Library Juice 7:2 - January 22, 2004
Contents:
1. Links...
2. A note on Fresh Ideas and Fresh Thinking
3. "Improper Books" (1895)
4. SRRT Resolution on Cultural Democracy
5. Cinder Johanson memorial
6. SRRT Feminist Task Force endorses Michael Gorman for ALA President
Quote for the week: "It seems to me that libraries stand, above all, for
the enlightened and rational notion that human beings are improved by the
acquisition of knowledge and information and that no bar should be placed
in their way. We stand for the individual human being pursuing whatever
avenues of enquiry she or he wishes. We also stand for rationalism as the
basis for all of our policies and procedures in libraries. Librarianship
is a supremely rational profession and should resist the forces of
irrationalism both external and internal."- Michael Gorman, "The value and values of libraries"
http://mg.csufresno.edu/papers/Value_and_Values_of_Libraries.pdfHomepage of the week: Allyson Wilcox Davis
http://www.westga.edu/~awilcox/_________________________________________________________________________top
1. Links...
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The ALA International Relations Committee Council Document #18.1, Report
on Cuba, that was accepted by ALA Council on Wed., Jan. 14, 2004, at the
ALA Midwinter Meeting, is now on the ALA Web site:[ sent by ALA's Don Wood to the IFRT list ]
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Civil Liberties and the USA PATRIOT ACT
A new website by Representative Bernie Sanders
http://bernie.house.gov/civil_liberties/[ sent by ALA's Nanette Perez to the IFRT list ]
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Journal of Digital Contents (JCD)
http://www.formatex.org/jdc/jdc.htm[ sent by Sarah McDaniel to various lists ]
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RIAA adopts paramilitary garb for parking lot bust
By Andrew Orlowski, theregister.co.uk/, /01/2004
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/34835.html[ sent by Sam Trosow to the SRRT list ]
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Student rebel beats McGill in essay fight [The Globe and Mail]
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040116.wuessays16/BNStory/Front/[ Library Link of the Day - http://www.tk421.net/librarylink/ ]
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Librarian Activist
http://librarianactivist.org/A new site by McGill LIS student Danielle Dennie
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New Fact Sheet on "Sex and Censorship"
from the Free Expression Policy Project
http://www.culturalcommons.org/announcedetail.cfm?ID=98[ Center for Arts and Culture Update ]
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McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Dispatches from a Public Librarian
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/librarian/dispatch2.html[ found on librarian.net ]
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2. A note on Fresh Ideas and Fresh Thinking
Carol Brey approached me during Council sessions at ALA Midwinter in San
Diego and praised me for publishing Library Juice, saying that its value
lies in offering "fresh ideas." This was after two straight issues
featuring long articles that were over one hundred years old (which I don't
know whether or not she saw).Fresh ideas.
As often as not, I hate fresh ideas. They are very often unhelpful and
retrogressive. Their freshness derives from their ability to offer relief
from the ideas with which we have grown bored - not from their ability to
fix what is broken or lead us to greener pastures. Fresh ideas can be good
ideas, but when they are it's generally by accident (that is, not because
they are "fresh.")What I do try to offer - or more to the point, try to promote - in Library
Juice is fresh THINKING, by which I mean thinking that makes fewer
assumptions, endeavoring to begin with what we know rather than with what
we merely repeat, and to proceed by asking questions that may not be
obvious rather than by following the well worn path.That may have been what Carol was talking about, but I feel that I need
to say it in order to explain why I think the moldy 100 year old ideas I
like to publish are valuable. Reading what people were thinking at the
beginning of the modern library movement can be very refreshing, because
ideas that we take for granted were hotly controversial at the time and
were thrashed out in discussions that if we didn't read them we might not
guess that they actually happened as they did. Reading these discussions
now has a way of throwing a new light on contemporary library discourse and
practice, either by surprising us with might have been otherwise if not for
the intellectual activity of individuals who made a difference, or with
what was so amazingly similar about those times to our own.The following article was one of six talks presented at the 1895 ALA
Conference in Denver on the topic of what to do about "improper books."
