California Libraries fighting back!

The California State Library, together with the American Civil Liberties Union, are fighting the Patriot Act with ads in alternative newspapers. Full story.

source: A-librarians

January 25, 2004

Canadian Teachers watching over our governments!

The Canadian Association of University Teachers is trying to shine a light on the growing list of measures taken by governments in the name of the "war on terrorism." Their new site, War on Terrorism Watch, aims to encourage informed debate and discussion by providing the latest information and analysis available. Of interest, the small section on the analysis of the Patriot Act

January 22, 2004

Free Software at the WSF

The Free Software Foundation of India is making possible communication at the World Social Forum in Mumbai. So what are public and academic libraries waiting for? To learn more about open source, Brenda Chawner (School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) has compiled an excellent bibliography on the subject.

January 20, 2004

Student Showcase

The University of Alberta School of Library and Information Studies is highlighting excellent work written by their students. Of note, the sections on Globalization and Diversity and Intellectual Freedom and Censorship. It's really worth a look!

January 19, 2004

Report from ALA midwinter about Cuba

Jonathan Betz-Zall, City University Everett Branch Librarian.

I just returned from the American Library Association's midwinter meeting in San Diego, California, where the most controversial struggle in years finally climaxed in a report that almost everyone felt was well and truly balanced. The "Friends of Cuban Libraries" called it "sad" because it didn't call for the overthrow of Castro or the freeing of the "independent librarians" but almost the entire Council voted for it. This only occurred because the Social Responsibilities Round Table activists who had contested the Cuba issue with the "Friends" participated in writing the report and acted with great restraint in the debate. The "Friends" did not show up in person, although a couple of councilors introduced resolutions reflecting their position. But the SRRT leaders' obvious spirit of cooperation paid off in massive votes against efforts to condemn the Cuban government. They pointed out that the dissidents were jailed not for speaking or for lending books, but for acting as paid agents of the US government. I think that the councilors were also feeling angry at the Bush administration for railroading the USA into Iraq and wanted to avoid lending any legitimacy to another such invasion.