Library Juice 5:24 - July 11, 2002

Contents:

  1. New on libr.org
  2. Alternative to What?
  3. Budgets in the Red (PUBLIB thread)
  4. ALA Resolution on Palestine
  5. Washington (state) Library Ass'n SRRT web page
  6. Housmans Bookshop Libel Case
  7. Freedominfo.org
  8. Dr. Arnulfo Trejo (obit)
  9. From the Weblogs and elsewhere
  10. Christian Socialist Librarian?


Quote for the week: "When action grows unprofitable, gather information;
when information grows unprofitable, sleep."
- Ursula K. LeGuin


Homepages of the week: Claire McGuire
http://scils.rutgers.edu/~mcguire/

________________________________________________________________________top


1. New on libr.org

The Progressive Librarians Guild has a redesigned website, available at
the standard location: http://libr.org/PLG/. Thanks go to Lincoln
Cushing for the very attractive redesign.

The GATS and Libraries website at http://libr.org/GATS/ has five new items,
including three links to new articles by Ruth Rikowski that you probably
won't find otherwise and two items stored locally: a new article by Fiona
Hunt and a "fact sheet" distributed by the ALA Washington Office in advance
of the Annual Conference.
________________________________________________________________________top


2. Alternative to What?

Chris Dodge, 1998

Originally published in MSRRT Newsletter

Some words and phrases are so overused that hearing or reading them short
circuits the critical thinking process. Obfuscating political arguments,
they are also abused by profiteers who name products after concepts like
freedom. Take "anarchism," "reform," "family values," "weapons of mass
destruction" and "censorship," to name a few. These terms are typically
glossed over quickly by readers or produce in listeners a dull reaction,
for or against, with no shades of gray, based upon previous conceptions.
The word "alternative" itself has been appropriated. Marketers tout
"alternative rock" which is now thoroughly mainstream, while the word
"zine" appears on publications issued by companies hawking records and
skateboarding gear. It is worth the effort to pay attention and ferret out
this rhetoric, to question the meaning of shape-shifting terms. It is
equally important to employ words more precisely ourselves, with genuine
thought and care. These things articulated, just what does the phrase
"alternative media" mean? Alternative to what?

Alternative means real choice is involved: options, diversity. How much
choice is there between Time and Newsweek? With nearly identical weekly
covers (Diana vs. Diana, Monica vs. Monica, ad nauseum), they might as well
be called Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Beholden to corporate parents and
advertisers, editorial content is not paramount. Their chief purpose is
selling products and making money. Controversy is good to the extent that
it is profitable. The same can be said about validity, coherence, and
meaning. Mass media assuages even as it panders. Alternative periodicals
are different, whether nonprofit or explicitly anticapitalist. They are
unlikely to place a dead president's son's wife on their covers, unless in
parody. Their impetus springs from passions and obsessions, the desire to
champion causes and educate, the opportunity to propagandize or even
antagonize.

"Public" radio and television are part of the mainstream. To call them
noncommercial is a farce since the influence of underwriters like Mobil and
Archer Daniels Midland is obvious. Why did NPR pull radio commentaries by
Mumia Abu-Jamal at the last minute in 1994? How come PBS turned down an
award-winning video citing "pro-labor bias" recently, but had no problem
airing an apologetic for the nuclear industry? Truly alternative media are
independent, sometimes even radical and countercultural.

It's nothing new that violence and sex (within limits) are used to sell
books and newspapers. Glossy "zines" which pimp themselves
similarly--Popsmear comes to mind--are eminently mainstream in this sense.
Some topics are still taboo, however. Books explicitly making a connection
between U.S. economic policy and civil wars worldwide will not be published
by Warner any time soon. Nor will Simon & Schuster issue handbooks on
cultivating marijuana, guides to safer anal sex, profiles of North American
political prisoners, manuals for union organizers, or works documenting
Indian sovereignty struggles. Alternative publishers issue all this and
more.

The mainstream press is unidirectionally consumer-oriented, rarely
participatory. How often have you seen a contact address or phone number
given in an article from a daily paper? There the bow to democracy is a
letters-to-the-editor column (from which a select few entries are chosen
and then edited to death) and perhaps a reader's ombud. Contrarily,
non-mainstream media promote not simply dialogue but a veritable
do-it-yourself ethic. Many alternative magazines run letters unedited and
some print all they receive.

