Library Juice 6:26 - December 14, 2003
Contents:
1. Links....
2. Cuba, Hentoff etc.
3. CLA Resolution on Cuba
4. Ghost of a Library
5. First Phase of WSIS - IFLA's Report from Geneva
6. Human Rights a Concern at Upcoming World Summit
7. NYC's Anti USA PATRIOT ACT legislation
8. Remarks by ALA Pres. Carla Hayden - Ms. Mag "Women of the Year" Award
9. Amusing searches
Quote for the week:
"The phrase, 'the free marketplace of ideas' does not refer to the market
value of each idea. On the contrary, what it means is that ideas should
have a chance to be put to the public, to be expressed and argued fully,
and not in soundbites."- Andre Schiffrin, _The Business of Books_, (Verso, 2001), pp. 103-4.
Homepage of the week: Bruce Jensen
http://www.sol-plus.net/plus/author.htm_________________________________________________________________________top
1. Links....
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Wiki library of texts w/ alternative views of the WSIS
http://geneva03.net/moin.cgi/SeizeLibrary[ sent to me by Steve Cisler ]
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Fact Checking 101. (Forbes Magazine's information center)
Searcher, Jan 1999
Linda Stinson
(Relates to librarians' diligence helping to uncover Stephen Glass' fraud
at the New Republic)
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0DPC/1_7/53657083/p1/article.jhtml[ sent to me by Jim Dwyer ]
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December issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/12-02-03.htm[ sent by Peter Suber to SCHOLCOMM ]
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Webliography of college library newsletters, from ACRL
http://collibnewsbib.notlong.com[ sent by Ruth Connell to collib-l ; short URL made by Rory ]
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Beyond the Job
A weblog on career development for librarians by Rachel Singer Gordon and
Sarah L. Johnson
http://librarycareers.blogspot.com/.[ sent by Penny Scott to the SJSU SLIS Alumni list ]
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Portal de las Bibliotecas Públicas Cubanas
http://bnjm.cu/portal/index.asp[ sent to SRRTAC-L by Dana Lubow ]
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The European Media Technology and Everyday Life Network (EMTEL)
Interdisciplinary and social scientific research conducted between
2000 and 2003:YOUTH: The Web Generation? The (De)Construction of Users, Morals and
ConsumptionAMBIENT INTELLIGENCE: A Social and Technological View of Ambient
Intelligence in Everyday Life: What bends the trend?WORK: Boundaries in a Space of Flows. The Case of Migrant Researchers'
Use of ICTCONSUMPTION: An Ethnographic Study of Internet Consumption in Ireland:
Between Domesticity and the Public ParticipationPOLITICAL ACTIVISM: ICT-Usage among Transnational Social Movements in
the Networked Society: to organise, to mediate & to influenceMINORITY MEDIA: Mapping Diasporic Media across the EU: Addressing
Cultural ExclusionDISABILITY: ICT and social inclusion in the everyday life of less abled
peopleFive THEMATIC REPORTS cover overarching aspects of the Information
Society:-Media and Technology in the Everyday Life of European Societies
-The Information Society in Europe: Methods and Methodologies
-Inclusion and Exclusion in the Information Society
-ICTs in Everyday Life : Public Policy Implications for 'Europe's Way to
the Information Society'
-Living and Working in the Information Society: Quality of Life in a
Digital World[ sent to SRRTAC-L by Fred Stoss ]
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Combating Ageism: Lessons Learned by "Baby" Librarians [LIScareer.com]
http://www.liscareer.com/roberts_ageism.htm[ from Library Link of the Day - http://www.tk421.net/librarylink/ ]
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McSweeny's: Dispatches from Public Libraries. (Contributions welcome)
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/librarian/[ sent to CSU_SLIS by director Blanche Woolls ]
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Erotic Bookplates at SFPL, photographed by Jessamyn West
http://www.jessamyn.info/nakedlib/index.php[ found on Librarian.net ]
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If the library were like Amazon.com
idea by Joseph
drawings by Mary
http://www.pthbbbt.com/stuff/amazon_library/libary_vs_amazon.html[ found on the info-commons blog ]
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2. Cuba, Hentoff etc.
Robert Kent and "Friends of Cuban Libraries" seem finally to be having
some success in their aim of getting ALA to address the issue of the
Cuban "independent librarians," helped by a recent article by Nat Hentoff
in the Washington Times. Debate on the ALA Council list has on this issue
has a new character. Some people who whose statements seemed more or less
on the fence but did reveal some sympathy with Kent are now almost as rabid
as he is in support of the US Gov't-supported anti-communist activists.
This by itself isn't so terrible - it may be a good thing when people drop
certain pretenses of "seeing both sides to the argument," but it is bad
when along with this they lose their ability to read and reason carefully.
