Library Juice 4:44 - December 5, 2001

Contents:

  1. Stories in THE SHY LIBRARIAN, Winter 2001
  2. Chicago's hidden temple of esoterica
  3. Lawrence Lessig on copyright
  4. Questia's latest promotional tool
  5. Communication Rights in the Information Society
  6. ProQuest Acquires SoftLine Information
  7. 21st Century Librarian Award
  8. News stories appearing in the December 3 American Libraries
  9. Jeanette Kamman's Library for Orphans
  10. An easy way to help Hermenaut
  11. Cursor
  12. Recent dispatches from Don Wood's IFACTION list
  13. USA PATRIOT Act and Non-Profits
  14. Stop the Presses
  15. Michael Moore's New Book Isn't
  16. Bibliography for Tom Eland's "Necessary Illusions" course
  17. Request for Library Juice reader feedback


Quote for the week:

"There is only one way to read, which is to browse
in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that
attract you, reading only those, dropping them when
they bore you, skipping the parts that drag and
never, never reading anything because you feel you
ought, or because it is part of a trend or a
movement. Remember that the book which bores you
when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for
you when you are forty or fifty and vice versa.
Don't read a book out of its right time for you."

Doris Lessing


Homepage of the week: Liane Luckman
http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~lluckman/

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1. Stories in THE SHY LIBRARIAN, Winter 2001

Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 22:41:46 -0800 (PST)
From: "shy librarian" <publisher[at]shylibrarian.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: publisher[at]shylibrarian.com

Stories appearing in the Winter 2001 issue of The Shy Librarian--
a quarterly print magazine promoting libraries, librarians, and books.
http://www.shylibrarian.com/archives/shyarchive2001winter.htm

Shy Editor's Column: Time to Shape Up Your Library's News Releases.
By Marcia Trotta, Director of the Meriden Public Library, Meriden,
Connecticut.
http://www.shylibrarian.com/archives/editorscolumn2001winter.htm

The New Librarian: Where Image Meets Reality.
By Brenda Edusei, Image Consultant and owner of "The Success Studio."

A True Case of Library Pornography.
By Gerry Molyneaux, Media Librarian, West Hartford Public Library,
West Hartford, Connecticut.

Publisher's Column: Promoting Libraries, Librarians, and Books.
By Joseph Cadieux.
http://www.shylibrarian.com/archives/publisherscolumn2001winter.htm

Just How Does A Librarian Become a Children's Book Author?
By Teresa Bateman, Librarian at Brigadoon Elementary School in Federal Way,
Washington, and the award-winning author of 7 children's books currently in
print.

Non-Stop Programming with Teen Volunteers at the Billerica (MA) Public
Library.
By Michelle Paquin, Young Adult Librarian, Billerica Public Library,
Billerica, Massachusetts.

The Shy Librarian's Interview with Steven Cohen, Creator of "Library
Stuff."
http://www.shylibrarian.com/archives/wint2001_librarystuff.htm

Non-Stop Programming with Teen Volunteers at the Billerica (MA) Public
Library.
By Michelle Paquin, Young Adult Librarian, Billerica Public Library,
Billerica, Massachusetts.

The Shy Librarian's "Best of the Web"
http://www.shylibrarian.com/shylinks/index.htm

The Pet Memorial Fund at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton
County.
By Richard Helmes, Library Press Officer.
http://www.shylibrarian.com/archives/petmemorial2001winter.htm

The Winter 2001/02 print issue of THE SHY LIBRARIAN also includes over 75
reviews of new books for children and teens, as well as reviews of
professional books for librarians and teachers. SHY reviews are written by
librarians and teachers from around the U.S. and Canada.

Do you have a comment to make about anything appearing in The Shy
Librarian?
Send your thoughts in 250 words or less to editor[at]shylibrarian.com.

