it, each circle
with a number inside it. These circles represent the location of
organizations offering a digital-divide related service to the community.
(a maximum of 30
circles will appear on any map.) If you scroll your web browser below the
map, you'll see a numbered listing of each of these organizations,
including contact information and their URL, when available. If you click
on an organization's name, it will open a new web page giving more
information about the organization, as well as a zoomed-in street level map
and an option to get driving directions to the organization.
(If you'd like to edit the data listing for your organization or add your
organization to the database, please follow the instructions at the bottom
of this email.)
In the coming weeks and months, the database will be used to service a new
Public Service Announcement campaign on US broadcast and cable TV networks.
The campaign, made possible by a partnership of the Kaiser Family
Foundation, the AOL/Time Warner Foundation, Univision, Benton and over half
a dozen other organizations, will use English and Spanish commercials to
encourage young people to get involved in community technology programs in
their area. In order to make sure that everyone has access to the
organizations listed in the database, the PSAs will include toll-free
numbers with English and Spanish-language operators who will help callers
identify organiztions in their community that can offer them free Internet
access and IT training. I'll have more information on the PSA campaign,
including the toll-free numbers, very soon.
Additionally, the website includes a new search engine that will give you
access to archives of DDN's many news stories, feature articles, a calendar
of divide-related events and relevant web resources. There's also a new
admin tool for DDN staff that helps us keep the site as up-to-date
aseasily as possible.
Lastly, we've created a new option to allow individuals to become members
of the Digital Divide Network. Membership currently has two major benefits.
It
will allow you to receive email regular updates on what's been posted
recently to the website (including direct links to each new item). It will
also allow you to become a contributor to the site - DDN members can post
articles, news stories, events listings, web resources, and can also
recommend organizations to be added to the Digital Divide Database.
If you'd like to join DDN, click on Join DDN Now! on the left navigation
bar and fill out the form. Membership is free and is open to anyone
interested in the digital divide.
Once you've joined the network, you'll be able to share content through
the website, including organizational listings for the Digital Divide
Database. If you'd like to add an organization to the database, you can add
it to the
system by filling out our suggestion form:
http://digitaldividenetwork.org/content/organizations/suggest.cfm
Eventually, we also hope to offer more services for DDN members, including
personalized emails regarding new content that may be of particular
interest to them, as well as a matching system that would allow people will
similar
digital divide interests to track each other down and meet each other
online.
So when you get a chance, I'd strongly encourage you to try out our new
site and to become a member of the Digital Divide Network. I'd also like to
say a special thank-you to all the organizations who made the site and the
new database possible: the AOL/Time Warner Foundation, the Kaiser Family
Foundation, the American Library Association, HUD Neighorhood Networks,
Citysoft, The National Urban League, PowerUp, MapQuest, The US Departments
of Commerce and Education (especially their NTIA and NCES departments),
the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, CTCNet, ICF Consulting and OMB
Watch
- and my apologies if I've missed any groups (we were lucky to have so
many!) Here at Benton, I'd like to thank Keith, Jamal, Chic, Kade, Tony and
the rest of the CPP staff, and Mike Litz of OneWorld US for helping me sort
through the technical morass at various stages of the project. Thanks for
all of your help!
Hope you enjoy the new site,
ac
ps- (PS- For those of you outside the US, we haven't developed a database
for international Internet access points yet, but it's possible to register
and search for international locations using our advanced search tool
(http://digitaldividenetwork.org/content/search/index.cfm). Just fill out
the name of the country (and if possible, the city), then press the
advanced search button at the bottom of the page. At the moment, we have
very few international listings, so if you're aware of a particular site
you'd like