The following letter, sent by Ann Sparanese to the Council list this week,
contains facts that in a rational world would have changed the nature of
the debate and forced Kent's sympathizers to modify their positions and
arguments in some fashion. Instead, "debate" proceeded as though Ann had
never spoken and her argument didn't exist. In a world (or a country)
where anti-intellectual tendencies seem to have overwhelmed society's
ability to make rational judgments, it is depressing to see the same type
of Sherman Tank style argumentation that rules on right-wing TV overtake
the leadership of the library profession (especially among its
self-described moderate voices).I believe Ann's letter deserves a second reading, so here it is.
Cuba, Hentoff etc.
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 04:41:00 -0800 (PST)
From: Ann Sparanese <sparanese[at]yahoo.com>
To: ALACOUN <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org>Dear Council Colleagues,
I apologize in advance for not being brief. But this
issue does not lend itself to brevity and never has.
Sorry about the "footnotes" but I thought it was best
to do it like this!Mr. Hentoff -- hardly a human rights guru in my book
-- is a prominent man with a strong opinion. But lest
we forget: immediately before our Annual conference in
Toronto, and on the day it began, we were the subject
of an organized media campaign - including Mr. Hentoff
-- to pressure us to pass a resolution against Cuba.
Articles appeared initially in the Washington Times
(ho-hum), but then the Wall Street Journal, the NY
Times and some other more mainstream press. I suspect
that Mr. Hentoff's article might be the opening salvo
for a similar attempt to embarrass ALA into doing
"something" about Cuba in San Diego. That has been the
strategy of Mr. Kent's group in the past and it will
remain so.But rather than being a "shameful silence" on Cuba,
ALA's position thus far has demonstrated an
extraordinary resistance to being drawn into a
situation which is not easy to decipher, despite its
simplistic characterization by Hentoff and others.
ALA has shown intelligence in trying to independently
investigate where the truth (or truths) lie, something
neither Mr. Hentoff or IFLA have attempted.Karen, it isn't that Mr. Kent's posts are just
"obnoxious." They are part of a very smart,
well-financed, well-connected and relentless strategy
to get the ALA involved in an important U.S. foreign
policy offensive. If you think not, then you don't
know history. We have resisted thus far because it has
smelled a little fishy all along. In Toronto, Kent
finally admitted to the LJ reporter that his "Friends
of Cuban Librarians" receives government funds. Why do
you suppose that is and what funds might those be?Follow the money!
Contrary to what Mr. Kent and Mr. Hentoff say, the so
called "independent librarians" and other dissidents
are not in prison because of their books, their
private libraries, or their "free expression" - what
got them into trouble was their active collaboration
with the United States Helms Burton Law. They were
convicted of accepting cash and materials that comes
to dissidents through this law. This is illegal in
Cuba. The US also criminalizes the manipulation of its
own political process by foreign governments, yet it
cynically allocates monies for the manipulation and
overthrow of Cuba's government. This is the issue we
are dealing with, not some no-brainer "human rights"
issue, or whether "1984" is in Cuban libraries, as Mr.
Kent and Mr. Hentoff would have us believe.The Helms-Burton (1) is an interventionist U.S. law
passed in 1996 which, among many other provisions,
appropriates millions of dollars of US taxpayers'
money for the overthrow of the Cuban government. They
call it "transition to democracy," and it's supposed
to be "non-violent," but the stated purpose is what we
now euphemistically describe as "regime change." The
law and its implementation through USAID and NED
include the direct funding of dissident groups,
although, as might be expected, right-wing Cuban
organizations in South Florida (and groups like
Kent's?) take home the lion's share first. (2) The
Helms Burton is a multi-million dollar industry in
South Florida. To a lesser extent, it is the trough
which feeds a U.S. funded and organized dissident
movement in Cuba. (Mr. Kent himself admitted that he
was a former Freedom House courier for these illegal
funds.)The Cuban government, in direct response to Helms
Burton, passed laws criminalizing collaboration with
it, including Law #80 (3) (So did Canada, by the way.)
Until March of last year, Cuba had not imprisoned
collaborators, but with the Bush Administration came
an intensification of Helms Burton funding and
activity, much of it emanating directly out of the US
Interests Section in Havana, in open and flagrant
disregard of diplomatic norms. I'm not making this up;
this is what led up to the arrests in March 2003.Suppose the shoe was on the other foot and we were
the small country being overwhelmed by money from a
huge nation determined to change our political and
economic system by any means necessary. Would we not
have the right to defend ourselves? We can't forget
that by our own admission (read, librarians, read!)
the U.S. has attempted assassinations, sabotage,
economic strangulation and all manner of plots and
schemes to overthrow the government of Cuba for 40
years. This is indisputable and documented. The Helms
Burton and all that it has brought to Cuba is just the
latest incarnation of this policy. And our - ALA's -
complicity is one of the important objectives of this
latest campaign. In fact, it is the "prize", the
weapon that Kent & Co. seeks, and we need to
understand that.Deep in our hearts we know these people are not
librarians. Read Rhonda Neugebauer's report written in
2002 called "Payment for Services Rendered." Rhonda is
a Latin Americanist, who knows a lot about Cuba
firsthand and is a current member of the IRC(4). Read
also the report of the ALA delegation that visited
Cuba for the ACURIL conference in the spring of 2001
(5).It is difficult to seriously assert that these people
are librarians, either professional or amateur. They
certainly are dissident politicians, apparently
non-violent, who sometimes use the moniker of
"librarians" to enhance their stature. This is not
about professionalism or degrees - it is about
authenticity, honesty and vocation. What is it about
them that demands a resolution from us, when they are
not librarians by any objective criteria?Are we simply to say something general about "human
rights" or "dissidents" in Cuba, since we lack the
criteria? I disagree with Deidre on this point. We
don't make these kinds of pronouncements about any
other place in the world, including our own country.