THE SHY LIBRARIAN magazine -- http://www.shylibrarian.com
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2. Chicago's hidden temple of esoterica

A modest, four-story building on South Kenwood holds one of the world's
most remarkable resources for 'scholarly research'

By William Hageman
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 27, 2001

Looking for a volume of Britain's House of Lords' daily records from 1509?
How about a copy of India's 1961 census?

Or maybe Albert Einstein's doctoral dissertation?

They're all more or less at your fingertips on Chicago's South Side,
squirreled away in a 125,000-square-foot, four-story building at 6050 S.
Kenwood Ave., known as the Center for Research Libraries. The center houses
one of the most remarkable collections of -- well -- "scholarly resources"
in the world.

"We're the most interesting place you've never heard of," says Bernard
Reilly, the facility's new president.

The center is the creation of a not-for-profit consortium of more than 200
colleges, universities and libraries that stores and makes available to
scholars and students -- and the general public -- its holdings. In
addition, it helps establish and preserve collections at other institutions
around the world.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0111270010nov27.story
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3. Lawrence Lessig on copyright

WHY COPYRIGHT LAWS HURT CULTURE
Issue: Intellectual Property
American copyright laws have gotten so out of hand that they are causing
the
death of culture and the loss of the world's intellectual history,
according
to Stanford technology law professor Lawrence Lessig, who was in Dublin to
speak at the Darklight Digital Film Festival. Copyright laws in the United
States are placing the control of material into an increasingly "fixed and
concentrated" group of corporate hands, he said. Five record companies now
control 85 percent of music distribution, for example. "The period of
copyright primacy is going to end up as a huge hole in the cultural
record,"
said Electronic Frontier Foundation founder John Perry Barlow, who also
attended the conference. Barlow and Lessig both said that new technologies
such as peer-to-peer-based communication and file-exchange programs could
force a new look at copyright laws and profoundly change the methods of
distribution.

[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Karlin Lillington]
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48625,00.html
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4. Questia's latest promotional tool

Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 16:12:20 -0800
From: "Gary Klein (bear-at-heart)" <gklein[at]WILLAMETTE.EDU>
To: COLLIB-L[at]ns1.wooster.edu

I visited Questia's web pages at the beginning of the semester, and
receive an ocassional email from them.

This weekend, I received a promotional message from Questia,
suggesting that I give a Questia gift to someone else!

I have attached a copy of Questia's flyer below my signature panel.

Among the various self-promotional messages in this flyer are 2
noteworthy ones that quickly drew my attention:

> Great Gift for College or High School Students Give students a gift that
> will help do better research, learn how to write a paper, encourage
> learning, and make them better students. Find out why Questia is better
> than the school library, public library, and Internet search engines.
> http://www.questia.com/CM.qst?UID1=1027287859&UM=1885&UID2=5&D=e9coolg

Run that by me again... Questia claims to be be better than the
school library, public library and Internet search engines?

65,000 documents (books & articles combined, in Questia) is superior
to my public library? Just from my public library's subscription to Ebsco
Host's databases, I can pull up millions of articles.

Including the one from NEWSWEEK's October 29, 2001 issue that they
highlight:

> See what Newsweek magazine has to say about Questia.
> http://www.questia.com/CM.qst?UID1=1027287859&UM=1885&UID2=7&D=e9newsg

Actually, if you read through that article, you will see for yourself
that Newsweek spends far more words talking about the idea behind Questia,
rather than mentioning anything about its educational effectiveness, or
price effectiveness. And no mention is made that most public libraries
offer tons more information, without charging $20/month.

And then Questia puts in a plug aimed at making it a gift to Lifelong
Learners!

I wonder if Questia can also beat a path to every student's doorway?