to register, you can submit them to the network using the same form that
US organizations use, listed above.)
*****************************************
Andy Carvin               andy[at]benton.org
Senior Associate
Benton Foundation
http://edweb.gsn.org/andy
http://www.DigitalDivideNetwork.org
*****************************************
Visit my new website, Anatolian Fortnight
http://edweb.gsn.org/anatolia
*****************************************
Instructions for joining DDN and accessing organizational data:
1. Go tohttp://www.DigitalDivideNetwork.organd select "join ddn now" on
the left navigation bar.
2. Fill out the form as completely as you can. In this form you'll see
"Organization Association." Here you can type in the name of the org you
wish to associate yourself with and request editing privledges for its
listing. Unfortunately, the system has a minor glitch we still need to fix
- you can only associate yourself with one organization. So if you want to
edit multiple orgs, you'll have to re-register multiple times. (I promise,
we'll get this fixed.) To associate yourself with an org in the database,
type in the name of the org and press "find organizations." The page will
reload with a list of orgs that have the same or similar spelling. When you
find the org you want to associate yourself with, be sure to select it with
a mouse click before submitting your registration. If you don't, we won't
find out that you want editing privledges for that organization.
3. Press the "register" button at the bottom of the page. You'll soon get
an email from us saying that you've been added to the network as a member,
and you'll now have the ability to edit your personal profile, post
articles to the site, and receive weekly newsletters from DDN. Benton staff
will still have to approve you as an administrator for that org's data,
though.
4. As soon as Benton approves you, you'll receive another email
confirmation with a link to a page that includes all the data we know about
your organization. At the bottom of this page is a link that will let you
update this data. Click on it, and you'll then get a form that lets you
edit the data. Edit it as you see fit, then press the submit button. Benton
will then add your updates to the database.
Once you've registered with DDN, can also add entirely new organizational
listings to the database by going here:
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/organizations/suggest.cfm
And if you ever need us to remove a listing entirely from the database,
please email me directly atandy[at]benton.org, and be sure to explain why the
listing needs to be removed.
thanks,
ac
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
To subscribe to the Benton Communications-Related Headlines,
send email to:listserv[at]cdinet.com
In the body of the message, type only:
subscribe benton-compolicy YourFirstName YourLastName
To unsubscribe, send email to:
listserv[at]cdinet.com
In the body of the message, type only:
signoff benton-compolicy
If you have any problems with the service, please direct them to
benton[at]benton.org
Saundra L. Shirley, Telecommunications Specialist
American Library Association/Ofc. for Info. Tech. Policy
1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW; Suite 403
Washington, DC 20004-1701
(202) 628-8421, fax (202) 628-8424
email:sshirley[at]alawash.org
CC:      Emily Sheketoff; Rick Weingarten
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9. 2001 Annual Award for Best LIBRI Student Paper
K. G. Saur Verlag
Munich, Germany
Announces the 2001 annual award for
Best LIBRI Student Paper
Since 1950, through 51 volumes, LIBRI International Journal of Libraries
and Information Services has been a leader among scholarly journals in the
international library world. As part of its strategy to remain one of the
premier library journals, LIBRI is issuing a call for "Best Student Paper
of 2001." This competition supports LIBRI's goal of publishing the best
articles from the next generation of library and information science
professionals. We are proud once again to recognize the very best articl
with this special award.
Students at all levels* are invited to submit articles with clarity and
authority. For 2001, there is no stated theme. Research papers should
address one of the significant issues facing today's librarians and
information professionals. Case studies, best practices, and pure research
papers are all welcome.
Length: approx. 5000 words
Language: English
Deadline: May 31, 2001
The best paper will be selected by a panel consisting of the members of
the Editorial Board, the Advisory Board, and other international experts.
The paper will be judged on the basis of