We have failed to address America's involvement with
torture (see the latest Amnesty report on this), the
massive roundup of immigrants in this country on no
charges whatsoever, the use of the death penalty in
the U.S., the murder of trade unionists in Colombia,
etc. etc. Let us not forget that, despite the
exemplary leadership role that ALA is now playing on
USA PATRIOT, Council couldn't even put the word
"repeal" in last year's PATRIOT Act resolution. We
couldn't find it in our hearts to say that war is a
library issue. What is it about Cuba in particular
that makes us think we can set ourselves up as another
Amnesty International, when in general Council has
rejected that role for itself time and time again? Can
we be pressured and "shamed" into doing so by people
masquerading as our "colleagues" and championed by
certain media and "big names"? I hope not.And there is something else. Despite the fact that we
as librarians prize them highly, political rights -
for instance intellectual freedom -- is only one of a
constellation of human rights, some of which Cuba
respects in greater measure than the United States
(e.g. universal health care, universal, free
education, certain economic rights. It may not be
fashionable to say this, but anyone who follows
internal Cuban affairs, UN reports and the like, knows
this to be the case. Even Amnesty, while critical of
Cuba, credits the role of the United States policy in
setting back the expansion of political rights in
Cuba. (6) How dare we make a comment on "human rights"
in Cuba without commenting on the egregious "human
rights" violations going on in Guantanamo (7) where
our own government is imprisoning 660 people,
including children (8) with no respect for any of
their human rights, let alone their freedom of
expression. (9) (They aren't librarians either, but
maybe if they said they are they could get our
attention. For us to make pronouncements about human
rights in Cuba, without mentioning Guantanamo (just
for starters) would raise the level of hypocrisy into
the stratosphere.If we are sincere about the freedom of these
dissidents, the first step for us - as United States
citizens -- is to demand that our own government
cease and desist from policies of regime change
against a peaceful, non-threatening neighboring
country. Without the Helms-Burton, these dissidents
would not be in prison. If the Helms-Burton were
repealed tomorrow and the United States were to have a
sane, peaceful relationship with Cuba, I believe these
people would be pardoned. As Americans, our first
responsibility is to address the complicity of our
government in the current situation in Cuba; without
this, we will be guilty of willful ignorance and a
truly shameful level of national chauvinism and
arrogance.I have no doubt that all the character-assassinating,
communist -baiting, background-revealing arguments
against those of us portrayed as "Castro sympathizers"
(and worse)and "extremists" in "control of ALA" will
be trotted out again in the press before San Diego.
It's part of the program. Our Association may very
well be pressured, shamed, embarrassed, harassed into
passing a resolution "against" Cuba at midwinter,
despite the reality of the situation, but I still hope
that will not be the case.If you read through this post, I thank you for your
consideration, patience and colleagial respect!Ann Sparanese
1. http://www.soc.qc.edu/procuba/helm_law.html
2. http://www.usaid.gov/regions/lac/cu/upd-cub.htm
3. http://home.att.net/~slomansonb/helms.html scroll
down to Article 8 of Law 80, The Reaffirmation of
Cuban Dignity and Sovereignty Act.
4. http://www.libr.org/CLSG/news.html - scroll down
to news and articles and open Rhonda's pdf file
5. http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Our_Association/Offices/International_Relations2/Activities_and_Projects/ALA-Cuban_Libraries-Report_to_Visit_ACURIL.htm 6. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250172003?open&of=ENG-CUB
7. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR511412003?open&of=ENG-USA
8. http://www.amnesty.ca/realsecurity/Afghanistan2.htm
9. http://writ.findlaw.com/mariner/20031201.htm=====
Ann C. Sparanese,MLS
Head of Adult & Young Adult Services
Englewood Public Library
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-568-2215, ext 229
ALA Councilor-At-Large
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3. CLA Resolution on Cuba
[SRRTAC-L:12300] CLA Resolution on Cuba
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 14:55:19 -0500
From: "Samuel E. Trosow" <strosow[at]uwo.ca>
To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org>
Reply to: srrtac-l[at]ala.orgThere have been some recent references on this list to the position of
the Canadian Library Association with respect to Cuba.
