Library Juice 6:11 - May 23, 2003
Contents:
1. Libr.org back online
2. Links
3. No Fool He
4. Unite!
5. Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out
6. "The Heyday of Librarians," The Nation, July 3, 1913
7. Witnessing at Work
8. Iraqi National Library to Waive Overdue Book Fines
Quote for the week:
"We shall succeed only so far as we continue that most distasteful of all
activity, the intolerable labor of thought."
- Judge Learned Hand
Homepage of the week: Gail Shakleton
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~gms6/_________________________________________________________________________top
1. Libr.org back online
The server hosting Libr.org was down for over a week due to a technical
problem, but is now back online and fully functional. Apologies for the
delay of this issue of Library Juice.Libr.org contains the following websites:
Library Juice
What you are reading. Library Juice now has an ISSN: 1544-9378Progressive Librarian
The biannual journal of the Progressive Librarians Guild. Selected contents
on the website.Progressive Librarians Guild
The US-based, international activist organization concerned with issues
affecting libraries, library workers, and the "information society."Information for Social Change
The UK-based organization and biannual journal.ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT)
The American Library Association's social activist group. The site contains
a newsletter and other documents.SRRT Alternatives In Publication Task Force
A group within SRRT with activities relating to the alternative press and
librariesSRRT Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty Task Force
A group within SRRT dealing with poverty issuesSRRT Martin Luther King Day Task Force
A group within SRRT that organizes a celebration of Dr. King at ALA
conferencesSRRT Feminist Task Force
A group within SRRT acting on feminist issues in libraries. The site
contains past issues of Women in Libraries.Progressive Librarians Around the World
A directory of organizations and publications and a statement of purpose.GATS and Public Libraries
A comprehensive collection of readings on GATS and libraries.Librarians for Peace
Online petitions, statements, and historical readings.Progressive Archivists
A discussion group providing various documents.Friends of the RCMS
Offering support to the Reference Center for Marxist Studies in its
conflict with the LoC over the papers of the CPUSA.Cuban Libraries Support Group
A pro-Cuban, educational response to Robert Kent's "Friends of Cuban
Libraries."Joel Kahn's Frankentoons
An anti-intellectual property art projectLibr.org exists to provide communication services to librarians and library
workers, individually and in groups, who believe in libraries as a social
good and as an ideal pattern for the exchange of knowledge and ideas, and
who wish to promote progressive thought and action and a concept of social
responsibility within the library world and in the world at large.We are currently working toward incorporation as a non-profit in
California, which will allow for tax-deductible contributions, advantages
in fund-raising and other good stuff.
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2. Links
-----
The ALA Library: Terrorist Sanctuary
By Paul Walfield
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 8, 2003http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=7704
-----
May 10, 2003
How Fear Curdles the Soul
Smithsonian, NEH, Library of Congress Bureaucrats Click Their Heels;
Congress Librarian's Stricken Cry: "Not Pete Seeger!"http://www.counterpunch.org/jackson05102003.html
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Libraries Faq
http://www.ibiblio.org/librariesfaq/Let's take a moment to recognize that this is a really good resource to
recommend to people who want to know what we do or are considering a career
in librarianship.-----
Einstein Archives Online
http://www.alberteinstein.info/[ from LISnews ]
-----
Sex Differences and Library Reference
http://www.io.com/~casburn/pers/acad/osu/hothersall.pdf-----
M. Parry's links to LIS journals, zines, etc.
http://members.tripod.com/parrym/-----
Wireless Librarian: Libraries with Wireless Networks
http://people.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/wireless/wirelesslibraries.htm[ from Librarian.net ]
-----
Disinfopedia
A collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms,
think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts
that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of
corporations, governments and special interests.http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml
-----
American Library Association Statement
responding to the Department of Justice May 20 report and testimony
to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee [regarding enforcement of
PATRIOT Act powers to investigate library users].[ sent by Don Wood ]
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The CDC has removed the travel alert for Toronto. To read more about
it go to:http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/travel.htm
[ sent by Victoria Johnson ]
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The New York Times 2003 Librarian Awards
http://www.nytco.com/community/librarianawards1.html[ sent by Don Wood ]
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Assessment of damage to Libraries and Archives in Iraq (update from IFLA)
http://www.ifla.org/VI/4/admin/iraq0205.htm[ sent by Don Wood ]
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What is a library anymore, anyway?