originality of thought and observation
depth of research and scholarship
topicality of problems addressed
the international readership of the journal

The article will be published in the 2001:4 issue. The author of the
winning article will be honoured with an award of 500.00 USD and with a
complementary subscription to LIBRI for 2002. If the quality of competition
warrants, some papers may be designated as honourable mention and the
authors will receive complementary subscriptions to Libri for 2002.
Manuscripts should be sent to the LIBRI Editorial Office,
Statsbiblioteket, Universitetsparken, DK 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Electronic
submissions are encouraged and may be submitted to
libri[at]statsbiblioteket.dk. Authors instructions are available at the Libri
site at http://www.saur.de/.

Exception: Senior information scholars returning to school for
additional degrees outside the field of library and information science
are not eligible for this award.

Nancy John, Ian Johnson & Svend Larsen
Editors, Libri
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10. Friday the 13th Manifesto
From the Institute on Library Service to the Black and Urban Poor, Wayne
State University. ALA Bulletin 63, 1969. Reprinted in _Activism in American
Librarianship, 1962-1973_, edited by Mary Lee Bundy and Frederick J. Stielow,
Greenwood Press, 1987.
WE BELIEVE
The public library has responded to the demands of the power structure rather
than the needs of the total community.
The social crises of the cities have brought the people into conflict with
the Establishment. The profession reflects the values and attitudes of that
Establishment! Priorities at present are responsible to the articulated
needs and demands of the power structure and have not extended to the
unarticulated needs of those outside the power structure.
It is the responsibility of the public library and the library profession to
address themselves to this problem by refocusing their attention and
priorities to meeting the total informational needs of its inner city public
that will help break the cycle of poverty and racism, at present fostered by
the system.
In the light of past failures we say that the library profession has been
neither neutral nor objective and therefore has no alternative but to adopt
immediately a philosophy of "advocacy" in every aspect of its service to the
urban poor. It is important to note that conflicts within the community are
not to be arbitrated by the library but when the interests of the community
come into conflict with the vested interests of the Establishment then the
philosophy of advocacy must become the only legitimate course of action.
Adopting a philosophy of "advocacy" may mean:

taking a stand
having a point of view, admitting a point of view
being supportive
fighting along with the community
being committed
establishing a loving relationship
being able to empathize
being objective rather than "neutral"
being a change agent
being for people on their own terms
going beyond our own cliches

Not having a philosophy of advocacy has meant we have:

sacrificed our technique
capitulated to the administration
supported the administrated which capitulated to the Establishment
opted out of our professional responsibilities
copped out of our social commitment
been the problem rather than the solution
failed to be true to ourselves
salved the conscience of the oppressors
perpetuated the status quo