Finally, the mass media are just that: massive. Mainstream publishers
issue millions of copies of their titles, many of which are returned from
bookstores, remaindered, and trashed. Increasingly, corporate conglomerates
such as Time's parent Time-Warner have swallowed up formerly independent
publishers. Books are only a small part of their overall empire which
includes retail stores, film and television production, and professional
sports teams. Once autonomous companies like Scribner, Viking, Pantheon,
Prentice Hall, Dutton, and Crown are now divisions within larger entities.
Former small publishers like Mysterious Press live on in name only as
imprints within these divisions. The world's third largest media and
entertainment conglomerate Bertelsmann, which already owns Bantam Doubleday
Dell (itself an empire) has announced its purchase of Random House. (If you
are keeping score, Random House includes such imprints as Knopf, Crown,
Pantheon, Villard, and Ballantine.) Stop! Alternative presses are small in
scale, if not downright minuscule. Just ask zine editors and pamphleteers
whose print runs of hundreds of copies are all they can handle.

In his book A kind and just parent: the children of juvenile court
(Beacon, 1997), William Ayers offers a good example of what alternative
media counter. "Recently I spent some time with my active
ninety-two-year-old father-in-law in a retirement community," Ayers writes.
"One of his daily routines is watching the five o'clock news, and so we
watched and commented together, day after day. There was, of course, sports
(a gamble), stocks (speculation), and weather (out of control). But mostly
what we saw was that the five o'clock news tells a single story over and
over on what seems like a continuous feed. The story is this: you have a
chance of falling victim to a random act of violence, wreckage or mayhem,
or, conversely, (and this is a much smaller story), you might win the
lottery. We counted up the stories: one evening a murder, a huge warehouse
fire, a bank robbery with hostages; the next evening two murders, a gas
explosion and a rape. And on and on. Nothing that we saw on the news was
the result of human effort or agency or sustained hard work or commitment
or thoughtful analysis or efficacy; everything was accident, fate, fortune.
The message conveyed by all this speaks to something deep in the modern
predicament: the sensation of incapacity and alienation, the awful feeling
of impotence, the suspicion that a desolate, frightening landscape lies
just outside, the impression that nothing you do matters or means anything
or could possibly make a palpable difference." For those who haven't bought
this message, alternative media offers options, avenues of hope, and
opportunities for change.

"Half the earth just moved. The landscape is irrevocably altered, I don't
think there's any precedent for something of this size. It will have book
clubs, mass-market paperbacks, multiple hardcover lines. It's everywhere,
with five varieties of everything. Who knows what to think? It's just so
gigantic." [Independent publisher Juris Jurjevics on the sale of Random
House to German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, reported in Washington
Post, March 24]
________________________________________________________________________top


3. Budgets in the Red (PUBLIB thread)

[PUBLIB] budgets in the red
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 17:27:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Thomas J. Hennen Jr." <thennen[at]haplr-index.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: thennen[at]haplr-index.com

Greetings,

Writing about "Hard Times in Denver, Too" Karen Schneider responded to Blake
Carver's comments that not all the library news is bad. You asked if you
are wrong that there is a crisis. I believe that you are very right, Karen,
though I doubt that Blake meant totally minimize their real problems around
the country.

Karen added that she understands that I am writing an article on the
national library budget crisis. That is indeed the case, and I hope to see
it published in October. Libraries got through the Great Depression and
various Wars, we will probably survive this crisis too, but it is
disturbing.

I find solace in the ALA report that Two new national studies show that
Americans are using their libraries more than ever, and 91 percent of adults
believe public libraries will play an important role in the future, despite
all of the information available on the Internet, but it is still troubling
to have mayors and other elected officials tell me that there is no need for
us now that the Internet does it all...

See http://www.ala.org/news/v8n5/studies.html

Karen, you added that you my CIPA ballad, "I Dreamt the Death of Free Speech
Now."

So, with all due apologies to Dylan:

Budgets in the red

How many books can we fail to buy
Before we can call it a theft?

Yes, 'n how many staff can we just let go
Before there are no answers left?

Yes 'n how often can the censors strike
Before seekers are bereft?