by Michael A. Keller, Victoria A. Reich, and Andrew C. Herkovic
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_5/keller/[ sent by Edward Valauskas ]
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Library Joke of the Month
http://www.multcolib.org/kids/jokes.html[ from LII ]
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New website for ALIA - The Australian Library and Information Association
(Like the new ALA site, it is database driven, but without serious problems)[ from Fiona Bradley ]
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Library Staff Censorship Issues Survey
http://www.law.yale.edu/library/survey/** Note: the Yale Library website will be down probably until Monday **
[ sent by Step Schmitt ]
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New issue of the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication (JCMC)
"Electronic Networks and Democracy"Edited by Nicholas Jankowski
http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol8/issue3/
[ sent by Brad Owen ]
-----
State monitored war protesters: Intelligence agency does not distinguish
between terrorism and peace activism
By Ian Hoffman, Sean Holstege and Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune
May 18th, 2003http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%257E1865%257E1400012,00.html
[ sent by Don Wood ]
-----
No Free Read
Osgood File, 5/15/2003
Faced with budget deficits, California may start charging readers a fee in
libraries. Library budgets would be cut by more than half, from about
$32 million to $15 million a year. Governor Davis's proposed budget would
allow libraries to make up some of that funding by charging $1 to readers
who check out books in libraries outside the county where they live, and
$5 to readers who have a book transferred to their neighborhood library
from another county.[ Center for Arts and Culture Update ]
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3. No Fool He
by Michael McGrorty
Yesterday a lady came into the library with her son, who had been assigned
a school project to write a history of the local library. The kid couldn't
have been older than ten, and the subject isn't a new one. Fortunately we
have a book devoted to the library's history and some other materials at
hand as well.I managed to get a bit of time away from the desk, long enough to escort
the boy around the premises, show him what is and what used to be in a
library whose history stretches back over a century. I try to do the same
with everyone who comes in with questions about this place. Our library is
one of those which Andrew Carnegie favored with a contribution-in fact,
more than one.http://www.carnegie-libraries.org/california/regions/lacounty/southpasadena.html
Andrew Carnegie was no fool. He certainly wasn't the most compassionate
man that ever drew breath, but like most businessmen, he knew that human
beings are more predictable in terms of their frailties than their virtues.
Carnegie's contribution to the nation wasn't so much a collection of
buildings or their contents but the idea of continuity-the most significant
element of his largess consisted of the extraction of guarantees of
maintenance for the libraries whose construction he underwrote.Carnegie knew that most towns would like to have a library; that was only
natural. Most of them would like to have a railroad terminal too. But the
rail depot is a self-funding operation which also generates cash for the
town. Libraries are nice to plunk down next to City Hall, but they don't
create a lot of revenue. Carnegie wanted to ensure his libraries wouldn't
fold when the Concerned Citizens died off or moved to Florida. The first
step was making a building; buildings are fairly durable. The capstone was
eliminating that nasty tendency for small-town boosterism to fade with the
sale of the last lot on Main Street.Here in southern California every town has acess to a library, even if they
don't operate one. Just for living here you get a ticket to the County
library and the City of Los Angeles' little setup and a few more to boot.Which brings us back to South Pasadena. I was standing in the great vacant
vault that used to be our reading room, explaining a bit of history when my
patron looked up and said, with the unvarnished sincerity of youth, "Why do
we have a library here if there are so many others nearby?"That is a fine question whose answer is too lengthy and imprecise to suit a
ten year-old, so I told him what librarians are supposed to say: That our
library reflects the needs and desires of the community. If he were a
decade older I would tell him to stick around until my shift was over, then
I'd take him out for a beer and something else to think about.I don't know if Carnegie's library largesse spared him the apartment in
hell that his crushing of the Homestead strike earned, but wherever he is
right now, I'd bet he'd be pleased with the way things worked out here in
our little town.South Pasadena is a small town with an enormous heart. The place holds
about 25,000 residents, and they gave over 11,000 volunteer hours to the
library last year. If Los Angeles' citizens cared as much, their library
would have one and a half million hours of free help. This community
cares; it values its library, uses its library, embraces the facility and
the staff.On the other hand, I don't think Andrew would be surprised if he came