GARY KLEIN, Management & Economics Librarian
Hatfield Library / Willamette University / Salem, OR 97301 USA
gklein[at]willamette.edu work #503-370-6743 home #503-463-7131

http://members.aol.com/tethered
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5. Communication Rights in the Information Society

From: Bruce Girard [mailto:boa[at]COMUNICA.ORG]
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 11:12 AM
To: DEVMEDIA[at]LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA
Subject: New electronic list - CrisInfo[at]comunica.org

Communication Rights in the Information Society is an initiative of the
Platform for Communication Rights that seeks to facilitate a coordinated
response among civil society and NGOs to the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS), particularly around issues related to
communication rights. The CrisInfo[at]comunica.org list has been set up to
support this work.

You can subscribe to the CrisInfo list from the web
http://www.comunica.org/mailman/listinfo/crisinfo_comunica.org

Or you can subscribe via email by sending a blank message to
crisinfo-request[at]comunica.org with the word "subscribe" in the subject
line.

Background

The World Summit on the Information Society is a two-phase UN summit
scheduled for December 2003 in Geneva and 2005 in Tunis. The International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) has the lead role as organiser of the Summit
(see http://www.itu.int/wsis ).

The aim of the WSIS is "to develop a common vision and understanding of the
Information Society, to better understand its scope and dimensions and to
draw up a strategic plan of action for successfully adapting to the new
society".

While it is yet to be determined what role civil society will actually have
in the process, the WSIS's proposal is to involve government, industry and
civil society in both the preparations and in the conference itself. This
is to include involvement in determining the conference agenda and
participation in the drafting of the Declaration and Action Plan. The WSIS
executive secretariat in Geneva has separate divisions for government,
industry and civil society. The civil society
secretariat has a website at http://www.geneva2003.org .

We have set up an electronic list to facilitate communication about the
WSIS among NGOs and to offer news and other information related to our
efforts to ensure that human rights, and especially communication rights,
are fully incorporated into the WSIS process, agenda and output.

Subscribe to CrisInfo
http://www.comunica.org/mailman/listinfo/crisinfo_comunica.org or by
sending
a blank message to crisinfo-request[at]comunica.org with the word "subscribe"
in the subject line.

Communication Rights in the Information Society
cris[at]comunica.org
http://www.comunica.org/cris/
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6. ProQuest Acquires SoftLine Information

Acquisition Expands Company's Coverage of Ethnic, Cultural, And
Demographic Diversity Topics

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- ProQuest Company's (NYSE:
PQE) Information and Learning unit announced today that it has acquired
Information, the Stamford, Connecticut-based producer of online databases
for libraries and educational institutions. The company's critically
acclaimed full-text databases will become available from ProQuest
immediately.

SoftLine offers more than 500 newspapers and magazines from ethnic,
minority, native, gender, alternative, and independent press. Prior to
SoftLine's introduction of its databases, most titles were not available
in electronic formats. The titles are organized into five specialized
databases covering ethnic, cultural, and demographic diversity, including:
Ethnic NewsWatch, Ethnic NewsWatch History, Alt-Press Watch, Gender Watch,
and Diversity Your World. The databases are available by subscription and
are delivered to library users via the Web.

"SoftLine products are highly valued by libraries and users for their
quality, unique content, and ability to bring alternative viewpoints to
the learning experience," said Joe Reynolds, president and chief executive
officer of ProQuest Information and Learning. "The addition of these
databases to our product offerings brings new and valuable facets to
research and learning in school, public, and academic libraries, and we're
committed to the continuation of providing and improving access to this
important content.

"The titles included in these databases offer coverage of
non-'mainstream' topics and viewpoints, and they offer an important
balance to standard resources," Reynolds added. "We're pleased to welcome
SoftLine into the ProQuest family. Its databases complement ProQuest(R)
databases, which comprise popular and scholarly titles, and expand our
current offerings of alternative press information products delivered in
microform and electronically."

Ralph Ferragamo, CEO of SoftLine, said, "It was important to us to
find a buyer that would commit to expanding access to publications that
are underrepresented in databases. ProQuest has demonstrated a commitment
to continue to develop databases that offer diverse views and information.
In addition, ProQuest has a track record of providing quality information
products and for effectively meeting the needs of librarians and their
patrons. We are confident that they will build on the work we have begun
and improve access to these materials."