The answer, my friend, is budgets in the red
We must answer to budgets in the red.

Datcalmguy

Thomas J. Hennen Jr.
thennen[at]haplr-index.com
http://www.haplr-index.com
Voice: 262-886-1625
Fax: 262-886-5424
6014 Spring Street
Racine, WI 53406

"Share knowledge, seek wisdom."

---------------------------------------

[PUBLIB] Re: Hard Times in Denver, Too
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 13:57:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Blake Carver" <lists[at]lisnews.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: lists[at]lisnews.com

Bah Humbug.

I'm not sure how many stories I read everyday, but on any given day I'd say
I see more than a few dozen library oriented stories. Most times I don't
post them to LISNews, and we don't read them on PUBL'eye'B because they are
of local interest, but this sad story reminded me that the bad news gets
more press than the good. For every story on cutbacks, layoffs and even
closings, there is another covering a new library, a new program to increase
funding or some other good news.

Just hit any news search engine, and do a search on library, libraries, or
maybe librarian. Read a few of the good ones, and let them sink in, and pass
them on for everyone to see. "We" {librarians} get more good stories than
bad, and I think over all we're doing ok.

This one from the USAToday probably got the widest circultion:

http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020620/4208527s.htm

"The American Library Association checked out of its annual convention in
Atlanta on Wednesday, after hushing critics who predicted the Internet would
make libraries irrelevant. The evidence: near-record levels of spending on
library construction and surges in visitors amid the economic downturn. More
than $686 million was spent last year to build 80 libraries and renovate 132
others, a 15% rise in spending over a decade ago"

-----------------------------
Blake Carver
LISNews.com
Librarian and Information Science News
http://www.lisnews.com

---------------------------------------

[PUBLIB] RE: Hard Times in Denver, Too
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 14:01:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Karen G. Schneider" <kgs[at]bluehighways.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: kgs[at]bluehighways.com

Blake, as one library jernlist to another, I totally agree there is much
good news out there, and we should certainly share it with one another.
However, I saw this post as list-worthy because:

I would very much like a Smile To Be My Umbrella, but for right now many
of us will settle for cold cash. All the good will in the world won't
keep library doors open without it.

If I'm wrong about the national funding crisis in our libraries,
somebody, please correct me.

----------------------------------------------
Karen G. Schneider kgs[at]lii.org http://lii.org
Coordinator, Librarians' Index to the Internet 

lii.org  New This Week:     http://lii.org/ntw
      lii.org:Information  You Can Trust!

----------------------------------------------

[PUBLIB] Re: Hard Times in Denver, Too
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 14:13:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Sue Kamm <suekamm[at]mindspring.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: suekamm[at]mindspring.com

Where have all the flowers gone?

It is PAST time that library administrators started thinking about other
solutions to lack of funding, partiticularly libraries financed by a
broader juristiction -- city, town, or county.

Rather than following what Dever City Librarian Rick Ashton says ("Our
guiding principle in reducing staff is to make the reduction in such a
way as to have the least impact on services to the public."), we should
reduce staff at points where there will be the MOST impact on services
to the public. If we cut back on shelvers (in our library, they're
designated as "aides;" other libraries may call them "messenger clerks"
or "pages"), and books aren't reshelved promptly, the public will
notice. If administators reduce the number of hours the library is open
because clerical support staff has been laid off, the public will
notice. If the library cannot catalog new books (such as best-sellers),
or offer telephone reference because librarians have been laid off, the
public will notice. If there is litter on the floor and overflowing
trash baskets in public areas because custodial staff has been laid off,
the public will notice. If computers crash and can't be brought online
again because the library couldn't renew the maintenance contract and/or
the techies have been laid off, people will notice.

Librarians have been nice people for too long. We offer what passes for
service just to keep doors open and please the public. Even those
jurisdictions where librarians and other library staff are organized
into unions, people are afraid to take job actions (a case of "blue flu"
on Benjamin Franklin's birthday, for example). WE need to demonstrate
graphically how budget cuts affect our services. Wimpy statements that
a library's layoffs won't have an impact on service are not the answer.