around on a rainy day to find that the roof leaks, or that the carpet rolls
in undulating waves across the floor. The building suffers from every
ailment common to old structures-diseases which are chronic and costly to
treat. The library has no staff parking; it has only two rather balky free
public Internet terminals; Carnegie might be amused at this-certainly it
would confirm his beliefs about human nature. If he could speak, he might
suggest that our desires are at odds with our designs.This little town is working its arms off supporting a library, yet the
place is rapidly falling behind. The reason for this is because desire,
and even devotion, are not enough. The real problem of our library has
less to do with the facility or its staff or supporters than with the
obstinate rules of economics: we don't have the tax base we need. Ours is
a picturesque town of old Craftsman houses. Old homes don't generate a lot
of tax income; for that you need big, vulgar shopping centers and
automobile malls, or a population well in excess of what could ever fit
within our city limits.Right now we are operating on the thin edge; indications are that things
will get worse before they get better. What will that mean? It will mean
that we will continue to have something like a library, and that it will
reflect, to the extent that it always has, the desires of this community-as
long as those desires do not extend beyond what we have and can maintain
now. Meanwhile, the capital 'L' Library moves on, and nothing of what we
see approaching in the future is cheap. Somewhere, most likely in a warmer
place than his native Scotland, old Andrew is chuckling to himself. Up
above in our little town, we wonder if the budget cuts will be on the order
of a terrible five percent or an inconceivable ten.In the meantime we make do on pride and volunteers and buckets when the
rains come, because there isn't any Carnegie around to buy us a new
building. If I had to describe our situation to that little boy, or even
to the grownups in the town government, I would draw a curve heading
downward to a base line; the curve being our path and the line the point at
which decline will have rendered even our redoubled efforts moot. Below
that line we will be something-- an archive, a museum or a memory, but we
will have ceased to be a modern library as such things are measured. All
the pride in the world cannot turn us from that mark. The only thing that
will work is money: money that comes from commitment and which is the
measure of commitment, as the old Scotsman surely knew.
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4. Unite!
Joan Dillon
Librarians' unions are a reality.
Published in.....
Revolting librarians / by Celeste West, Elizabeth Katz et al.
-- San Francisco : Booklegger Press, 1972. -- 158 p. : ill. ;
23 cm. -- ISBN 0-912932-01-5(That's right, it says 1972)
An old-fashioned literature search shows a geometric progression in the
number of articles in the profession's journals that deal with the
librarian as a member of the labor movement.The librarians are following the lead of teachers and nurses in demanding
recognition.The term, "Public Servant," or "Service Profession," has been a noose
around the necks of nurses, teachers, and librarians. It has meant quite
simply that we were to work around the clock out of a peculiar compulsion
to serve and to suffer. It has never meant that we were shown a special
respect, a sense of consideration, or a sense of compassion because we did
serve.Our profession is similar to others in that all of us have the same
academic qualifications. The administrative staff of public libraries has
its share of masters degrees, and more or less experience than the
librarians it administrates. In other professions, members of the
profession participate in the management of the operation. The selection of
a department head at the will of his peers is a respected university
tradition. Even our public schools, with their limited function, have full
faculty meetings to discuss and plan curriculum, program and management for
the school. The chief surgeon holds staff meetings with all the doctors,
not to tell them what to do, but to discuss with them what they all shall
do.Participatory management is a favorite term of the moment in the library
world. It gets a lot of lip service, but it is seldom actually used,
perhaps because our management experience is so limited. This kind of
management is a tried and trusted industrial technique. It is designed to
get the fullest participation from the workers, and therefore, the greatest
production.Participatory management is not a suggestion box. Neither is it encounter
groups, nor yet buzz sessions. These devices are used in libraries to keep
working librarians from the boiling point. There is a simple yes or no
answer, a little more buzz, but never, under any circumstance, is there
give and take discussion, a plan developed out of what has been said. The
library profession will fail (perhaps it already has) to develop competent
library administrators unless librarians begin early in their careers to
share in the making of important decisions. Participatory management means
just that. The workers initiate action. They help run the plant. They make
decisions, logically, because they do the work.A library administration, not frightened by the spectre of the union, can
use this highly organized, highly motivated group to build the library.