Just for the record, here is the resolution passed by CLA in Toronto
last June. (the full set of 2003 CLA resolutions are available at
http://www.cla.ca/resources/resolutions2003.htm)Sam Trosow
University of Western OntarioResolution 5
Whereas Cuba is a small impoverished island country of 11 million
people; andWhereas Cuba has achieved for its entire population a high standard of
healthcare, basic literacy, nutrition and education; andWhereas Cuba has been subject to continuous foreign attempts to
undermine its government through economic blockades, subversion,
military adventures, assassination attempts and funding of political
opposition through "civil society" organizations; andWhereas Cuba is being challenged by foreign governments and
organizations for not upholding the core library principles of
intellectual freedom and access to information regarding its libraries
as part of a broader effort to overthrow the Cuban government; andWhereas ending such foreign intervention is a precondition for enabling
Cuba to develop fully its own social economy and broad democratic
participation and debate; andWhereas Cuban libraries can play an important role in developing a full
and democratic culture within Cuba;Resolved that CLA oppose any foreign government attempts to undermine
Cuba's government through economic blockades, subversion, military
adventures, assassination attempts and outside funding of political
opposition through "civil society" organizations; andBe it further resolved that CLA call upon International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) to convene an international
Commission of eminent librarians to hold public hearings to investigate
further the role of "independent libraries" in Cuba and charges that
they are funded through foreign agencies whose political program is
regime change; andBe it further resolved that CLA encourage such a Commission to publish
and disseminate widely the results of its findings.
MOVED: Brian Campbell
SECONDED: Martin Dowding
CARRIED
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4. Ghost of a Library
by Michael McGrorty
In the early part of 1942, as it awoke from a long and dangerous slumber to
the horror of world war, the United States embarked upon a course whose form
and result would scar the conscience of the country for generations. Responding
to fear and hatred, the government ordered thousands of its citizens and
other law abiding people into imprisonment simply because of their race.The story is familiar, the lesson preserved in a hundred histories. There
are web sites devoted to the camps and many picture archives. They permit us to
know as well as any outsider could the what and why of the camps, at least as
well as can be known apart from experience.The idea behind the American internment camps was to isolate their residents
in the interior of the country far from urban areas and the coast. The
planners of the setup chose areas at once remote and desolate. The first level of
punishment in the camps was simply being there.If you travel north on U.S. 395 from Los Angeles, you will first cross a
large stretch of the Mojave Desert. Hours after your departure you will begin to
see a rising in the distance which will become the eastern scarp of the Sierra
Nevada. The road passes plumb-straight through spare ranchland with sparse
habitation. You pass through towns that are little more than names: Coso
Junction, Dunmovin, Olancha. To the driver's side the Sierra rises in a majesty
of snow-capped granite. Eventually there is Lone Pine, with its single traffic
light; a few miles beyond town a sign announces that you have reached
Manzanar.But there is nothing really to see: a guard post, a plaque, some concrete
foundations along brush-strewn roads. Still, there is much to imagine, and the
atmosphere of the place is fully half the experience: envision a city thrown
up overnight in a desert, a prison for the unconvicted. That city had its own
laundry, its own hospital and farms. It also had its own library system.Government records show that the Manzanar library held 27,000 volumes and 157
magazine subscriptions. In 1943 the system was reorganized by a staffer who
assigned two imprisoned librarians to operate the library. There was a
separate high school library with 3000 books, an elementary school library and even
a small pre-school library. There were outdoor story hours in summer; library
science classes were taught, and school children were given library
instruction each week. They even lent toys.It is hard to imagine all this when you stand on the site that was Manzanar.
I have been to that place many times, spent days hiking through the scrub
from the valley to the mountain trails; Manzanar is a pale phantom now, not even
a ghost town. Only the ghosts of ideas linger here in the wind that scours
the scrub and the limbs of the cottonwood trees. On that wind flies the ghost
of the bad idea that gave birth to the place, whistling through the branches in
a reminder of what was and could be again. But there is also another ghost,
the ineradicable spirit of good that worked its secret triumph over prejudice,
struck down the bad idea that gave the place its origin: even here, in
unjust captivity, a free library blossomed. The librarian and her work gave
freedom through books and liberty through reading. Transcendent over prejudice,
victorious over barbed wire, some of their names come down to us: Takako Saito,
Ayame Ichiyasu, Ruth Budd; names inscribed nowhere but on the wind, their
memorial is their work, their legacy a lesson in a word: Persevere.Think in your darker moments of making a library in the waste of a sand-blown
desert from a pile of mixed donations for a tarpaper village in a wired-in
jail. Think of making all this, imagine yourself upholding duty and profession
when you are yourself a prisoner, charged with nothing, reduced to penury,
stripped of everything but knowledge and pride. They had every reason to do give
up, or do nothing. But they did not. They went forward and did what they
thought was best for the people they lived among, the best they knew, as they
had been taught: to bring books and reading, to show and teach, to reveal. It
required that they rise above their captors and their captivity and give up
certain rights of the self, among them dissent and despair, even and perhaps
especially the hatred and vengefulness that formed the motive of their captors.
In your darker moments, think of them and Manzanar and the lesson they left
for us on the wind.