It can be interpreted as being about censorship as standard library
practice, though I think it is more of an assertion of the librarian's
role as fundamentally educational. I am offering it, of course, not as a
"fresh idea," once old and now new, but as a catalyst for thinking freshly
about censorship as well as about enduring problems of collection
development and the question of the role of the public library as
educational institution or entertainment center. I hope you enjoy it -
parts of it are pretty funny as well as thought provoking.-RL
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3. "Improper Books"
A paper deliverd at the 1895 ALA Conference in Denver
By George T. Clark, Librarian, San Francisco Free Public Library
In thinking of this matter of improper books I have been reminded of the
definition given by a certain professor, who asked his class in botany to
tell him what a weed was. No one being ready to respond, he informed them
that a weed was "the right thing in the wrong place." The wild flowers
which in springtime clothe the hillsides in variegated hues add beauty to
the landscape and afford the naturalist materials for interesting
reseearches. Comparison of the flora of different countries at the same
period, or of the same country during different epochs supplies important
data in the life history of earth. But these same wild flowers spring up
in the corn field, are regarded simply as weeds which must be eradicated
without delay.Similarly, there are many books which, in their proper places, may serve a
good and useful purpose, but which under other conditions may exert a most
baleful influence. In order, then, to determine what books are improper we
must take into consideration the character and functions of the library for
which they were intended, and the purpose they are supposed to serve. Is
the institution a college, subscription, society, or free public library?
Are the funds at its disposal sufficient to warrant buying liberally of all
kinds of books, or are they in that not infrequent state which compels the
exercising of a rigid selective process, and limits the purchases to
absolute necessities? All these are questions which must be taken into
consideration in fixing the standard which shall determine the fitness or
unfitness of books.What, then, shall be the standard for a public library maintained by
revenues derived from taxation? To determine this, we must arrive at some
definite idea as to the proper functions of public libraries. Why has the
State enacted laws under which holders of property are compelled to pay
taxes for the support of such institutions? It is expected that a public
library will contribute to the general welfare of the people, and be an
institution which shall exert an elevating influence on the community. In
fact, that it shall assist in the education of the people and the making of
good citizens. Unless it does exercize these functions, what justice is
there in making it a burden on the taxpayers? What right has it to exist?The theory that a library is primarily an educational institution is quite
generally accepted. Being such, the books purchased for it must be of such
a character that it shall be enabled to perform the functions of such an
institution. In addition to the strictly educational features, however, it
is conceded that a library may well provide the means for healthful
recreation. In so doing, it promotes the welfare of the community and
fulfils one of the objects of its being. The duties of those having the
selection of books would seem, then, to be quite plainly outlined. The
books should either be capable of adding to the general store of knowledge,
of exercizing some beneficial influence upon the mind, or of providing
wholesome amusement or recreation.The establishment of such a standard would exclude many of the books now
issuing in such a constant stream from the press. Some of these, for a
short time, have great popularity, especially if they are sensational or
contain between their covers matters that will not bear discussion in good
society.The librarian may find it difficult to resist the popular demand sure to
follow for books widely advertised and much talked about. When the book is
decidedly bad his course is clear, but more perplexing are those books
having the negative merit of not being positively harmful, but which absorb
the time and attention that might well be turned in a better direction.It is claimed by some that it is the duty of the public library to supply
the books the people want; but a little thought will show the fallacy of
such claims. That would be a strangely governed household wherein the
children had only to express a desire to have it gratified. It is also
urged that books by such writers as Braeme, Southworth, and Stephens, have
a place in the public library because of their drawing qualities; that they
attract a certain class of readers which otherwise would remain away, and
that after a time, these readers will have absorbed such literature ot the
point of saturation, and can then be induced to take something of a higher
order. But it is doubtful whether better results could not be obtained by
other methods without such a waste of means. By supplying such books, a
library fosters the taste that craves them, and increases the demand.Those administering a public library have a higher duty to perform than
merely to follow in the wake of the passing fancies of the popular mind.