This means listening and reacting to proposals. It means acceptance of all
librarians as colleagues.Many library administrators, however, tend to follow the mythical belief
that they are management and the working librarians are labor. This
ridiculous position is maintained in the face of the fact that the entire
operating budget comes from the same sources; we are all on the same
payroll, and all of us are finally responsible to the same elected official
and even he is not the boss. No matter how hard you look, or how talented
you are at rationalization, there is no profit, no loss, no management, no
labor. It is just us folks, here at the public library.A librarians' union makes participatory management a reality. It guarantees
dialog with the library administration. It guarantees action. No longer
does the fact that the library administration is too timid, or actually
unable to solve a problem, mean that the problem cannot be solved. The
union is not handicapped by the administration's obligation to a governing
body and can act effectively in its own interests as well as in the
library's interests.The rapid increase in librarians' unions is evidence that librarians'
wages, hours and working conditions are not acceptable.Major concerns of these unions center around the quality of the library
program, the library's goals, the library's services. Working at a local
level, intimately concerned with these practical problems, union members
become personally involved with the solutions. They are better able to
evaluate the effectiveness of these solutions.Working conditions take precedent at union meetings. Within the framework
of working conditions, we see the entire library program. Our work makes
the program. The plan effects the quality of the work. To this end,
librarians' unions are negotiating contracts or memoranda of agreement that
will actually spell out how participatory management shall be implemented.Ultimately, all administrative personnel should be selected after
conferring with the union. It is footling in the extreme to appoint an
administrative staff that is not respected by the working staff. Perhaps we
shall see the selection of administrative staff by their peers in the
profession, just as the universities have done for these many centuries.The American Library Association and similar organizations, fail not only
because they do not have the interests of individual librarians at heart,
but because they have never developed the machinery to understand specific
problems in individual libraries: they deal in abstractions. A librarians'
union works to improve and protect the position of the individual
librarian, and this is the fundamental reason for the growth of unions in
libraries. The union functions outside the management hierarchy. It is not
handicapped by "proper" channels. It makes no difference to us who is staff
and who is line. Discussion within the union is open to all members. There
are no formalities to inhibit creative thinking.The union can work well with administration, but it can never be its right
arm. Only if the union maintains its independence and its integrity will it
continue to be effective in improving wages, hours, and working conditions
for librarians and in building the library itself.
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5. Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out
Edited by Katia Roberto and Jessamyn West
Introduction by Celeste West; Illustrated by Katherine West
ISBN: 0-7864-1608-4
229pp. illustrations, notes, index $35 softcover (7 x 10) 2003The much anticipated book is now in print and ready to read
"Revolting librarians aren't defined by what they are, they are defined by
what they do. In fact, it's not even what they do, but how they do it"
-Katia Roberto and Jessamyn West, in the Preface.This compilation of witty, insightful, and readable writings on the various
aspects of alternative librarianship edited by two outspoken library
professionals is a sequel to Revolting Librarians, which was published in
1972. The contributors, including Alison Bechdel, Sanford Berman, and Utne
Reader librarian Chris Dodge, cover topics that range from library education
and librarianship as a profession to the more political and spiritual
aspects of librarianship. The contributions include critiques of library and
information science programs, firsthand accounts of work experiences, and
original fiction, poetry and art. Ten of the original librarians who wrote
essays for Revolting Librarians back in 1972 reflect upon what they wrote
thirty years ago and the turns that their lives and careers have taken
since.Katia Roberto is the Head of Monographs Original Cataloging at the