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5. First Phase of WSIS - IFLA's Report from Geneva
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 17:02:03 +0100 (MET)
From: sophie.felfoldi[at]ifla.nl
To: ifla-l[at]infoserv.inist.frLibraries[at]the Heart of the Information Society
IFLA Issues from World Summit 10-12 December 2003
Nr. 3 - December 12On this Thursday, the national delegates made their statements about the
Information Society, lining up for the final discussions. The whole day
long, ministers from all sorts of departments (economics, education,
foreign affairs, research) stressed various aspects of developing the
information society: trade agreements, human rights, but first and foremost
the necessity of bridging the information gap between the rich and the
poor. The key issue of financing equitable access remains unsolved: a
Digital Solidarity Fund proposed by the developing world or the trade
agreements and public-private partnerships as defended by e.g. the European
Union.After those formal speeches, flocks of dignitaries and media people went to
the large exhibition, where many countries have impressive stands, showing
their ICT-projects and national strategies.* The exhibition features a wealth of displays by governments,
international organizations, commercial entities and NGO's. It demonstrates
the keen interest of business firms, such as Microsoft, Nokia, and Hewlett
Packard, to take part in developing ICT facilities in the developing world,
inviting the public sector to partner with them. Civil Society doubts
whether these interests are going beyond creating new markets. Therefore,
in many other stands the social and cultural aspects, including poverty
reduction are in focus.* For instance, the Mali stand displays the creation of a broadband
internet service to Timbuktu (900 km from Benako) which is now being used
to link a school in the desert at Timbuktu to one on a mountain in
Switzerland. It also features a project to digitize ancient manuscripts,
dating from the ninth century on Arabic and European law, medicine,
environmental matters and other topics.* The exhibition is also a true global meeting place. Surrounded by large
paper walls depicting colourful marketplaces from Asia, Africa and Latin
America, Finnish colleagues had a wonderful surprise. They met with
Nonkululeko Woko and Felicity Nxumalo whom they had trained in the late
eighties at a Finnish project in Tanzania for South African exiles. Both
gained their library science degrees through the programme and are now
members of the South African Government delegation to the Summit!* Four Round Tables are organized to provide participating governments, the
opportunity to share the vision of the Information Society along with
leaders from intergovernmental organizations, civil society and business
sector entities. One of them addressed 'ICT as a tool to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals (UN)'. The main idea is to change the digital
divide into digital opportunities for poverty reduction, job creation,
capacity building and sustainable development. Examples are Bangladesh with
a special task force for ICT development in schools, and a major online
service project in Rumania, which proves that national E-strategies can
work.* The IFLA-delegation also attended the Civil Society meeting where the
Declaration 'Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs' was adopted.
This joint action stresses the need of shaping a people-centered, inclusive
and equitable information society.We would like to conclude our reports from Geneva by repeating Kofi Annan's
quote from Robert Oppenheimer: "The open society, the unrestricted access
to knowledge, the unplanned and uninhibited association of men for its
furtherance -- these are what may make a vast, complex, ever growing, ever
changing, ever more specialized and expert technological world,
nevertheless a world of human community."Marian Koren (Member of IFLA Governing Board, Netherlands Public Library
Association)Winnie Vitzansky (Standing Committee Member of the IFLA Section on
Management of Library Associations, Director of the Danish Library
Association)Live coverage: live webcast (General Debate, Roundtables, and Press
Conferences), statements of the General Debate, list of speakers at:
http://www.itu.int/wsis/geneva/coverage/index.asp_________________________________________________________________________top
6. Human Rights a Concern at Upcoming World Summit
From EPIC Alert Vol. 10.24, December 2003
The first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society will
take place next week in Geneva, Switzerland. The Summit, organized by
the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and other UN Agencies,
will be held in two phases, the second phase taking place in Tunisia
from November 16-18, 2005. The Summit process includes the drafting
and adoption of a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action
involving goals for the Information Society and the means of achieving
them.The International Symposium on the Information Society, Human Dignity
and Human Rights stated in preparation for the WSIS, that "the
information and communication society must be firmly based on, and
must contribute to the development of, human dignity and human rights
- all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural
rights." Civil society groups have been working diligently to ensure
that this is the case, as the preparatory documents appear to sideline
human rights. Preparation for the Summit involved three preliminary
conferences, where the drafting of the Declaration of Principles and
Plan of Action took place. At the Geneva meeting, governments will
merely adopt the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action. Many
members of civil society concerned about privacy and human rights feel
that much more needs to be done, and that the Declaration is not yet
adequate on a number of issues. First of all, preparation for the
Summit has involved a heavy concentration on fighting cyber-crime and
digital piracy, as the Cyber-Crime Convention of 2001 has shaped much
of the agenda. According to Cyber-Rights and Cyber-Liberties' recent
analysis of the Cyber-Crime Convention, the document significantly
favors law enforcement over a respect for fundamental human rights.
