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"When Daley says shhh, library is quiet on Obama"

August 21, 2008 - 3:09pm — Anonymous Patron (not verified)

The Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago has refused access to conservative researcher looking into Barack Obama's ties to former Weatherman William Ayers, according to a blog post at the Chicago Tribune:

"First the librarians told Kurtz yes, come look. But by the time Kurtz landed in Chicago, the librarians changed their minds. The donor of the documents hadn't cleared his research. Perhaps they'll let him look at the documents on Nov. 5."

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August 21, 2008 - 10:21pm — GreyArea (not verified)

I thought librarians were

I thought librarians were for free and open access. These librarians should be fighting to keep this information free and open, regardless of political leanings. And if the Daley administration is leaning on the library to do this, the ALA (headquartered in Chicago) should take up the charge to defend the librarians and support the researcher who is requesting the information.

Anything less is atrocious and is an insult to the librarian credo of free and open access and intellectual freedom!

August 21, 2008 - 11:48pm — StephenK

And yet...

You heard about it first here at LISNews! To be the counterpoint to the points raised by the UIC folks, you can listen to LISTen's interview with Dr. Kurtz himself at this post right here on LISNews.
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Stephen Michael Kellat, Host, LISTen
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August 22, 2008 - 9:45am — Chuck

legalities

It sound like the archives didn't have a complete release from the donor of the materials; a donor that shuttered access.

It's not a great idea to have stuff in your archives that someone else has legal and physical and control over. But it's not exactly rare.

Maybe UIC is in a legal bind. They can't violate the agreement and probably don't want to give it back. So they're taking the heat for the anonymous donor.

p.s. Stanley Kurtz is a hack.

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