It is much easier to follow than to lead, but they must bear in mind their
responsibilities to future generations as well as the present. The value
of the library, depending on the character of its contents, is lessened by
every worthless book that goes upon the shelves. Its future value,
therefore, depends largely on the wisdom of its management during the
present. Now, having fixed a standard in our minds, how are we to decide
as to what books come up to it? Life is too short and the books too
numerous to permit a personal examination in all cases. Evidently we must
rely upon the judgment of others to aid us in separating the wheat from the
chaff.I will briefly explain the method pursued in the institution with which I
am associated. All purchases are under the supervision of a book committee
consisting of five members of the Board of Trustees. It may be well to
state that under the existing law the term of a trustee of this library is
for life, and the composition of the committees remains practically
unchanged year to year. The chairman of the book committee is a gentleman
of broad culture and of great liberality in his views. He is a graduate of
Harvard, and served for a brief term as president of our State University.
Among the other members of the committee are a justice of the Supreme
Court, a well-known writer, and the principal of one of our public schools.At their montly meetings these gentlemen consider the items recommended for
purchase by the librarian, or in other ways brought to their attention.
They are very discriminating, and consider carefully the merits of the
books proposed, and the relative need for them. The order lists, as made
up, include only the approved items. The librarian is expected to be
informed on current publications, and to know something about a book before
recommending it.In addition to the formal orders made up in this manner, there are
purchased each month books on what we term "the hundred-dollar list." The
book committee has at its command the sum of $100 per month for the
purchase of publications which it is desirable to obtain without
unnecessary delay. The books on these lists are selected in the following
manner: The librarian makes a montly visit to the four leading book stores
in the city, and after looking over the stock selects as many of the
desireable books as can be purchased without exceeding the limit. With the
breadth of a continent between us and the leading publishing centres, there
are many books which never find their way to the counters of the local
dealers unless specially ordered, and during dull seasons the supply from
which to select is meagre. It may happen that one month not more than $50
worth can be purchased, but this is offset by buying $150 worth some month
when there is a better stock to chose from.The books thus selected are then sent to the library subject to the
approval of the book committee. It sometimes happens that their judgment
and the librarian's do not coincide, in which case the book goes back to
the dealer. Buying in this manner, before the books have been on the
market long enough for much to be known about them, and before the critics
have had time to assign them to their proper places, there is a chance to
go astray. We endeavor to keep on the safe side, however, by confinding
our selections to those of which we can feel sure, leaving doubtful books
until more is known of them.Of course, with a system like this, it is impossible to have the new books
ready for circulation on the day of their publication, or on the following.
We cannot accommodate those who consider it a duty to read all the latest
novel. They must rely upon the subscription libraries and the book stores.
But we do endeavor to add to our shelves each year, just as many books of
permanent value as our funds allow, and to acquire them as expeditiously as
circumstances permit, trying to build up a library that shall not be strong
in some classes as the expense of weakness in others, but one that shall be
symmetrical in all its parts, with possibly a special smphasis on some
features which under existing conditions may be entitled to greater
consideration. it is our aim to foster a desire for good literature, and
we endeavor to make such literature available to all.