For the reasons pointed out above, we feel that any course of action by the
profession (co-ordinators, administrators, librarians, and educators) which
does not include the concept of "advocacy" in its development must be
regarded as being counterproductive to the ultimate welfare of the urban poor
community.
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11. Zapopan Muela's Odes to Public Libraries
From: Mr. Zapopan Muela [zmmuela[at]ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU]
Hi dear colleagues and friends of libraries!
This is my contribution to the National Week Library of the American
Library Association, April 1-7, 2001. One of my poems, "Odes to Public
Libraries", to honor libraries, particularly the public ones, which, at
least in Mexico, are the poorest ones, but they are the ones which reach
the majority of population, that is why they deserve letters of gold and
diamond.
You may publish or display this poem in your library or anywhere as much as
you wish. But if you publish it, please do give me credit and if possible
send me a copy of the publication either to: Zapopan Muela, 3118 Main St.,
Buffalo, NY 14214-1354 or Emiliano Zapata 308, Col. Valle de Santa Lucia,
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, 64230 Mexico or by email to: zapopanmuela[at]yahoo.com.
Odes to Public Libraries ©
By Zapopan Martin Muela Meza
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. June 20, 1995
Dedicated to Carolina Muela Rodriguez
I
The blind person would like to see
the one who sees would like to read
and you who are not blind
and are able to read
come to the public library,
from its books a lot more
you will learn.
II
My parents learnt
from their teachers
their teachers learnt
from other teachers.
And where have all the teachers learnt from?
From schools and libraries.
III
When kid she/he drank from its waters
When younger she/he drank from its waters
When grownup she/he drank from its waters
When older she/he is still drinking from its waters
Finally she/he died, but the waters kept uprising
from the eternal spring source of knowledge:
the library
let us drink from its waters!
satisfy our thirst!
IV
In Ancient Era
it lived in its houses.
In Modern Era
still lived in its houses.
In the Nuclear Era
still keeps on living in its houses.
Today like in History
knowledge lives in the libraries
let us go after it.
V
Out of clay, papyrus or wax
in boards, rolls or tables,
out of palimpsestus
in duplex, triplex or multiplex codixes
out of manuscripts or printed paper
hard or softbounded
out of celluloid
in microformats or diskettes
out of silica and laser
in CD-ROM or online
in any time
in any form or material
but the book keeps on being the king.
VI
At home we learn to walk and to speak
at school we learn to read and write
but in the library we learn
to fly to outer space
to travel through time
to know about our planet,
people and nature around us
from here and far away.
VII
I opened the doors from the past,
also I opened the ones from the present
and I am also able to open the doors from all
the rivers and seas, hills and mountains
jungles and forests from all over the Earth;
also I am able to open the ones
from all the planets, satellites and galaxies
I could open them yesterday,
I can do it today,
and I can do it tomorrow
since I am immortal
I am the key of knowledge
I am your library
come and take me
and open all the doors
your imagination wants.
This set of verses was written for radio spots to encourage children to
visit and read in the Nuevo Leon, Mexico public libraries. It was written
at the invitation of the Head of the Red Estatal de Bibliotecas Publicas de
Nuevo Leon (Nuevo Leon State Public Library Network). First Published at:
Muela, Zapopan. "Odes to Public Libraries". The One-Person Library.
Newsletter for Librarians and Management. Cleveland, OH: Information
Bridges International, Vol. 17. No. 4. August, 2000, p. 9-10. The author
is currently MLS student at SUNY at Buffalo.
http://www.geocities.com/zapopanmuela/cvitae.htm
Wish you all the best, and an eternal reading and librarian life plenty of
successes!
Zapopan Martin Muela Meza [Mexican Fulbright-LASPAU student]
SUNY [at] Buffalo, ALA Advocacy Coordinator
SUNY [at] Buffalo, Latino/a Graduate Student Association, President
http://www.geocities.com/zapopanmuela/cvitae.htm
"There are many types of slavery
and many types of freedom,
but reading keeps being the way
towards freedom"
-- Carl Sagan. A Haunted-Demond World. Science as Candle
             in the Dark.
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12. Invoice of the libraries of the rights
The association American of the libraries asserts that all the
bookcases are tribunes for information and the ideas and that
political following of base would have to guide their services. The
books and other resources of the libraries would have to be supplied
for the interest, the information and clarification of all people of
the Community that the bookcase serves. The materials would not have
to be excluded because of the origin, of the previous ones, or the
sights of that they contribute to their creation. The bookcases would
have to supply the materials and the information that introduce all
the points of the sight on the current and historical issues. The
materials would not have proscritti or to be removed because of the
dissaproval partisan or doctrinal. The bookcases would have to defy
the censorship in the implementation of their responsibility to supply
the information and the clarification. The bookcases would have to
cooperate with all the persons and groups interested from the
compendium of resistance of the free expression and the free access to
the ideas. The person?s radrizzano in order to use a bookcase ridurrsi
would not have to be denied or because of the origin, of the age, the
low priority, or the sights. The bookcases that put to disposition the
spaces of the exposure and the rooms of reunion of the public serve
would have to render such equipments available on an just base,
without care to the sideboard or the affiliations of the individuals
or the groups that ask their use. Adopted 18 June 1948. Amended
February 2, 1961 and 23 January 1980, inclusion del?age? reaffirmed 23
January 1996, from the Council of the WING.
[Library Bill of Rights, translated into Italian and then back into
English by Babelfish - http://babelfish.altavista.com]
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