Founded in 1991, SoftLine's mission has been to bring information to a
public forum that reflects diversity within the American mainstream.
...

About ProQuest Company
ProQuest Company (NYSE: PQE) was born of Bell & Howell Company's two
highly respected information access businesses. Based in Ann Arbor,
Mich., ProQuest Company is a leader in e-learning and e-publishing. For
its customers in the academic, library, automotive, and powersports
industries, the company provides access to a body of content that is
unmatched in breadth and depth. Additional information on ProQuest
Company can be found at http://www.proquestcompany.com .

ProQuest Information and Learning is a world leader in collecting,
organizing, and distributing information worldwide to researchers,
faculty, and students in libraries and schools. Known widely for its
strength in business and economics, general-reference, humanities, social
sciences, and STM content, the company develops premium databases
comprising periodicals, newspapers, dissertations, out-of-print books, and
other scholarly information from more than 8,500 publishers worldwide.
Users access the information through the ProQuest(R) Web-based online
information system, Chadwyck- Healey(TM) electronic and microform
resources, UMI(R) microform and print reference products, and XanEdu(TM)
online faculty and student resources. For more information about ProQuest
Information and Learning, visit http://www.il.proquest.com . Information
about SoftLine is available at http://www.slinfo.com .

Web site: http://www.il.proquest.com

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/108291.html

CONTACT: Media: Tina Creguer, Director,
Communications/PR,+1-800-521-0600, ext. 3805, +1-734-761-4700, ext.
3805,pr[at]il.proquest.com , or Investor: Mark Trinske, Vice
President,Investor Relations, +1-734-997-4910, both of ProQuest Company
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7. 21st Century Librarian Award

Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 10:47:28 -0500
From: "21 Century Librarian Award" <libaward[at]syr.edu>
To: <rory[at]libr.org>

Dear Colleague,

For the second year, the Syracuse University School of Information Studies
is pleased to offer the 21st-Century Librarian Award, recognizing
librarians' work in shaping the new information environment that is
emerging on a global scale. The 21st-Century Librarian Award will provide
$5,000 to a librarian who has been a leader in the evolution of the
librarianship in this new milieu.

This year, the School of Information Studies is adding a second award, the
21st-Century Librarian of Central New York Award. This award will provide
$1000 to a librarian in the Central New York region who has been a leader
in the evolution of the profession in Central New York. All applicants will
be eligible for the $5,000 award, and applicants from Central New York will
automatically be eligible for the regional award.

Candidates for the award may be nominated by a third party, or they may be
self-nominated. Nominees from last year are welcome to compete again,
either by being renominated by a third party or by renominating themselves.
Application materials must be resubmitted electronically.

Full details are available at the award's website,
http://istweb.syr.edu/librarianaward/

Deadlines for the Second Annual 21st Century Librarian Award:

February 8, 2002: Deadline for letters of nomination, letters of support
and letters of intent to apply

March 18, 2002: Deadline for submission of all application materials

May 10, 2002: Announcement of the winners

October 18, 2002: Award ceremony at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New
York

All questions, nominations, and application materials should go to:
libaward[at]syr.edu

The 21st-Century Librarian Award is a project of students in the MLS
program at Syracuse University, School of Information Studies. The
project's advisor is Jana Bradley, director of the MLS program.

Peyina Lin, Student Project Chair
Jana Bradley, Project Advisor
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8. News stories appearing in the December 3 American Libraries

Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 20:19:29 -0800 (PST)
From: "Gordon Flagg" <gflagg[at]ala.org>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>

News stories appearing in the December 3 American Libraries Online

http://www.ala.org/alonline/

American Libraries' Web site also features the latest "Internet
Librarian" columns by Karen Schneider; "Technically Speaking" by David
Dorman; AL's "Career Leads" job ads; listings of conferences,
continuing-education courses, exhibitions, and other events from AL's
"Datebook"; and Tables of Contents for the current year.