University of Georgia Libraries. Business researcher Jessamyn West is writer
and editor of librarian.net. She divides her time between Seattle,
Washington and Vermont.TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments v
Preface: Don't Blame Us; or, We Like You All in Different Ways (KATIAROBERTO AND JESSAMYN WEST) 1 Introduction: Revolting Librarians Rides Again (CELESTE WEST) 5I. Still Revolting After All These Years: Words from the Original Revolters* 17
Elizabeth Katz 18 Marilyn Gell Mason 18 Art Plotnik 19 Sanford Berman 20 Jana Varlejs 24 Judy Hadley 26 Elspeth Pope 29 Reva Basch 30 Noel Peattie 33 Paul Axel-Lute 34 II. Library School Is Revolting 35 Getting the Letters: Library School Redux (MOE GIUST) 36Accreditation: What's All the Fuss? (A. LIBRARIAN) 38
Dykes to Watch Out For: Food for Thought (ALISON BECHDEL) 42
Why Mo Is Going to Library School (ALISON BECHDEL) 43
What I Really Learned in Library School (KAREN ELLIOTT) 43
What Library Schools Still Aren't Teaching Us (JESS NEVINS) 45III. Sex, Drugs, and Will You Please Be Quiet-Our Revolting Jobs 54
Labia Lumps, Chunky Discharge, and Other Things They Never Taught Me in
Library School (BARBARA BOURRIER-LACROIX) 55
*Haiku on part title pages are provided by Kathleen Kern.
The Other Side of a Balanced Collection (W. BEAUCHAMP) 57
Failures in Neo-Corporatism: A Random Walk through a University Library(TRACY BRENNAN) 59 Taking a Stand (DANIEL C. TSANG) 61 Are We So Progressive? The Value of Professional Children's Librarianship (DIANA BRAWLEY SUSSMAN) 66 I Was a Teenage Anarcho-Terrorist (PIERS DENTON) 68 IV. Creatively Revolting Self-Expression 72 The Growing Web of Catastrophe: The Story of a Mad Librarian (KEITH BUCKLEY) 73 Young Somali Women in the Library (DIANA BRAWLEY SUSSMAN) 76 Personas Non Gratas; or, An Archivist's Classification of Problem Patrons (KATHARINE SALZMANN) 77 Another Day in the Life of... Reference Librarian (CATHY AND JENNIFER CAMPER) 78 Weather Report: Hale and Drivel (or Matt Hale Visits My Library) (BIBLIO L'TECA) 79 A Librarian's Suicide Note (C.M. STUPEGIA) 80 Song of the Reference Librarian (ERICA OLSEN) 85 V. Our Revolting Issues 87 Radicals Defending Tradition: An Appeal to the Baby Boom Generation (RORY LITWIN) 88 Old Maids and Fairies: The Image Problem (POLLY THISTLETHWAITE) 92 Library Ethics and the Problem with Patriotism (EMILY-JANE DAWSON) 95 In the Stacks and in the Sack: An Undercover Look at Librarians and Erotica (CINDY INDIANA) 100 Librarians! Into the Workers' Corner! (BRUCE JENSEN) 104 My Life as a Librarian Exposed! Personal Websites and the Librarian Stereotypes (CHRIS ZAMMARELLI) 112 Revolting Vocabulary: Mental Health and Language in Revolting Librarians (KAREN ANTELL) 117 Silencing Sandy: The Censoring of Libraries' Foremost Activist (NAOMI EICHENLAUB) 120 Libraries to the People, Redux (CHRIS DODGE) 128 Libraries-It's a Good Thing (JENNIFER YOUNG) 136 Pioneering Progressive Library Discourse (TONI SAMEK) 137 "Check Out Those Buns"; or, What Do You Say to a Male Librarian? (OWEN MASSEY) 142 Status Quo/Revolution: Language to Silence Dissent in Librarianship (TARA ALCOCK) 144 VI. Day to Revolting Day: Our Stories 147 What Do Radical Librarians Do? or, Which Way to the Black Bloc? (CHUCK MUNSON) 148 Maimonides in the Stacks; or, Digitize This! (GEORGE LEDERER) 153 Diary of a Revolting Librarian (PATRICIA A. THREATT) 156 Library Service to the Insane (CATHY CAMPER) 162 The Lost Language of Libraries (PAM NORTH) 163 Damage Noted: Journal of a Public Librarian (KATE POHJOLA) 164 High Calling/Low Salary (JENNA FREEDMAN) 171 "Being a Cataloger Is Better Than Gutting Fish for a Living Because..." (CATHERINE CLEMENTS) 173 VII. Unclassifiable 176 Astrology and Library Job Correlation (DEAN DYLAN HENDRIX AND MICHELLE WILDE) 177Why Librarian: The Musical Is Doomed Before It Starts (DAVID M. PIMENTEL)
193
Stuck Between a Rock and Another Rock: Job Title Worries (DAN CHERUBIN)
194
Hey, Book Wranglers! (CATHY CAMPER) 197
A Bit More Than a Year of Library Reading: A Revolting Bibliography
(JESSAMYN WEST) 198See Also: A Collection from Our Contributors 203 About the Contributors 207 Index 213$35
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6. "The Heyday of Librarians"
The Nation, July 3, 1913
Any one who has followed the meetings of the American Library
Association, which ended last Saturday, after a week's session at
Kaaterskill, N. Y., must have been set reflecting seriously in several
directions. The public library, with a lifetime in this country of
scarcely more than sixty years, has already reached that highly
specialized development which characterizes the public school. The
old-fashioned browsing which used to unearth many a delightful book that
