LISNews: Librarian News

"I want to open my presidential records more rapidly than the law requires, and the current administration has slowed down the opening of my own records," the former president said at a press conference held to discuss his philanthropic efforts. "I am not afraid of disclosure and I hope that people will find, among other things ... some of the mistakes we made and why."
Historians, journalists, authors, and watchdog groups have complained that the review process for records stored at presidential libraries is taking too long. The critics also contend that an executive order Mr. Bush issued in 2001 exacerbated the problem.

The fight over White House secrecy has taken a new twist, with Senate officials confirming Wednesday that a Republican senator is secretly blocking a bill that would reverse President Bush's 2001 executive order allowing ex-presidents to seal their records indefinitely.

It's Friday, and time for another Presidential history lesson from C-SPAN. Tonight's/tomorrow's program comes from the Truman Library in Independence, MO. Here's a view of the C-SPAN bus/broadcasting unit and a story on the show from the Kansas City Star.

Truman Library Director Michael Devine said a highlight of the program will be outtakes from a television series in which Truman discussed his presidential decisions. They include his assessment of Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, his decision to use the atomic bomb and the firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

"That series was very good, but the outtakes are even better," Devine said. "They're much more revealing, much more candid. You get a sense of his real down-to-earth views, and it's a marvelous look at his sense of humor."

After the Bush Library reportedly backed out of a portrait they had commissioned from British artist Jonathan Yeo, the 36-year-old artist went forward with one anyway, a collage created from fragments of 100 porn magazines.

This Sun story has a small version of the portrait which you are invited to enlarge. Artist Yeo has even more graphic details of the portrait on his website.

The work was unveiled yesterday at London's Lazarides Gallery in Soho.