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4. SRRT Resolution on Cultural Democracy
Whereas librarians are working in the cultural sector along with many
other cultural workers and activists (teachers, professors,
archivists, museum workers, art workers, film workers, theater
people, etc.)And whereas SRRT recognizes as one of its core values that cultural
democracy is the necessary complement to economic and political
democracy and as a project which has taken on more urgency in the age
of corporate globalization, increasingly monopolistic control of the
media, means of communication, and cultural heritage, and
privatization of the institutions of public lifeAnd whereas there is significant movement of people in the cultural
sector to realize the project of developing cultural democracyAnd whereas librarians have an important role in this as front-line
defenders of intellectual freedom and facilitators of equalizing
access to cultural capitalBe it resolved
That SRRT identifies cultural democracy as an implicit core value of
librarianship which must be cultivated and promotedAnd be it further resolved
That SRRT recommends that the American Library Association make its
commitment to cultural democracy explicit, especially in any
explication of librarianship's 'core values'.Mark Rosenzweig
Seconded by Susan Dillinger
Passed by SRRT Action Council, January 10, 2004---------------
Background:
Re: [SRRTAC-L:12471] Proposed Resolution on Cultural Democracy
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2004 00:59:18 -0500
From: Mark Rosenzweig <iskra[at]earthlink.net>
To: "J Cothron" <otterweiler[at]hotmail.com>, <dillins[at]worldnet.att.net>,
"Mark Rosenzweig" <iskra[at]earthlink.net>Cultural democracy denotes the goal of democratizing the cultural
sphere as the necessary concomitant to political democracy and (in
the US almost entirely non-existent) economic democracy.
Concretely this means seeing cultural institutions and practices as
foundational and co-determinative along with the other two of a
not-yet-realized fully democratic society. This entails seeing
institutions like libraries as civic institutions with broad, active
social missions, fundamentally democratic in tendency and rooted in
pubic life. They exist to help people recognize, realize and assert
basic cultural human rights. The premise is that there is a 'right to
culture'.This "right to culture" has been a key foundation of cultural policy.
In 1948, soon after the United Nations was established, its members
declared a "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" which asserted that
"Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of
the community."This is all asserted even as dominant neo-liberalism tries to
privatize the 'cultural commons' and colonize the public sphere.
Here is an early US manifesto of cultural democracy which make make
this clearer:A DRAFT FOR A DECLARATION OF CULTURAL HUMAN RIGHTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PART 1: THE FOUNDATIONS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* In order to advance the struggle for those political and
economic rights recognized by all people in pursuit of a democratic,
just and peaceful world;
* In order to make that world manifest through the perpetuation
and unfettered expression of creativity from all our peoples and
cultures in a common wealth of wisdom, vision, knowledge, and means;
* In order to supplant passivity with creative action,
desecration with beauty, waste with husbandry, alienation with
community, exploitation with cooperative harmony, and cultural
chauvinism with appreciation and respect for human diversity;
* In order to secure our very existence as we preserve and
nurture the living planet that sustains us, WE DECLARE AND NOW ACT TO
GUARANTEE THE CULTURAL RIGHTS OF ALL PEOPLE.Among these rights are:
------------------------------------------------------------------------*
PARTICIPATION
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All people-as groups, communities, or individuals-possess the right
to participate in the creation of their own cultures. All people must
be guaranteed the right of access to their own and others' cultural
heritages. Culture is used here in the broadest sense, as the entire
fabric of life, which would include social traditions, religious
beliefs and practice, values, ethics, ideologies, material and
technological possessions, written and oral histories-and all the
arts. The creation of cultural expression should be a social process
open to all. It must not be abridged socially, economically, or
educationally by another or a dominant culture. The means of
production, distribution and communication cannot justly be
monopolized by any elite.------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
COMMUNITY AND PLACE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A major part of cultural expression is the traditional and the
innovative interplay between people and their environment or place.