one wasn't looking for is largely a thing of the past. Books must be
classified in reference rooms according to the divisions of knowledge
which now form the plan of public instruction. This serves a purpose
which should not be hastily minimized. The library is attempting to-day
as never before to meet the needs of a most heterogeneous public.
Particular attention is given to those who cannot readily help
themselves. Experts are employed to pick out books best suited to
immigrants, to ambitious farm-hands and factory workers, to children,
legislators, and business men. Volumes are also lent by one community
no another. No better illustration of the contrast of former conditions
with modern could be found than that furnished by one who took part in
the Conference. She visited a library in England where the tradition
was still maintained of chaining the books to the shelves; yet the same
day she saw books in trucks on the way to the provinces. So greatly has
the spirit changed that the up-to-date librarian, she said, had to
restrain himself from running out into the highway and chaining books to
the passer-by.With the minute organization which is now the rule in public libraries
goes a sense of power and responsibility which has given even those
possessed of it some pause. Mingled with much talk about highly
specialized efficiency was frequently heard a note of warning lest the
library should have a disintegrating effect. As President Legler put
it, the public is tending towards a "rag-time" habit of mind which the
library can help correct only by installing a director and assistants
with proper personalities. However detailed its system, an institution
should strive to allure its readers to its best possessions in general
fields of knowledge. Mr. Legler would probably not go so far as one of
several outsiders whose criticism was invited by the Conference.
According to this very zealous gentleman, the head of a public library
should be the mayor of thoughts in his community, and above all should
be personally acquainted with the interests of the young people. Find
the boy and connect him with the right book, that is the first duty.
But in the case at leaste of children the library has virtually been
doing this. The space and thought given to juveniles in institutions of
New York, Boston, and Chicago makes the task of parents easy and
delightful. And librarians are now hoping to render other departments
equally inviting. The necessity is clear, the problem is how to meet
it. Much could be accomplished, it is felt, if heads and attendants had
leisure for daily reading. Then we might hope for more of such
outstanding figures as Winsor, and especially certain Englishmen who,
while carrying on their duties in the British Museum or the Bodleian,
have shown by their publications how wide-ranging were their minds.Closely connected with this, though it received but brief discussion by
the Association, is the amount of attention which any large public
library should devote to scholars. What with all the thought bestowed
upon those who have to be driven to the shelves, it is a question
whether the natural bookman is not somewhat neglected. To compare the
New York Public Library with the British Museum is not altogether fair,
yet the mere physical conveniences in London might be reproduced. The
scholar is not so easily distracted as the poet, but to sit at a great
flat table with no division into desks, and to be obliged to walk into a
distant room to consult the card catalogue, is distrcting to even
prosaic moods. If more warmth of personality is really desired for the
public library, and if it is to be an intellectual centre, there is no
better way to begin than to heed the comfort of those who by their
equipment are intellectual leaders.One other important problem which confronted the Association was that of
selecting new books. The general public hardly appreciates how much is
involved. Here the power exercised affects not only readers, but the
very life of a large class of publications. For to the discerning it is
well known that unless publishers could count on the public library
patronage, they would not dare to issue certain volumes at all. Works
selling at three or five dollars may be highly important, even though
they cannot expect large private sales. But other works got out at
these prices in attractive bindings are utterly worthless, and here
librarians might do much more than they have done to keep them off the
market. The case of fiction is very different. The demand for stories
being what it is, librarians have no such power of veto, but they have
begun to see that every best seller need not be acquired. Yet if
fiction is in their province, where shall they draw the line? Mr.
