Montreal Library takes down "politically" charged exhibit

Five photos of a Palestinian refugee camp were removed from a photo exhibit at the Côte St-Luc Library (in one of Montreal's boroughs). The photos were part of an exhibit showing other refugee camps in Iran and Afghanistan, taken by Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photojournalist who died in nebulous circumstances in detention in Iran. Some people complained of the associations that were being made between the photos.

All the photos were subsequently taken down when the mayor (!) refused to put the pictures back up again at the demand of the photojournalist's son, Stephan Hachemi. Hachemi asked, in the name of freedom of expression, that the exhibit be shown in its integrity or not at all. The borough manager replied that the son "should respect the fact that a public institution is free to set its own policies."

Why are only public officials involved in this matter? I'd like to hear what the librarians have to say on the subject. The officials should read CLA's Statement on Intellectual Freedom

It is the responsibility of libraries to guarantee the right of free expression by making available all the library's public facilities and services to all individuals and groups who need them. Libraries should resist all efforts to limit the exercise of these responsibilities while recognizing the right of criticism by individuals and groups.

Link to story.

source: CLA-listserv

Copyright bill to be tabled next week?

Stay tuned to Michael Geist's blog. As reported today on Geist's blog and Slashdot, the Canadian government should table its copyright bill next week. Like in every other country over the past years, Geist believes that more user rights will be taken away in favour of big business.

source: YRO Slashdot

June 6, 2005

The American Chemical Society wants to shut down PubChem

This news has been on many listservs and on the lips of many scientists lately. From Peter Suber's SPARC Open Access Newsletter:

The American Chemical Society (ACS) wants to shut down the NIH's PubChem, fearing that the publicly-funded, open-access database will threaten ACS revenue from the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS). PubChem's defenders point out that it has 1% of the CAS staff size, 1% of the budget, and 3% of the coverage.

Peter also gives a selection of links to contact your representative to help save PubChem, and general background information as well.

source: danielle

John Pateman on Libraries and Social Exclusion

Check out these very interesting talks by John Pateman's on Developing a Needs Based Library Service and on Social Exclusion in Libraries given at a recent Vancouver Public Library staff conference.

A needs based library service has the appropriate strategy, structure and culture which enables it to identify, prioritise and meet community needs.

It can be summed up in the phrase “From each according to their ability (staff), to each according to their needs (community).” In other words, a needs based library service gets the most out of its staff (through workforce development); and takes positive action to meet the greatest needs of the community (through outreach, advocacy and intervention).

source: BCLA-listserv

June 1, 2005

WIPO Intellectual Property Forum

From June 1st to the 15th, WIPO is hosting an online forum "to enable and encourage an open debate on issues related to intellectual property in the information society, and in light of the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)." There are 10 themes that will be discussed, all very interesting, ranging from open access and the public domain (which they define using the definition on Wikipedia!), freedom of expression and the online use of IP.

source: BCLA-listserv

ALA Thanks Senator for PATRIOT Act Amendment

"Senator Wyden’s amendment to the PATRIOT Act would require semi-annual reports on the voluntary disclosure of business records for foreign intelligence purposes. (...) Senator Wyden’s amendment would allow the Congress to know more about FBI activity in libraries and it would also ensure that the FBI does not use scare tactics to gather library patrons’ reading records." Link to press release.

source: Topix.net

Most Harmful Books of Our Time

I think this one is making the rounds on the blogosphere... but double yikes! Look at this list of top 10 most "harmful" books of the 19th and 20th century, as choosen by "a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders" (all men, save one woman - from a pro-life policy group). And you probably guessed it... *THE* most harmful book of the last 2 centuries is none other than the Communist Manifesto. It even beats Mein Kampf. And I quote:

The Manifesto envisions history as a class struggle between oppressed workers and oppressive owners, calling for a workers’ revolution so property, family and nation-states can be abolished and a proletarian Utopia established. The Evil Empire of the Soviet Union put the Manifesto into practice.

(Did I just hear Austin Power's Dr Evil in the background?) Here are more (is this for real?) quotes:

(about the little red book - #3) Western leftists were enamored with its Marxist anti-Americanism. “It is the task of the people of the whole world to put an end to the aggression and oppression perpetrated by imperialism, and chiefly by U.S. imperialism,” wrote Mao.

(about Das Kapital - #6) Marx theorized that the inevitable eventual outcome would be global proletarian revolution. He could not have predicted 21st Century America: a free, affluent society based on capitalism and representative government that people the world over envy and seek to emulate.

(about General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money - #10) The book is a recipe for ever-expanding government. When the business cycle threatens a contraction of industry, and thus of jobs, he argued, the government should run up deficits, borrowing and spending money to spur economic activity. FDR adopted the idea as U.S. policy, and the U.S. government now has a $2.6-trillion annual budget and an $8-trillion dollar debt. (hmm... i think Bush is already doing a pretty good job at running up deficits. And last I heard, he wasn't a "dangerous" lefty reading Keynes or Marx.)

Other "honourable mentions" for most harmful books include Darwin's Origin of Species, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, and Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed

source: PLGNet-listserv

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