Many governments, including the United States are pushing for its
adoption, which will have harmful impacts on information privacy, even
before the countries that need communications development have started
to build a modern infrastructure.Secondly, the drafts remain inadequate in protections for human
rights. Koïchiro Matsuura, the Director General of UNESCO, has
expressed concern over the fact that the reference to Article 19 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still under negotiation
in the present drafts of the WSIS Declaration of Principles and the
Plan of Action. Mr. Matsuura also faults the drafts for a lack of
unambiguous "assurance that freedom of expression is recognized as the
fundamental principle underlying and informing the development of the
information society." Finally, many civil society groups are working
to broaden the focus of the Summit to include communication and media
issues beyond the Internet. According to a representative from the
Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) campaign,
"Early hopes that the WSIS would tackle a broad range of information
and communication issues have been dashed and the agenda that has
emerged is concerned mainly with telecommunication and internet
related issues, viewed from a technical perspective and a narrowly
construed development agenda."Originally, the WSIS was organized to improve access to information
and communication technologies for the vast majority of the world's
population. At this point, however, it is still unclear whether the
Declaration and Action Plan will enhance or actually hinder access.
Civil society groups like UNESCO and CRIS are working to ensure that
human rights maintain a focal position, as are Stephanie Perrin, a
Senior Fellow at EPIC, and Deborah Hurley, an EPIC Advisory Board
member, who have both been selected to speak at the WSIS conference.
This work is also taking place outside the conference, as there are
many civil society events taking place in Geneva alongside the Summit.
For example, the CRIS campaign has initiated the World Forum on
Communication Rights, which will take place alongside the Summit in
Geneva on December 11. This Forum, an independent civil-society led
initiative, is not in opposition to the Summit but intended to
highlight and make practical progress in spheres the Summit fails to
cover.The World Summit on the Information Society web page is available at:
The International Symposium on the Information Society, Human Dignity
and Human Rights Statement is available at:http://www.thepublicvoice.org/wsisHRstatement.html
Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties' "Advocacy Handbook for the NonGovernmental
Organizations: The Council of Europe's Cyber-Crime
Convention 2001" is available at:http://www.cyber-rights.org/cybercrime/
The UNESCO Statement is available at:
http://www.epic.org/redirect/unesco.html
World Forum on Communication Rights web page is available at:
http://www.communicationrights.org/
_________________________________________________________________________top
7. NYC's Anti USA PATRIOT ACT legislation
This is a very significant development which could provide ALA with some
courage in developing a strong anti USAPA resolution itself.NYC
Res. No. 909Resolution calling upon federal, state and local officials, and upon New York
City agencies and institutions, to affirm and uphold civil rights and civil
liberties.By Council Members Perkins, Barron, Boyland, López, Monserrate, Seabrook,
Vann, Yassky, Baez, Clarke, Comrie, Gerson, James, Jennings, Koppell, Liu,
Martinez, Quinn, Reed, Rivera, Sanders, Jackson, Brewer, Espada, Moskowitz,
Reyna, Serrano, deBlasio, Weprin, Stewart, Boyland, Foster, Gonzalez, and
Dilan.Whereas, The protection of civil rights and civil liberties is essential
to the well being of a free and democratic society; andWhereas, The City of New York has a diverse population, including
immigrants and students, whose contributions to the city are vital to its
economy, culture and civic character; andWhereas, The members of the Council of the City of New York believe that
there is no inherent conflict between national security and the preservation
of liberty -- Americans can be both safe and free; andWhereas, Government security measures that undermine fundamental rights do
damage to the American institutions and values that the residents of the City
of New York hold dear; andWhereas, Federal, state and local governments should protect the public
from terrorist attacks, such as those that occurred on September 11, 2001, but
should do so in a rational and deliberative fashion in order to ensure that
security measures enhance the public safety without impairing constitutional
rights or infringing on civil liberties; andWhereas, Federal policies adopted since September 11, 2001, including
provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56), the Homeland Security
Act of 2002, and in related executive orders, regulations and actions threaten
fundamental rights and liberties by:(a) authorizing the indefinite incarceration of non-citizens based on mere
suspicion, and the indefinite incarceration of citizens designated as "enemy
combatants" without access to counsel or meaningful recourse to the federal
courts;(b) limiting the traditional authority of federal courts to curb law
enforcement abuse of electronic surveillance in anti-terrorism investigations
and ordinary criminal investigations;(c) expanding the authority of federal agents to conduct so-called "sneak
and peek" or "black bag" searches, in which the subject of the search warrant
is unaware that his property has been searched;(d) granting law enforcement and intelligence agencies broad access to
personal medical, financial, library and education records with little if any
judicial oversight;(e) chilling constitutionally protected speech through overbroad
definitions of "terrorism";(f) driving a wedge between immigrant communities and the police that
protect them by encouraging involvement of state and local police in
enforcement of federal immigration law; and(g) permitting the FBI to conduct surveillance of religious services,
internet chatrooms, political demonstrations, and other public meetings of any
kind without having any evidence that a crime has been or may be committed;
andWhereas, These new powers pose a particular threat to the civil rights and
liberties of the residents of our city who are or who appear to be Arab,
Muslim or of South Asian descent; andWhereas, The federal government has drafted new legislation entitled the
Domestic Security Enhancement Act (DSEA) (also known as PATRIOT II), which