Robert Herrick, to whom the question was put, complicated the matter
still farther by insisting that "The Kreutzer Sonata" was much less
harmful to young readers than, say, "The Rosary." And other writers
urged great caution in instituting censorship; they would set up truth
to life as the proper standard of selection. Unanimity is not to be
expected from the Council, with whom the subject was left. But it would
appear that some thoroughgoing policy ought to be adopted. The function
of a good library should be not only to acquire but quite as much to
reject; and just now fiction is sorely in need of weeding.
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7. Witnessing at Work
From: "cattylibrarian25" <RandS_Hunt[at]j...>
Date: Thu Apr 10, 2003 7:07 pm
Subject: Witnessing at workHi,
I am new to this group. Since there hasn't been discussion for
awhile, I thought I would get the ball rolling.
Could you tell the group if you are able to witness to your
coworkers or patrons while at work? How do you do it? If you don't
do it at work, are you doing it off the job?
Since I work at a seminary library, all my coworkers and patrons
are Christians (or at least claim to be). I do try to witness to my
neighbors and non-christian friends from library school(Univ. of Ky).I look forward to your responses,
Sharyne E. Hunt
Catalog Librarian
Southern Seminary---------------------------
From: Marie Peterson <book_worm_000[at]y...>
Date: Thu Apr 10, 2003 7:35 pm
Subject: Re: [christian-librarian] Witnessing at workHey Sharon,
Welcome to the club...I wish it was more lively too.
There should be enough "quirkiness" here for that :)It is a challenge to witness here at U of KY, isn't
it? I have been doing outreach through the BSU, and I
also have had chances to witness on the SLIS listserv.
Most of the nonbelievers are relativists, so it is
really hard to get them to really consider the Gospel.
What were you able to do when you were here? Debbie
May and I tried to put a display of tracts on top of
the mailboxes, but someone took it down. The display
is now set up in the laundry room area of my apartment
building. Hopefully it is still there...I will know
when I do my laundry :) And, with the BSU, I put up
Gospel fliers in the women's bathroom stalls and on
the announcement boards in Whitehall and the Student
Center. But they were taken down after several days,
even the ones on the announcement boards which had
every right to be put there!See you this summer!
Marie
---------------------------
From: Rhonda Vandergriff <momscout1[at]y...>
Date: Thu Apr 10, 2003 7:51 pm
Subject: Re: [christian-librarian] Witnessing at workI get really frustrated with those people who claim
"Freedom of Speech" when it comes to pornography and
the putting down of religion, but then tell us we
don't have the right to free speech (or freedom of
religion) when we display stuff or tell what we know.
It is freedom of religion and not freedom FROM
religion.I am so frustrated with the books that are on the
award lists. I work in a fairly conservative, rural
community and I tried to participate in the state
(Missouri) award program for high school students.
Most of the books that I saw were those YA problem
novels, for example, True Believer, with sex
references and bad language -- not "hell" and "damn"
but the biggies. Most of the reviews don't mention
things like this.I have countered some of this by including requests
from students such as the Left Behind series. I
haven't gotten in trouble yet. We'll see.rhonda
---------------------------
From: Marie Peterson <book_worm_000[at]y...>
Date: Thu Apr 10, 2003 8:53 pm
Subject: Re: [christian-librarian] Witnessing at workAmen sis!!!