--
Your friendly CyberGoddess and ALA Councilor-at-Large,
Sue Kamm
Truest of the Blue, Los Angeles Dodgers Think Blue Week 2000
email: suekamm[at]mindspring.com
Visit my web page: http://suekamm.home.mindspring.com/index.htm
"Fernando Valenzuela has pitched a no-hitter. . . . If you have a
sombrero, throw it to the sky."
-- Vin Scully, June 29, 1990

---------------------------------------

[PUBLIB] Re: Hard Times in Denver, Too
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 16:37:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Jerry Kuntz" <jkuntz[at]ansernet.rcls.org>
To: Multiple recipients of list <publib[at]sunsite.berkeley.edu>
Reply to: jkuntz[at]ansernet.rcls.org

I think the best way we could prevent more stories like this is to make it
a priority of the profession to support new, current independent research
studies proving the link between local economic downturns and higher local
library use. I've heard anecdotally that there was once such study in the
1970s, but haven't heard of anything since.
________________________________________________________________________top


4. ALA Resolution on Palestine

Resolution on the Destruction of Palestinian Libraries, Archives, and
Other Cultural Institutions

Adopted by the Council of the American Library Association, June 19, 2002

WHEREAS, In the course of recent events in the Middle East, Palestinian
computers, photocopiers, books, audio recordings, video recordings, data,
institutional archives and records, and objects of historical, cultural,
and artistic importance were destroyed; and

WHEREAS, The destruction of these cultural resources represents a significant
loss for the Palestinian people and the world; and

WHEREAS, Palestinian libraries and cultural institutions are urgently in
need of restoration and assistance; and

WHEREAS, The American Library Association deplores the destruction of
library and cultural resources anywhere in the world; and, therefore the
destruction of these library and cultural resources; and

WHEREAS, IFLA met in Jerusalem in 2000 and met with Palestinian librarians
and established a working relationship of cooperation; and, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the American Library Association calls upon the government
of the United States, as well as other governments, intergovernmental
organizations and non-governmental organizations to prevent further
destruction of libraries and cultural resources and to provide material
assistance for the reconstruction and restoration of these resources; and,
be it further

RESOLVED, That the American Library Association take leadership in
recommending that IFLA establish a study group on Palestinian libraries
and cultural institutions, and establish a mechanism for providing assistance
to Palestinian libraries and cultural institutions; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the International Relations Committee of the American Library
Association is hereby charged with implementing this resolution.

----------

Note:

This resolution was introduced by ALA's International Relations
Committee, not by the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT). A
member of SRRT, Tom Twiss, wrote the original, stronger version of this
resolution and introduced it at a membership meeting (which had no quorum),
as well as bringing it to SRRT Action Council for adoption. SRRT did
adopt as its own Tom's stronger resolution, which had the significant
difference of mentioning the State of Israel in the "resolved" clauses.
The resolution introduced by the ALA International Relations Committee is
an only slightly watered-down version of Tom's resolution, which in my
opinion changes it very little.

I have to admit to being very surprised that ALA Council passed this
resolution, given the highly-charged atmosphere around the discussion of
the war in Israel/Palestine, though I am happy that it did and believe it
was a meaningful and important action.

Already ALA is taking heat from "Jewish Groups" (the quotation marks are
intended to highlight the questionable implication that these groups
represent all Jews) who consider it "anti-semitic." I could go on at length
about this, but I will just say that as a Jew, I do not understand serious
criticism of the State of Israel or Zionism to be anti-Jewish in any way,
and I do not understand why "sensitivity toward Jews" should serve to excuse
the actions of a militarized nation state.

To read Tom Twiss's original version of this resolution, as endorsed by SRRT,
and to read supporting documentation, please go to
http://www.pitt.edu/~ttwiss/irtf/palestinianlibs.html

For an example of the kind of response we are getting from "Jewish Groups,"
take a look at this article from the "Jewish Telegraphic News Service":
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=11526&intcategoryid=4
________________________________________________________________________top


5. Washington (state) Library Ass'n SRRT web page

Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2002 13:04:53 -0700
From: Scott Condon <SCondon[at]ci.everett.wa.us>
To: plgnet-l[at]listproc.sjsu.edu
Reply to: SCondon[at]ci.everett.wa.us

The Social Responsibilities Round Table of the Washington Library
Association now has a web page.