contains sweeping new law enforcement and intelligence gathering powers, many
of which are not related to terrorism, that would further compromise
constitutional rights, and further undermine our government's unique system of
checks and balances; andWhereas, More than 100 communities throughout the country have enacted
resolutions that reaffirm support for civil rights and civil liberties and
that demand accountability from law enforcement agencies regarding the
exercise of the extraordinary new powers referred to herein; now, therefore,
be itResolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon federal,
state and local officials, and upon New York City agencies and institutions,
to affirm and uphold civil rights and civil liberties; and be it furtherResolved, That the Council of the City of New York:
Affirms its strong commitment to support the rights and liberties promised in
the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and to oppose measures that infringe upon
those rights and liberties; andAffirms its strong support for the rights of immigrants and opposes measures
that single out individuals for legal scrutiny or enforcement activity based
solely on their country of origin; and be it furtherResolved, That the Council of the City of New York directs the Police
Department of the City of New York to:(a) refrain from engaging in the surveillance of individuals or groups of
individuals based on their participation in activities protected by the First
Amendment, such as political advocacy or the practice of a religion;(b) refrain from collecting or maintaining information about the
political, religious or social views, associations or activities of any
individual, group, association, organization, corporation, business or
partnership, whether such information is obtained by NYPD employees acting
alone or in conjunction with state or federal law enforcement officials,
unless that information directly relates to an investigation of criminal
activities, and unless there are reasonable grounds to suspect the subject of
the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct;(c) refrain from engaging in racial, religious or ethnic profiling by not
relying solely on race, religion, ethnicity or national origin as the basis
for subjecting an individual or group to investigatory activities;(d) refrain from participating in the enforcement of federal immigration
laws;(d) refrain from assisting federal authorities in obtaining custody of
individuals absent assurances that those individuals will not be subjected to
military detention, secret detention, secret immigration proceedings, or
detention without access to counsel;(e) refrain from deploying unreliable biometric identification technology
in the City of New York; and(f) refrain from establishing a network of general surveillance video
cameras unless the video surveillance network is subject to regulations that
limit the number of hours that recorded material containing no evidence of
criminal acts may be retained before it is recycled or erased; limit
distribution of and access to the recorded material; require the installation
of signage that notifies persons when they are under videotape surveillance;
and that create a public registry, with an appropriate governmental agency, of
all video surveillance cameras located in public spaces; and(g) refrain from participating in "sneak and peak" searches, pursuant to
Section 213 of the Patriot Act, unless the search is authorized and conducted
in accordance with New York State law;(h) refrain from establishing or maintaining an antiterrorism reporting
system, such as the proposed federal Terrorism Information and Prevention
System (TIPS), that creates an electronic record on an individual, which is
then stored in a database, based upon unsubstantiated information that is
insufficient to establish suspicion of criminal activity; and(i) refrain from the practice of stopping drivers or pedestrians for the
purpose of scrutinizing their identification documents when such stops are
based solely upon race, religion, ethnicity or national origin, without a
founded suspicion of criminal activity; and(j) report to the City Council any request by federal authorities that, if
granted, would cause agencies of the City of New York to exercise powers or
cooperate in the exercise of powers in apparent violation of any city
ordinance or the laws or Constitution of this State or the United States; and
be it furtherResolved, That the Council of the City of New York directs public
libraries within the City of New York to post in a prominent place within the
library a notice to library users that reads as follows: "WARNING: Under
Section 215 of the federal USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56), records of the
books and other materials you borrow from this library may be obtained by
federal agents. This provision prohibits librarians from informing you if
records about you have been obtained by federal agents. Questions about this
policy should be directed to: Attorney General John Ashcroft, Department of
Justice, Washington, DC 20530"; and be it furtherResolved, That the Council of the City of New York shall seek periodically
from federal authorities the following information in a form that facilitates
an assessment of the effect of federal anti-terrorism efforts on the residents
of the City of New York:(a) the names of all residents of the City of New York who have been
arrested or otherwise detained by federal authorities as a result of terrorism
investigations since September 11, 2001; the location of each detainee; the
circumstances that led to each detention; the charges, if any, lodged against
each detainee; the name of counsel, if any, representing each detainee;(b) the number of search warrants that have been executed in the City of
New York without notice to the subject of the warrant pursuant to section 213
of the USA PATRIOT Act;(c) the nature and scope of electronic surveillance carried out in the
City of New York under powers granted in the USA PATRIOT Act;(d) the nature and scope of initiatives undertaken by federal authorities
to monitor political meetings, religious gatherings or other activities
protected by the First Amendment within the City of New York;(e) the number of times education records have been obtained from public
schools and institutions of higher learning in the City of New York under
section 507 of the USA PATRIOT Act;(f) the number of times library records have been obtained from libraries
in the City of New York under section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act; and(g) the number of times that records of the books purchased by store