It goes to show how the cross is indeed a "stumbling
block" to these people. Christianity doesn't present
itself as "just another worldview" but as "the way,
truth, and the life." The difference between
Christians and non-Christians is that we have a true
and living God and they worship the work of their own
hands.Oh, and why is it that nonbelievers can say or write
the word "hell" and get away with it, and we as
Christians talk about "hell" and they call us
judgemental, intolerant, and arrogant?Marie
---------------------------
From: "cattylibrarian25" <RandS_Hunt[at]j...>
Date: Fri Apr 11, 2003 1:45 pm
Subject: Re: Witnessing at workJesus never promised we would have it easy. In fact, He said "If
they persecuted me, they will persecute you also". But, "Do not fear
those who kill the body, and after that can do know more. Fear him
who can throw body and soul into hell, Yes, I tell you, fear him!".
Jesus said, "You are my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and to the
uttermost parts of the earth" He came to set captives free, to give
sight to the blind, to proclaim the year of our Lord. Remember these
nonbelievers we run into everyday are slaves to sin and to their own
evil desires. Have compassion, weep if the tears will come. Most
importantly, remember "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is
in the world." We are lights in a darkened world. Keep on shining.
Library school is a tough place, but if you take time to listen to
people and to calmly explain the truth of the Gospel, you can be a
light there too. "In this world you will have trouble, but take
heart, I have over come the world!"--Jesus.
We must tell the truth, regardless of the results. We have had
our impossible debts paid in full by Christ. Now we must proclaim
that freedom to others.
Yes, it is hard, maddening lots of times, but you are not alone.Bless the Lord,
Sharyne
---------------------------
From: Thomas Roche <tertullianus_2000[at]y...>
Date: Tue May 13, 2003 8:51 pm
Subject: Re: [christian-librarian] Re: Witnessing at workJesus also commands I work. He does not command that
I take money from you to do Job X, and then not do
that job while trying to convert everyone I meet on
the job. I must not hide from giving an answer, or
deny the faith, but this is not the same as always
bringing the subject up, evangelizing, etc. The
church has never taught any absolutized need for the
latter.
_________________________________________________________________________top
8. Iraqi National Library to Waive Overdue Book Fines
5/2/2003
Contact: Rory al-Madoo
rmadoo[at]libr.orgIraqi National Library to Waive Overdue Book Fines
Overdue Fine Amnesty Week to celebrate Operation Iraqi Library Freedom
BAGHDAD- Overdue book fines will soon be forgotten. The Iraqi National
Library announced "Overdue Fine Amnesty Week" in celebration of the fall
of the Baath regime. Overdue Fine Amnesty Week will be held in all
branches of the Iraqi National Library and Museum and will run from Noon
on Saturday, May 24th, through closing time on Friday, May 30th."The overdue fine amnesty is a value-added part of our celebration of
regime change," said Iraqi National Librarian James Billington. "We offer
our sincerest thanks to our customers for their loyalty and what better way
to say thank you, than to give something back-we hope to see all of our
customers during amnesty week-and encourage everyone in the community to
take advantage of our special gift to them." Billington added, "We also
hope that people will return overdue books and other items not properly
checked out using the library's automated circulation system so that they
can be made available for other customers to enjoy."In addition to the Overdue Fine Amnesty, visitors to the Iraqi National
Library on Saturday, May 24 can enjoy a day of fun. The Library will host
a blockbuster celebration complete with commemorative t-shirt giveaways,
entertainment by the popular music group Huey Lewis and the News,
refreshments and an all-day auction marking the occasion."Regime change presents us with a fantastic opportunity to show our
customers that their positive experience of our product is our number one
concern here at the Iraqi National Library," said Billington.Operation Iraqi Library Freedom programs and schedules will vary by
location. For a complete list of programming, contact your Baghdad
neighborhood branch library. All events are free and open to the public._________________________________________________________________________top
L I B R A R Y J U I C E
ISSN 1544-9378
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