In addition to a main page with WLA SRRT activities, membership information,
and links to hot topics, please also click on the "Libraries, Information,
and Social Responsibility" link to get to an annotated page of Internet
resources. I know PLG members are responsible for the contents and/or
access to some of the resources included here, and many other resources were
brought to my attention via the posts to this list over the last couple
years, so thanks to you all.

I have promoted this page to the general WLA membership in hopes of getting
more library workers aware of or involved in addressing some of the many
challenging issues facing libraries today.

Anyway, I hope you find this site to be useful.

http://www.wla.org/srrt

Scott Condon
WLA SRRT webmaster
srrt[at]wla.org
________________________________________________________________________top


6. Housmans Bookshop Libel Case

BOOKSHOP LIBEL FUND
c/o Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1
9DX
(tel 020-7278 4474);
c/o Bookmarks Bookshop, 1 Bloomsbury Street, London
WC1B 3QE
(tel 020-7637 1848).

PRESS RELEASE - Wednesday 3 July

£14 DERISORY DAMAGES IN FIRST OF BOOKSHOP LIBEL CASES

MORAL VICTORY - LEGAL IMPASSE - FINANCIAL PREDICAMENT

A High Court verdict on Tuesday 2 July could be a short-term
deterrent to right-wingers using libel writs to attack small radical
bookshops; but it still leaves two of London's last such shops with
potentially crippling legal bills, and it exposes a major gap in
defamation law which needs plugging.

The two-day High Court case was the culmination of an action brought
nearly 2 years ago against Housmans Bookshop* in Kings Cross, London,
by someone currently using the name Alexander Baron. The right-wing
anti-gay litigant had been referred to as a plagiarist in one
sentence in a 136-page pamphlet stocked in the shop. He had chosen
to sue only the shop, not the author or publisher concerned, because
of his distaste for the sort of material made available in radical
bookshops.

Although he had at one stage demanded that the shop pay him £50,000
to drop the case, the jury awarded him just £14. Because he had
already rejected a settlement offer higher than that, he was also
ordered to pay most of the shop's legal costs; however, there is no
expectation that he has the resources to do so.

Despite the jury's apparent sympathy with the defendants, they
clearly felt virtually compelled by the judge's legal rulings to
find against the shop. Following this test case - the first occasion
on which a bookshop has tried to use the "innocent dissemination"
defence introduced in the 1996 Defamation Act - it seems that if
anyone suggests to a shop or library that an item on their shelves
is defamatory, and they fail to remove it immediately, then they
cannot use this defence in any proceedings later brought against
them, irrespective of whether it was reasonable to take the
suggestion seriously.

This action against Housmans was one of a series, dating back to
1996, brought against Housmans, Bookmarks (also in London) and
others by people criticised in anti-fascist magazines. This was the
first to end up in court, but one of the earlier cases - against
Bookmarks and Housmans, and involving the magazine Searchlight - is
still extant. It is due in court this autumn unless a settlement is
reached first - either course is legally costly.

The Bookshop Libel Fund is calling for urgent financial support for
the shops to cover their costs in these cases, and for a change in
the law to stop bookshops being targeted in this way.

See the appended earlier release for the background to these cases.

http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/releases/msc290602.html

===================================

BOOKSHOP LIBEL FUND
c/o Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1
9DX (tel
020-7278 4474);
c/o Bookmarks Bookshop, 1 Bloomsbury Street, London
WC1B 3QE (tel
020-7637 1848).

PRESS RELEASE for immediate release June 2002

Bookshops fight libel threat - defence campaign relaunched

Six years down the line, two small independent bookshops are still
facing a potentially ruinous libel case for stocking the respected
anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. The case was brought by someone
criticised in Searchlight.

The shops involved in this continuing case are Housmans, at Kings
Cross in London, linked to the 65-year-old pacifist paper Peace
News; and Bookmarks, also in London, a socialist bookshop
established for 30 years and the appointed bookseller for
the TUC.

"Astoundingly, British law allows anyone who claims they have been
libelled to sue a shop, distributor or library handling the
allegedly libellous publication, as well as or instead of suing the
author, editor and publisher," said Albert Beale of Housmans.

This case has still not reached a conclusion although it relates to
an article in a 1993 issue of Searchlight and the case was first
brought in 1996. This action is one of several initiated then by
people criticised in Searchlight, in what could be seen as
politically motivated attacks on progressive bookshops.