Each environment is a unique pattern of animals, plants, soils,
climate, terrain, and other natural resources, as well as human
technology, history and surrounding communities-local, national, and
international.The suppression or destruction of cultural expression-like the
violation of the natural, economic, social, or political rights of
any community-upsets the delicate balance between people and place
and can push a culture towards extinction.Therefore, everyone has a right to community and place. Forced
removal from community or place, loss of control over its resources,
and the destruction, alteration, and pollution of place by the
capricious, careless, self-serving, or hostile actions of a ruling
elite or a foreign power violates that right.------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
LANGUAGE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A culture's visual and verbal language is its most profound and vital
means of expression. It enables people to name and define the world
they experience or create. It embodies the history, values,
orientation, and traditions of a people and provides a critical means
to express ideas and organize action in the face of present and
future challenges.Language evolves as people interact with each other, with their
environment, and with other cultural groups. Language binds people
together and, as such, is a crucial instrument of survival. Therefore
the expression of a people's language must never be denied or
discouraged by another or dominant culture.------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each culture discovers truths, gains perspectives, produces goods and
technology, or creates universally powerful imagery simultaneously
unique to that culture and potentially valuable to others.The peaceful resolution of all conflict is facilitated by mutual
understanding and communication. The growing technical and economic
interdependence of the world's peoples and the need to bear mutual
responsibility for global problems and to share insights and
solutions require continuous and complex exchanges of information.Therefore all peoples are entitled to interaction with people like
and unlike themselves, to the knowledge, beauty, and resources freely
shared by cultures other than their own.------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
REDRESS OF CULTURAL GRIEVANCES AND CONFLICTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------All communities of people have the right to a formal means of local,
national and international redress of grievances and conflicts. Such
redress must be offered within a framework of jurisprudence built
upon principles of cultural as well as political and economic human
rights.------------------------------------------------------------------------
PART II: PREPARATION FOR ACTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* A precondition of a just and peaceful world is a climate in
which all people, as groups, communities, or as individuals can
assert with pride their own cultures and actively respect the
cultures of others.Above, in THE FOUNDATIONS, we have articulated fundamental human
cultural rights to which all people are entitled. We have done so in
the knowledge that our multicultural life and expression is unduly
determined by a profit-directed elite. The corporate, social,
religious, artistic, and civic institutions it creates and controls
comprise a "dominant culture" which owns or dominates most of the
means by which cultural expression is created, defined, taught,
communicated, and rewarded in our country and much of the world. Its
expression is predominantly commercial and is often militaristic,
sexist, classist, and homophobic.Cultural chauvinism is a hallmark of the dominant culture. It support
and promotes expression that reflects the values and tastes of those
who have dominated urban European-American life and culture. It
limits or misrepresents the multicultural expression of other
peoples, including those of the working classes and the poor, people
of the Third World, people of color, and people who reside or
participate in rural, regional, or alternative communities-in short,
any who represent other traditions and values.Now, as residents of the United States in the late 20th Century, we
identify some of the public arenas in which our people must take
action to secure their cultural rights.------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
EDUCATION
------------------------------------------------------------------------Universal public education for children is required by law in most
nations. In the schools children are formally and systematically
exposed to mass-cultural values. Early learning informs a child about
the proper way to speak, dress, and behave in order to win broad
social acceptance. Yet American public education predominantly
reflects those values of the dominant culture and children are easily
bewildered about the value of their own personal, familial, or
cultural identities, especially if they diverge from the so-called
"norm".State and local school district policies must create a curriculum in
which cultural pluralism is nurtured and respected. The climate of
each school must be conducive to each child's assertion of her or his
cultural identity, and must encourage inter cultural respect.At present, through both curricula and climate, schools tend to
reinforce a value system in which questioning and criticism of
authority are discouraged; in which competition is fostered and
cooperation is discouraged; in which single standards of excellence