Do you have a comment to make about anything appearing in American
Libraries? The editors encourage signed e-mail letters on recent content or
matters of general interest to the library profession in the Reader Forum
section. Send 250 words or less to americanlibraries[at]ala.org.
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9. Jeanette Kamman's Library for Orphans

"THE KAMMAN-DALE LIBRARY FOR ORPHANS, located in three adjacent houses on
St. Paul's west side, occupies the better part of 30 rooms, sundry
stairwells, various closets and cupboards, and two bathtubs. Although the
library was recognized in the 1977 edition of The Hill Directory of Library
and Informational Resources, it has received few visitors over the years,
and it has no formal lending policy, no cataloging system, no regular
hours, and intermittent electricity.

"The library's founder and sole custodian, a small and somewhat disheveled
St. Paul woman, has long been the subject of speculation and bemusement
among local book collectors. For the past half-century, the woman, who is
known variously as the Book-Bag Lady, the Book Bag-Lady, or simply the Book
Lady, has been materializing at local secondhand bookstores,
church-basement bazaars, sidewalk flea markets, estate sales, and
going-out-of-business liquidations. She has no demonstrated concern for the
value of the books she buys, and she shows no particular interest in
selling or trading them. Yet she unfailingly gathers dozens of volumes and
wobbles off beneath a cascading hillock of cast-off histories, out-of-date
textbooks, discarded high school yearbooks, and dog-eared paperbacks. As
best her fellow collectors can divine, the books are all destined for the
library, rumored to be a vast repository of genealogical information."

http://www.citypages.com/databank/22/1094/article9961.asp
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10. An easy way to help Hermenaut

Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 11:06:20 -0500
From: Joshua Glenn <josh[at]hermenaut.com>
To: josh[at]hermenaut.com

Hi -- Josh Glenn, from Hermenaut, here.

Most of my favorite magazines (online and off), including just about every
single one I've written for regularly, have gone bust recently. But
Hermenaut lives (although you may have suspected otherwise), by virtue of
the fact that we've perfected the trick of falling dormant between issues;
like a frog hibernating in the mud of a winter lake, we're safe from the
bad weather above the surface. So don't worry -- we'll be emerging to start
work on issue 17 this coming spring.

In the meantime, you can help us out. For the first time ever, we've been
nominated for an Alternative Press Award -- in the category, "General
Excellence: Zines." (There's no cash prize, but we'd still like to win...)
All you have to do is click on the link below, and then cast a vote or two
for Hermenaut. It will take a mere 30 seconds out of your day to do so, and
we'll be eternally grateful to you.

Thanks in advance!

http://www.utne.com/apa/2001/vote2001.tpl

Josh

*************
Hermenaut magazine:
http://www.hermenaut.com
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11. Cursor - http://www.cursor.org/

A progressive news magazine focusing on world
news and alternative media perspectives. Lots and
lots of links to opinion pieces by syndicated and
non-syndicated columnists and writers and to
periodicals, book reviews, television, and other
media resources.

From Librarians' Index to the Internet - http://lii.org
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12. Recent dispatches from Don Wood's IFACTION list

Stop the Presses
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11955

"In "America's New War" the first U.S. casualty may be the First
Amendment."

-------

Nixon would be proud of Bush's actions
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=15383

"One of the dangers of being in a time of national crisis such as the one
we are now experiencing is the possible abuse of power by the executive
branch of the government. Everyone, including the news media, is so wary of
appearing partisan that things can slip by either unnoticed or with little
fanfare."

-------

November 21, 2001

The Press and the USA Patriot Act

Where Were They When It Counted?

By Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair

The weekend before Thanksgiving, as the Taliban fled into the Hindu
Kush and America's children flocked to Harry Potter, the nation's
opinion formers discovered that the Bush administration had hijacked
the Constitution with the Patriot Act and the military tribunals.
Time magazine burst out that "war is hell on your civil liberties".
The New York Times suddenly began to run big news stories about John
Ashcroft as if he was running an off-the shelf operation,
clandestinely consummating all those dreams of Oliver North back in
Reagan time about suspending the Constitution.

http://www.counterpunch.org/presspatriot.html

-------

As Senate Convenes Hearings, ACLU Asks Congress To Protect Civil Liberties,
Balance of Powers
http://www.aclu.org/news/2001/n112801a.html

"As the Senate convened a series of oversight hearings into the
government's terrorism-related activities, the American Civil Liberties
Union today strongly urged Congress to act to ensure that the war against
terrorism not become a war against democracy."

-------

Whitney v. California
http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/1stcases.html#whitney

"Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the State
was to make men free to develop their faculties; and that in its government
the deliberative forces should prevail over the arbitrary. They valued
liberty both as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the
secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. They believed
that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means
indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without
free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them,
discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination
of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert
people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be
a fundamental principle of the American government."

-------

El Código de Ética de la Asociación de Bibliotecas de los Estados Unidos
http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/codigodeetica.html

"Como miembros de la Asociación de Bibliotecas de los Estados Unidos
(American Library Association--ALA), reconocemos la importancia de legislar
y dejar saber a la profesión y al público general los prinicipios éticos
que guian el trabajo de bibliotecarios y otros profesionales que proveen
servicios informativos, síndicos bibliotecarios, y el personal
bibliotecario."

-------

The war on journalism
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=15211

"At a time when public diplomacy abroad and public reassurance at home
should be a crucial component of the war on terrorism, U.S. government
officials are moving forcefully to restrict or compromise the primary agent
of both efforts * the American press."

-------

Nominations for the Index on Censorship annual FoEs -
Freedom of Expression Awards
http://www.indexonline.org/awards.shtml

"This year, Index on Censorship is opening thenomination process for its
prestigious annual Freedom of Expression (FoE) Awards to the public for the
first time. This is your chance to reward the people who have worked
hardest in fighting censorship, uncovering censored stories, and
circumventing barriers to freedom of expression."

-------

John Ashcroft's Relentless Assault on Civil Liberties
http://www.pfaw.org/issues/democracy/ashcroft/

"After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Americans have been forced to
examine and reconsider the balance between security and liberty. In a free
society, there is no fixed point on which that balance rests; public policy
requires a careful weighing of risks and a clear understanding of
principles that should guide decisions about tradeoffs that are made in
times of crisis, with a focus on preventing those tradeoffs from causing
long-term damage to our democratic principles and institutions."
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13. USA PATRIOT Act and Non-Profits

The "USA PATRIOT Act" (PL 107-56) could pose big problems for nonprofits,
especially those that advocate changes in US foreign policy or provide
social services to individuals that become targets of government
investigations. The central problem is a vague, overbroad definition of a
new crime, "domestic terrorism". (The attacks of September 11th are crimes
under pre-USA PATRIOT Act law, making this provision unnecessary.) In
addition, greatly expanded search and surveillance powers can be invoked
under a lowered threshold, requiring only that investigators assert that
information sought is relevant to a foreign intelligence investigation.

http://www.ombwatch.org/npadv/2001/usapatriot.html
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14. Stop the Presses

Alan Pittman, Eugene Weekly
November 21, 2001

In "America's New War" the first U.S. casualty may be the First
Amendment. The military, Bush administration propaganda and the
media itself have squelched news in the wake of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks. Asked at a press conference whether he would
lie to the media about the war, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
quoted Winston Churchill about disinformation around the D-Day
invasion. "Sometimes the truth is so precious it must be
accompanied by a bodyguard of lies." Rumsfeld is about the only
source the U.S. media has for covering the Afghan war. The
military has refused to allow journalists to accompany troops and
pilots fighting in Afghanistan or even interview them after their
missions.