Housmans and Bookmarks have been fighting the case with a defence of
"innocent dissemination", in effect arguing that it is impossible
for bookshops, particularly small independents, to check - and take
responsibility for - the content of the thousands of publications in
stock at any one time. The shops feel that it is important to try to
take a stand, otherwise there might be no end to this sort of "legal
intimidation".

The shops are facing a new round of legal bills as the case moves
towards a conclusion, and so are relaunching the appeal fund for
this important case.

One of the shops - Housmans - has recently been targeted with a
further libel writ from one of the group who sued over Searchlight.
This case, relating to criticism in another publication, similarly
threatens the free circulation of radical material.

"At a time when Le Pen has come second in the French presidential
elections, and the BNP has won three council seats in Britain, it is
more important than ever that independent bookshops are free to
stock anti-fascist and anti-racist literature without fear of legal
proceedings," said Judith Orr, Bookmarks manager.

For further details, contact Judith Orr from Bookmarks, 020-7637
1848 or judith[at]bookmarks.uk.com; or contact Albert Beale from
Housmans, 020-7278 4474.

Donations can be made to "Bookshop Libel Fund", c/o Bookmarks or
Housmans, addresses above.

NOTES:

The long-running case involving the two bookshops is the last
remaining of several libel actions which all date from the same era;
the cases were all initiated by a related group of people who had
been criticised in Searchlight.

The case is finally set down to come to court later this year,
unless a settlement is reached first. Either course will run up
significant legal costs.

The vagaries of British libel law give an opportunity for
politically-motivated litigants to seriously threaten the existence
of progressive bookshops, as a by-product of the litigants'
(well-founded or otherwise) complaints against publications which
have criticised them.

The Bookshop Libel Fund was originally set up in 1996 to support
small shops caught up in cases like this one - the related cases at
that time included action against other bookshops too. The fund has
had enough left, after the initial appeal, to cover the trickle of
continuing legal costs in this unresolved case - until now.

Even if any award of damages against a minor defendant like a
bookshop was minimal - or indeed even if the libel accusation was
thrown out altogether - the legal costs could still be sufficient to
bankrupt a struggling, non-commercial bookshop. (There is no
expectation that a person bringing such a case would be able to pay
the defendants' costs if their action failed; anyone launching such
an action doesn't have to first show that they could pay the defence
costs if they lost.)

With the current cases expected to come to a head very soon, support
is urgently needed now to replenish the Bookshop Libel Fund and
ensure that small progressive bookshops can survive assaults like
this.

Founding sponsors of the Bookshop Libel Fund appeal included:

John Monks, General Secretary TUC
Roger Bolton, General Secretary BECTU
George Brumwell, General Secretary UCATT
Ken Cameron
Tony Dubbins, General Secretary GPMU
John Edmonds, General Secretary GMB
Roger Lyons, General Secretary MSF
Bill Morris, General Secretary TGWU
Arthur Scargill, General Secretary NUM
Diane Abbott MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Peter Hain MP
Alice Mahon MP
Dennis MacShane MP
Chris Smith MP
Glyn Ford MEP
Tony Benn
Hugh Kerr
Prof Steven Rose
Steve Bell
Prof Alex Callinicos
Francis D'Souza
Tim Gopsill
Paul Foot
Jeremy Hardy
Prof Christopher Hill
Miriam Karlin
Bruce Kent
Ken Loach
Michael Mansfield QC
Seamus Milne
Harold Pinter
Iain Banks
Michael Rosen
Prof Brian Manning

Other supporters included the Booksellers Association as well as
many local branches of Unison, Aslef, GMB, MSF, NUJ, NUT, and the
T&G, regional TUCs, local Labour Parties, peace groups and
bookshops, plus hundreds of other individuals.
________________________________________________________________________top


7. Freedominfo.org

http://www.freedominfo.org

Washington, D.C., 2 July 2002 - freedominfo.org, a new
website that describes best practices, consolidates lessons
learned, explains campaign strategies and tactics, and links
the efforts of freedom of information advocates around the
world, is now online.

Intended to be a one-stop portal that links freedom of
information movements as they struggle for greater
openness, freedominfo.org's first release features a global
survey of access to information in 45 countries.