patrons have been obtained from bookstores in the City of New York under
section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act; and be it furtherResolved, That the Council of the City of New York shall publish and
distribute no less than once every six months a summary of the information
obtained pursuant to the preceding paragraph and, based on such information
and any other relevant information, an assessment of the effect of federal
anti- terrorism efforts on the residents of the City of New York; and be it
furtherResolved, That the Council of the City of New York shall transmit a copy
of this resolution to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Charles
Schumer, and to the members of the New York delegation in the House of
Representatives, accompanied by a letter urging them to:(a) support Congressional efforts to assess the impact of the PATRIOT Act;
(b) monitor federal anti-terrorism tactics and seek repeal of those
provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act and other laws and regulations that unduly
infringe on civil rights and liberties;(c) ensure that provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act "sunset" in accordance
with the provisions of the Act; and(d) take a lead in Congressional action to prohibit passage of the
Domestic Security Enhancement Act, known as "Patriot II"; and be it furtherResolved, That the Council of the City of New York shall transmit a copy
of this resolution to Governor George Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Joseph
Bruno and and the members of the State Legislature [Senate : : Assembly],
accompanied by a letter urging them to ensure that state anti-terrorism laws
and policies are implemented in a manner that does not infringe on civil
rights and liberties; and be it furtherResolved, That the Council of the City of New York shall transmit a copy
of this resolution to President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft.http://www.nycbordc.org/resolution0909-2003.html
_________________________________________________________________________top
8. Remarks by ALA Pres. Carla Hayden - Ms. Mag "Women of the Year" Award
Contact: Larra Clark
ALA Press Officer
312-280-5043
lclark[at]ala.orgFor Immediate Release
December 8, 2003Remarks by American Library Association President Carla Hayden upon
accepting the Ms. "Women of the Year" award at the National Press Club,
Washington, December 8, 2003Let me begin by thanking Ms. magazine for this truly prestigious
honor. I have long been a fan and a regular reader of the magazine, and
I cannot tell you how proud I am to receive this recognition. To stand
here today in the company of such accomplished women is inspiring. The
work that Ms. does to educate women about issues and rights affecting
their lives is truly admirable. And as the second African American
woman to be president of the American Library Association in its
127-year history, and the first one to receive this honor on behalf of
ALA, it makes this recognition even more special. I am pleased to
accept this honor - not only on my behalf - but also for all of the more
than 65,000 members of our organization nationwide. Librarians are
heroes every day.I started my career as a children's librarian and never thought
that I would be standing here today representing my profession's largest
organization. Over the years, my late grandmother said that she didn't
think that being a librarian could be very exciting. The last few years
as president-elect and now president of ALA certainly proved her wrong.From CNN to CBS' The Early Show, The Washington Post and the New
York Times, Ebony Magazine and yes, even Time for Kids, I have had my
share of answering the sometimes hard questions about the conditions of
one of our nations most valuable resources - the library, the
cornerstone of democracy.Like other women in this room who have worked hard to bring
positive change to empower the powerless, I work with librarians and the
diverse communities that they serve, to educate people about defending
their civil rights and liberties. It is a role that librarians have
played throughout our nation's history, but until recent years has gone
unnoticed.With the recent passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, all that has
changed. Librarians are committed to educating our citizens about the
dangers of many provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act - including its effect
of undermining the historical protection of private library records.
Instead of being called mousy and dull, we are being called "feisty
fighters for freedom." We even have a librarian action figure now!When Attorney General John Ashcroft called me to express his
concerns that librarians may have misunderstood his long-standing
commitment to civil liberties, I must admit I became a bit nervous. As I
said before, librarians have been doing this type of work but rarely in
the spotlight. When the press started reporting our opposition to this
act, I knew that eventually it would lead to something like this. Yet we
stood firm even when called hysterical and dupes. We even had these
buttons made - Another "hysteric" librarian for freedom - as a badge of
honor.
Librarians will continue to stand strong and work with
organizations and people from diverse backgrounds to oppose laws that
infringe on our civil liberties and privacy-related rights.Thank you again to Ms. magazine for this award. I proudly share it
with my colleagues across the country.AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
50 E. Huron Chicago, IL 60611 Call Us Toll Free 1-800-545-2433
_________________________________________________________________________top
9. Amusing searches
The following are search expressions that led users from search engines
(mostly Google) to pages on Libr.org during November....yertle the turtle and anarchy
"India was discovered by"
pics of short fat cartoon man not inappropriate
"Whale bleeding to death at Sea World"
scoobydoo bongs
library weirdo
practicas de skateboard
what do i need
deadheads as a moral community
does mark cuban have friends
record breaking penis sizes,non porn
how do you say army in spanish
dewey decimal sucks
narrow band of acceptable behavior for women
who made the speech generally refered to as "i have a dream"
real joly unicorn
confirm for me that
percentage population "foot fetish"
what sucks about being a librarian
prison "martial arts" inmate jew
funny search and seizure stories
info on eskimo weapons for a essay_________________________________________________________________________top
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