are accepted; in which arts and other creative explorations are
considered "leisure" or "entertainment" or a reserved for "gifted"
students; in which passivity is learned behavior; and in which
students are consumers of curriculum rather than creative
collaborators in the learning and teaching process.We believe that written and unwritten policy must acknowledge that
all students are entitled to their rights; to an education shaped by
local cultures and needs; where numbers warrant, to an education that
is bilingual or multilingual; to a curriculum which actively teaches
and values the stories and images of the many cultures that have
shaped human history; to a learning climate in which critical
thinking is encouraged along with the creative assertion of identity;
and to a curriculum that celebrates and reinforces cultural diversity
and respect.------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
------------------------------------------------------------------------The information that people receive enables them to make decisions
about what the world is like and what they themselves are like. The
advent of sophisticated, centralized information dissemination
systems means that millions of people can be exposed simultaneously
to a single piece of information. While this can potentially draw the
people of the planet together, all too often it promulgates a single
notion of "reality." If cultural democracy is to flourish, people
must have access to multiple sources of information, and must be able
to produce as well as to consume them.In public communications, as well as in education, people should have
access to all information, and above all, should be equipped to
respect passion and subjectivity and personal experience, as well as
objectivity. Currently, centralized network media, like the
educational system, promotes the dominant culture, and offers either
stereotypes or absence for all "others." News reporting suggests that
questions, opinions, criticism and dissent reflect disorder rather
than the characteristics of a democracy at work.Within the public communications arena the legitimacy of alternative
media and points of view, as well as the right and ability of all
people to exercise and express critical judgment, must be recognized.We believe that written and unwritten policy must acknowledge that
all people are entitled to their rights; to an opportunity to share
in the ownership, operation, and policy development of local
television, cable vision, radio, press, and electronic information
networks; to wide public awareness of local access laws, adequate
information on the use of equipment and the broadcasting process, and
access to the airwaves at times when broad audiences can be reached;
to the ability to narrow-cast to people of shared culture or interest
as well as to broadcast to a wide audience; to regional or national
media in which multicultural imagery and multiple viewpoints are
visible, so that a wide range of options are available without cost
differential.------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
ARTS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through the arts individuals and groups can uniquely communicate
experience, perspectives, beliefs, hope, outrage, despair, desire,
problems, and solutions. For cultural democracy to flourish, every
cultural group, community and individual must have the means,
opportunity, and public arena to make and to exhibit its arts, and to
interact with its audiences. Participants, audiences, producers, and
funding sources must acknowledge multiple standards of excellence and
recognize the value of the creative process which emerges directly
from cultural tradition and is a powerful instrument for cultural
change.Currently, the dominant culture attempts to define "the arts" and
then dissociate them from the cultures of our people in two prime
ways. First, they are considered commodities, generally marketed to
and primarily accessible to college-educated, middle- or upper-class
people. The dominant culture tends to house its art in specialized
arts centers which isolates them from daily life and alienates them,
through rarification, from most people's culture. Second, public
funding agencies tend to support a single standard of so-called
"quality" in the arts that reflects the values of the dominant
culture and rarely fund artists or arts organizations critical of the
dominant culture and political status quo, or simply peripheral to
them.We believe that written or unwritten cultural policy must acknowledge
that all people are entitled to their right to make art, regardless
of economic or cultural situation. This implies access to
opportunity, instruction, materials, tools, space, public display,
and to both critical and unspecialized feedback. It includes the
right: to take for granted the respect of other cultural groups and
of funding sources for excellence internal to any culture; to make
and participate in the arts in the workplace, the park, the shopping
mall, or anywhere that people gather, as much as in specialized art
spaces; to compete for public funding in an arena in which the art of
dissent or of varied cultures is considered a valid and valuable form
of public expression.------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
PARTICIPATION IN THE CREATION OF PUBLIC CULTURAL POLICY
The participation of every individual in setting policy for his or
her society is theoretically guaranteed by many governments, but is
often neither supported nor encouraged. The right to social