"They plan to fight the war and then tell the press and the
public how it turned out afterwards," the Center for Public
Integrity (CPI) quoted CNN correspondent Jamie McIntyre. The
military spin is that pinpoint smart bombings will keep civilian
casualties to a minimum, international investigative reporter
Phillip Knightley wrote in a CPI commentary. "Bloody TV footage
or grim still photographs of civilian bomb victims would threaten
this most outrageous piece of propaganda, so an essential part of
the Western alliance's strategy has been not only to bomb in the
dark but, as far as possible, to keep the public in the dark as
well." John Barry, Newsweek's Pentagon reporter, told The New
York Times that the military is restricting coverage, that "might
not be consonant with their basic message that they're making
inexorable progress toward inevitable victory." The media
blackout is the culmination of a long
trend toward military censorship. After Vietnam, the military
blamed the media for turning public opinion against the war.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11955
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15. Michael Moore's New Book Isn't

Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 11:47:49 -0500
From: Ann Sparanese <sparanese[at]englewoodlibrary.org>
To: PLGNet-L List <PLGNet-L[at]listproc.sjsu.edu>,
"srrtac-l[at]ala.org" <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>

Michael Moore was the keynote speaker at the convention of NJ Citizen
Action which I attended this past Saturday. He told the assembled
audience of 100+ people that his publisher HarperCollins had informed
him that they will not be selling/distributing his new book "Stupid
White Men and Other Excuses for the State of the Nation" --already
printed -- because the content is offensive. He reported that the
publisher also told him that he (Moore) is being "intellectually
dishonest" not to state that GW Bush has done a good job in the last few
months. Moore said that he has been told that the book will NOT be
distributed as is, will be destroyed, and that if he will rewrite AND
pay for the repinting of the book Harpercollins will publish the new
version!!.

Moore said that, of course, he had no intention of doing so, and read
some of the offensive material (including an "open letter" to the
president) to the gathering. When asked by the audience what he would
like them to do about this censorship, Moore said to do nothing right
now -- that not only are his lawyers and other powers he has to bring to
bear are doing their thing, but that he feels that there are more
important things for people to be protesting and working on in this new
period that getting his book out of limbo. (In six months, the copyright
and the ability to publish reverts back to him.) He said he is not
intending to "go public" (in the sense of an organized public campaign
-- obviously he went "public" at this convention) beause he doesn't want
to deflect from the other, more important work people have to do.

"Stupid white Men..." was supposed to come out a month or two ago, but
first the book tour was canceled-- with Moore's concurrence because he
also didn't feel like going around selling books right after Sept. 11 --
but the other shoe fell, just the other night, when HC gave him this
news.

I didn't get an opportunity to speak to Moore afterward, but from all
that he said, this is NOT a question of the CIA or the government
demanding that a publisher stop publication for national security or
some other well-known reason. The publisher just decided to walk away
from the money -- the books ALREADY printed and sitting in a warehouse
-- because of the current war-inspired, anti-dissent atmosphere. Even
satire is biting the dust, by the publisher's own hand.

I understand Moore's position that with Ashcroft and the others running
amok with military tribunals, new survellance plans, detentions, etc.,
the censorship by HarperCollins of his book is the least of the trouble
we are in. Maybe he and his band of lawyers will succeed. But as
librarians, it seems we are obligated to follow this up, find out some
more, and make a response.

And if you ordered "Stupid White Men..." prepub for your library, well,
don't hold your breath.

Ann Sparanese
Head of Adult & Young Adult Services
Englewood Public Library
Englewood, NJ 07631
sparanese[at]englewoodlibrary.org

..........................................................................