The survey, by David Banisar of Privacy International,
summarizes freedom of information laws in each country and
provides links to the text of these laws and other relevant
sites.

Beginning this month, freedominfo.org will also feature a
regular column called IFTI Watch, which will monitor the
transparency (or opacity, as the case may be) of international
financial and trade institutions. In his first column,
Washington, D.C.-based journalist Toby McIntosh reports on
an experiment in openness that the World Bank is planning
and new disclosure policies that will allow speedier
public access to documents of the World Trade Organization.

freedominfo.org also contains reports and analyses as well
as links to other freedom of information sites around the
world.

In the last decade, 26 countries enacted formal statutes
guaranteeing their citizens' right of access to government
information. Elsewhere, even without legal guarantees,
citizens are asserting their right to know. Throughout the
world, freedom-of-information movements are
changing the definition of democratic governance.

This site hopes to build a virtual network in which citizens'
groups can tap legal experts and veteran campaigners. It will
provide information on how freedom of information laws can
be implemented and analyses of how various legal provisions
have worked in practice.

The National Security Archive, based in George Washington
University in Washington, D.C., acts as the secretariat of the
freedominfo.org.

Follow the link below to view the new Web site:

http://www.freedominfo.org
________________________________________________________________________top


8. Dr. Arnulfo Trejo (obit)

Date: Mon, 08 Jul 2002 15:06:13 -0500
From: "Elizabeth Dreazen" <edreazen[at]ala.org>
To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org>
Reply to: edreazen[at]ala.org

It is with deep sadness that I forward the following announcement.
*****
Dr. Arnulfo Trejo, REFORMA founder, died peacefully this
Friday night, July 5, 2002, at home.

Dr. Arnulfo Trejo was a library leader of great importance and impact
on the profession, not only as founder and mentor in REFORMA, but to
many others of us as well. He served in many capacities in the American
Library Association, including on ALA's Council. He was elected to
Honorary Membership in the ALA, the Association's highest honor, in
2001, and his words at that event still have people's spirits raised.

The announcement of the ALA recognition from last year can be found at:
http://www.ala.org/news/v7n3/honorary_member.html

Visitation will be held Tuesday, July 9, 2002 from
4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at CARRILLO'S TUCSON MORTUARY,
(South Chapel), 240 S. Stone Ave., Tucson, AZ) with a Rosary
recited at 7:00 p.m.

Mass will be offered on Wednesday, July 10, 2002,
10:30 a.m. at St. Augustine's Cathedral, 192 S. Stone
Ave. Tuscon.

The family suggests that donations be made to St.
Augustine's Maintenance Fund or to the Trejo Foster
Foundation for Hispanic Library Education, 240 E. Yvon
Drive, Tucson, Arizona 85704.

------------------


Dear Colleagues,

I extend my condolences to all members of REFORMA and to Latino
librarians everywhere on the passing of Dr. Arnulfo Trejo.

I am pleased that ALA recognized Dr. Trejo with Honorary Membership,
ALA's highest award, while he was still alive.

I had the honor to meet Dr. Trejo, and also to sit on the dais when he
was presented with his Honorary Membership in ALA. The lengthy ovation
he received undoubtedly was only a token of the esteem he enjoyed for
his career-long accomplishments, mentorships, friendships, and the
innumerable people he encouraged and helped in their careers. The entire
profession continues to benefit from his work to establish GLISA at
Arizona, which was the well-spring for so many Latino Librarians in
leadership positions today.

To his wife, Ninfa Trejo, ALA and REFORMA member and Librarian at the
University of Arizona, I extend my deepest condolences and the respect
of the entire ALA family for your work with Dr. Trejo to sustain the
Trejo Foster Foundation for Hispanic Library Education. You have helped
to enhance the future for all of us.

mitch
Maurice J. Freedman
President of the American Library Association
Member of REFORMA
--
Mitch
Maurice J. Freedman, MLS, PhD
ALA President
http://www.mjfreedman.org
Director, Westchester (NY) Library System
410 Saw Mill River Road - Suite 1000
Ardsley, NY 10502-2605
Voice [NOTE: New Phone Number] (914) 231-3223; fax: (914) 674-4193
freedman[at]wlsmail.org
www.westchesterlibraries.org
For all matters concerning the U*N*A*B*A*S*H*E*D Librarian,
editor[at]unabashedlibrarian.com
*******************************************************************
"I'll be seeing you, in all the old familiar places..."
________________________________________________________________________top