participation and straightforward access to the process are hallmarks
of cultural democracy, as are the subtler means of engendering the
desire and power to participate.Currently, those who find it easiest to effect the public process of
cultural policy making at the Federal, State and Local levels tend to
be supporters of the dominant culture and those who monopolize the
resources necessary to frame both the issues and solutions within a
lopsided public debate. People without access to information, funds,
attorneys, or the media are therefore indirectly barred from the
participatory process. There is a pervasive assumption that those who
do manage to voice dissent are troublemakers. Such people are
dismissed rather than acknowledged as partners in the dialogue. There
is no arena for resolving conflicts in which one culture is
threatened by another.At the Federal level perhaps the greatest obstacle to participation
in cultural policy development is the official and false assertion
that there in no U.S. cultural policy! Written or not, a policy is in
place and is used to unjustly allocate public cultural resources.We believe that written and unwritten public policy must acknowledge
that all people are entitled to their rights: to choose to
participate in public debate, regardless of gender or sexual
preference, income, class, ethnicity, geography or culture; to
information that encourages participation and conditions which enable
people to participate without fear of being excluded; to publicly
provided resources which enable otherwise disenfranchised people to
participate equally in public process; to the expression of dissent
in an arena in which dissent and challenge are valued; to access to
an articulated legal process of resolving conflicts arising from
cultural differences in an atmosphere of mutual respect, and to a
formal mean of national and international redress of cultural
grievances and conflicts.------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
PUBLIC SERVICES AND FUNDING
------------------------------------------------------------------------Publicly funded institutions have a direct responsibility to
taxpayers and to the people whose lives they affect. Clients must
play a role in shaping the policy of service organizations. Public
funding agencies must develop guidelines providing genuinely equal
opportunity for people of all cultures and viewpoints to compete for
funding. Universities and other institutions must articulate policy
for interaction with the communities in which they are located.Currently, clients of public service agencies receive services that
they are rarely given the opportunity to help define according to
their own needs, and they seldom have any opportunity to challenge
the status quo. Public funding bodies tend to fund generic, "model"
projects in preference to locally or culturally-specific or
experimental or radical solutions to problems. Universities and other
institutions are de-emphasizing community service and local
interaction. They increasingly ignore the communities to which they
should be responsible.We believe that written and unwritten policy must acknowledge that
all people are entitled to their rights: to participate in setting
policy for those public service institutions that affect their lives;
to a democratic tax structure that equitably returns tax dollars and
services to communities; to public support for local initiative in
solving problems of local concern in all arenas from education to
economic development to public art.------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONCLUSION
------------------------------------------------------------------------A society in which a single culture or a single set of standards
flourishes is a society both weak and impoverished. The potential
collective strength of this country lies in our ability to recognize
and be inspired by our diversity. We are people of different
histories, languages, traditions, skills, values, ideologies and
tastes. Our social life must be constantly challenged and reinvented
as a collective project. There is no preordained system that will
produce adventure and joy. All people have a right to cultural as
well as to political and economic democracy. The three are mutually
reinforcing and all three are necessary to the survival of any one of
them as well as to the survival of society itself.Within a structure of cultural democracy and self determination,
however, each culture must maintain the right to challenge racism,
sexism, homophobia, and classism internally and externally.With the establishment of cultural democracy, we can truly
contemplate the possibility of a world free from violence, contempt,
and fear.------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALLIANCE FOR CULTURAL DEMOCRACYThis draft incorporates the editing work of Lucy Lippard, Don Adams
and Arlene Goldbard - including the comments of Bernie Jones - of an
original draft by Mark Miller and Maryo Ewell.
------------------------------
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5. Cinder Johanson memorial
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 18:50:49 -0800 (PST)
From: Sarah Pritchard
To: ALA Council List <alacoun[at]ala1.ala.org>
Subject: [ALACOUN:11151] Cinder Johanson memorialCouncil,
Thank you so much for allowing me to interrupt, unexpectedly, our
proceedings on Wednesday morning, to announce the untimely
passing of former Councilor Cinder (Cynthia) Johanson. Although
her LC colleagues knew she was gravely ill with cancer, I and
many of her ALA friends only found out when we came to Midwinter.