[SRRTAC-L:7241] Bowdlerizing Alone
Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 17:45:20 -0500
From: "Carol Reid" <creid[at]MAIL.NYSED.GOV>
To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>
Reply to: srrtac-l[at]ala.org

Hey, boys and girls, this would appear to be the film to look for, if
you enjoy looking for films in vain... Anybody who can manage to write a
book that gets banned by its own publisher is probably the right man for
the job of making a movie that will never get shown...

Freedom of speech?? As Bill Maher put it: "That's so Sept. 10!"

Carol

Bowling For Columbine

A critical documentary about firearms abuse in America. Every day people
live in fear of new assassins running amok. Bowling For Columbine peers
behind the scenes in the United States and questions the precarious views
of politicians, the arms industry, and the firearms lobby.

Director: Michael Moore
Writer: Michael Moore
Co-Production partners: Vif 2.KG, United Broadcasting, Young Guns Inc.
Executive Producer: Wolfram Tichy, Michael Donovan
Producer: David Hamilton, Charles Bishop, Michael Moore
Languages: English
Genre: Documentary
Status: in postproduction
Format: 35 mm
Global distributor: Salter Street International, Halifax
Credits not contractual
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16. Bibliography for Tom Eland's "Necessary Illusions" course

Re: Library Juice 4:31
Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2001 08:40:34 -0500
From: "Thomas Eland" <elandth[at]mctc.mnscu.edu>
To: <Rory[at]libr.org>

Rory,

Thanks for including the progressive librarian reading list in Library
Juice (http://libr.org/Juice/issues/vol4/LJ_4.31.html#6 ). I have a
bibliography for my "Necessary Illusions: A Critical Introduction to the
Information Age" course that you may be interested in seeing. The books go
beyond the field of library science but cover media and communication
studies, the alternative press, zines, etc. Progressive librarians may be
interested in the titles if they have not already read them. The page can
be found at:

http://www.mctc.mnscu.edu/library/courses/ifs2000/Bib2000.pdf

If librarians what to see what can be done in the area of teaching they can
take a look at the full course page at:

http://www.mctc.mnscu.edu/library/courses/infs2000/infs2000.htm

I am working on a new course that I will begin offering this spring
entitled, "Alternative Knowledge: How Radical Ideas are Communicated in
Society." I mention these not in an attempt to promote my courses, but to
promote the idea that librarians can and should become more involved in
teaching. My colleages

By the way, there are only 20 libraries in all of OCLC that own the Brian
Martin book, "Information Liberation." We were the first library to have it
and did the original cataloging (we ordered 3 copies and they have gone out
on ILL numerous times). We require our students to read the "Politics of
Research" chapter for our Information Literacy & Research Skills course,
which is a graduation requirement. We emphasize the alternative press and
take a critical view of the information age in the class and we get very
good feedback from our students. The Martin book provides a great example
of the limitations of most library collection development practices. So
does the fact that most libraries do not subscribe to Counterpoise. I am
constantly amazed at how many collection development librarians have never
heard of Counterpoise even though it has been published now for 4 years.

Tom Eland, Librarian/Instructor
Minneapolis Community & Technical College
1501 Hennepin Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55403
http://www.mctc.mnscu.edu/library/
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17. Request for Library Juice reader feedback

Do you like Library Juice the way it is or would you like to see it change
(be it in a small or a big way)? Is there anything that irritates you
about Library Juice? (Maybe it's good if you are occassionally irritated.)
Is there anything that bores you? What do you find more useful? Less
useful? Does anything in Library Juice make you want to kill me? Does
anything in Library Juice make you want to make love to me? Does anything
in Library Juice make you shiver? Does it make you feel ill? Do you skim
through it in two minutes flat or do actually read a whole half of it?
Which parts do you skim and which parts do you read? Which parts do you
forward to colleagues?

I may or may not change anything based on your answers, but I would like to
get a sense of how I am connecting with readers or not connecting.

You can write me at Rory[at]libr.org

Thanks.
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