9. From the Weblogs and elsewhere

You Don't Look Like a Librarian!
Librarian's views of public perception in the Internet age
Ruth A. Kneale, Special Library Association, June 2002
http://atst.nso.edu/library/perception/
(link found all over)

-----

Userlib.info - Hacker Librarian Haven
http://usrlib.info/
(LISNews)

-----

The Drama Within - Photographer Dianne Asseo Griliches' documentation
of libraries and library culture
http://www.lib.uconn.edu/Exhibits/diane/dinefpg.htm
(NewBreedLibrarian)

-----

Tollbooths of the Mind
Christian Science Monitor, 6/27/02
About copyright and the information commons
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0627/p09s02-coop.html
(Center for Arts and Culture Update)

-----

"The Medium is Not the Literacy," by Jamie McKenzie, in From Now On
Says that Digital Literacy is Information Literacy w/ new tools
http://fno.org/jun02/digitallit.html
(Center for Arts and Culture Update)

-----

Memo To: Media Monopolists - Fast Company, 07/02
Funny stuff, relating the intellectual property and new media
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/60/monopolist.html
(Center for Arts and Culture Update)

-----

'Superarchives' Could Hold All Scholarly Output
Chronicle of Higher Education, 07/05/02
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i43/43a02901.htm
(Center for Arts and Culture Update)

-----

Howard Besser's pics from ALA Atlanta 2002
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~howard/Personal/Trips/ALA02/
(Howard)

-----

Do Libraries Really Need Books?
Controversial projects at some colleges move the printed word out of sight
By SCOTT CARLSON
Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i44/44a03101.htm
(Various emails)

-----

Nat Hentoff
God Is Not in the Constitution
by Nat Hentoff, Village Voice
The Government Cannot Endorse Any or All Religions
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0227/hentoff.php

-----

Infoshops in the USA
A web document, Danny de Vries, 6/12/01
Internationalist Bookstore and Community Center, Chapel Hill, NC

http://www.unc.edu/~devries/internationalist/infoshops.html

[Editor's note: Infoshops are glamorous and everything, but it bothers me
the way some librarians treat them as "alternative libraries," in favor of
which they can neglect libraries-as-libraries, which need their alternative
ideas....]

-----

F.B. Liberry Awaress (cartoon)
http://www.danzigercartoons.com/cmp/2002/danziger1363.html
(Robert Lanxon)

-----

Librarians' Book Club
http://culaw2.creighton.edu/library/lbc/
(Troy Johnson)

-----

The Dismissal Of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the
American Library
http://www.bartlesville.org/html/ruthbrown.html
(Don Wood)

See also Zoia Horn's review of Louise Robbins' biography with the same title,
at http://libr.org/PL/
http://libr.org/PL/18_Horn.html

-----

The Patriot Act: Last Refuge of a Scoundrel
In American Libraries Online
http://www.ala.org/alonline/netlib/il302.html
(Don Wood)

________________________________________________________________________top


10. Christian Socialist Librarian?

Library Juice readers: I am seeking a Christian Socialist or other leftist
Christian for a consultation and possible project. Please get back to me at
rory[at]libr.org.
________________________________________________________________________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 1821 'O' St. Apt. 9, Sacramento, CA 95814,
| or, alternatively, you may use PayPal, by going to:
| https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=rlitwin%40earthlink.net
|
| To subscribe, email majordomo[at]libr.org with the message
| "subscribe juice".
|
| To unsubscribe, email majordomo[at]libr.org with the message
| "unsubscribe juice".
|
| Other majordomo commands are available in the help file,
| which you can get by emailing majordomo[at]libr.org with the
| message "help".
|
| Original material and added value in Library Juice
| are dedicated to the public domain and may be copied
| freely with appropriate attribution; beyond that the
| publisher makes no guarantees. Library Juice is a
| free biweekly publication edited and published by
| Rory Litwin. Original senders are credited wherever
| possible; opinions are theirs. If you are the author
| of some email in Library Juice which you want removed
| from the web, please write to me and I will remove it.
|
| Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
|
| Rory[at]libr.org