I had just sent an email message to be delivered to her, when I
got the sad news that she had already died Tuesday night. Thus
my state of shock that morning. John Berry, I'm especially
apologetic for the awkward intrusion on your report.Cinder, although less present at ALA in recent years, was a key
leader in the founding and early activism of SRRT, the Task Force
on Women/Feminist Task Force, COSWL, and other ALA groups
promoting equity and diversity. She served actively on Council
(perhaps Lois-Ann could verify the exact years) and got many of
us "trained up" to do the same. She was one of the movers in the
original Council Caucus and fought to democratize Council and ALA
committees. She had a long, varied and successful career (from
which she had not yet retired) in technical services at the
Library of Congress. At LC too, she pushed for equity and
diversity, working on union issues, the status of women
employees, ethnic and women's studies cataloging and acquisitions
(among other things). She was a great mentor to me and others
both in ALA and LC, places not known (in the past, anyway) to be
easy for newcomers or those with progressive agendas.She had a life rich with outside interests in folk art, jazz and
other forms of music, feminist grassroots activism, travel and
more. Together with another major ALA leader, Betty-Carol
Sellen, she co-wrote two books on folk and outsider art: "20th
Century American Folk, Self-Taught, and Outsider Art"
(Neal-Schumann, 1993) and "Self-Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art:
A Guide to American Artists, Locations, and Resources"
(McFarland, 2000).This is just what I know off the top of my head, and I welcome
assistance in trying to write a more accurate and complete
tribute. I'm sure we will hear more about memorial contributions
and resolutions but I just wanted to take a few lines to be a
little more articulate than I was this past Wednesday.Thanks,
Sarah=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Sarah M. Pritchard voice: (805) 893-3256 University Librarian fax: (805) 893-7010 Davidson Library email: pritchard[at]library.ucsb.eduUniversity of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
_________________________________________________________________________top
6. SRRT Feminist Task Force endorses Michael Gorman for ALA President
From: Sarah Pritchard <pritchar[at]library.ucsb.edu>
Date: Fri Jan 16, 2004 5:32:56 PM US/East-Indiana
To: ALA Feminist Task Force Discussion List <feminist[at]MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Cc: michael2004[at]csufresno.edu
Subject: ALA President endorsementTo the Feminist Task Force and other ALA members on this list,
At its meeting on Monday, January 12, 2004, in San Diego,
the ALA SRRT Feminist Task Force voted to endorse the
candidacy of Michael Gorman for the presidency of ALA.
Members of the FTF at the meeting, including councilors
Sarah Pritchard and Deidre Conkling, felt that Gorman
explicitly supported feminist issues and a progressive
agenda in ALA and had demostrated this in his recent years
of Council service. I asked Michael to write a brief
statement of his commitment that we could send to FTF members;
that is appended below. In addition, you may see more about
his stance on issues at his website, www.michaelgorman.org/.Balloting this year will be largely electronic, through a new
process just now being announced to members. Be sure that your
ALA directory listings have your most up-to-date email address
(this can be checked online), or call ALA to request a paper
ballot if you prefer.There will be another message listing FTF members running
for Council.Sarah
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Sarah M. Pritchard voice: (805) 893-3256
University Librarian fax: (805) 893-7010
Davidson Library email: pritchard[at]library.ucsb.edu
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 11:07:39 -0800
From: M Gorman <michael2004[at]csufresno.edu>
To: pritchard[at]library.ucsb.edu
Subject: StatementDear Sarah
Thank you for all your help and advice at Midwinter. I hope the
following is what you wish for the Feminist Task Force. I would
be honored and deeply grateful for their endorsement and thank
you again for advocating it."Librarianship is nothing if it is not a humanistic, inclusive,
progressive profession. I am unwavering in my support for
socially responsible policies, in particular as they apply to the
status of women in our profession. I am a former chair of the
ALA Pay Equity Committee and am committed, if elected, to
pursuing the continuing better salaries/pay equity initiatives of
ALA/APA. I am for the complete equality of women in society, in
the workplace, and in our profession and have always acted on
that lifelong belief."All the best, Michael
------------------------------------------
Michael Gorman
California State University, Fresno
(559) 278-2403
www.michaelgorman.org
_________________________________________________________________________top
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