February 2000

book kept on the shelf at school

A story out of OH, on the fight over a book.

A book about the devil, demons, the underworld, and the occult is never again going to leave Northwood High School.


In a compromise with two parents who wanted the book removed altogether, school board members have decided to prohibit students from taking the book from the library.


\”They were concerned about students taking it home to use without supervision,\” James Herr holtz, principal, said. \”Now it is to be a reference book, and I think it was a win-win situation.\”

\”I wanted the book out, but I felt that was the most I was going to get,\” Mrs. Richardson added. \”It could be a stepping stone for pursuing more information like this and with all the violence that is going on, we have to realize how influential [children] are.\”

A story out of OH, on the fight over a book.

A book about the devil, demons, the underworld, and the occult is never again going to leave Northwood High School.


In a compromise with two parents who wanted the book removed altogether, school board members have decided to prohibit students from taking the book from the library.


\”They were concerned about students taking it home to use without supervision,\” James Herr holtz, principal, said. \”Now it is to be a reference book, and I think it was a win-win situation.\”

\”I wanted the book out, but I felt that was the most I was going to get,\” Mrs. Richardson added. \”It could be a stepping stone for pursuing more information like this and with all the violence that is going on, we have to realize how influential [children] are.\”

Terrie and John Richardson had petitioned the Northwood Board of Education to remove the Dictionary of Demons, by Fred Gettings, from the school\’s library.

\”I didn\’t feel it was appropriate material for children to be reading,\” said Terrie Richardson, mother of three children in the district. \”I think it is influential and promotes demonic teaching, witchcraft, and the occult.\”

Dictionary of Demons explains the origin of the devil and other underworld inhabitants.

School officials were unwilling to remove the book, so the compromise was reached.

Mrs. Richardson and her husband are not completely satisfied, but say keeping the book in the school is better than allowing a child to take it home.

\”I wanted the book out, but I felt that was the most I was going to get,\” Mrs. Richardson added. \”It could be a stepping stone for pursuing more information like this and with all the violence that is going on, we have to realize how influential [children] are.\”

February 23, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

library alters its policy on book list

This Story is a follow up on the report we had a few weeks ago on a charge of censorship in a library.

In the aftermath of a charge of censorship, the Schaumburg Township library board has revised its policy on how new materials are added to its collection.

On Monday, the board voted to add an appeals process to the policy. The move came a month after the board denied a request by Hoffman Estates resident Christopher Bollyn to donate a copy of \”Final Judgment\” by Michael Collins Piper to the library.

The library\’s criteria to decide whether to acquire a book, ranges from the reputation or significance of the author to reviews of the material and its cost.

This Story is a follow up on the report we had a few weeks ago on a charge of censorship in a library.

In the aftermath of a charge of censorship, the Schaumburg Township library board has revised its policy on how new materials are added to its collection.

On Monday, the board voted to add an appeals process to the policy. The move came a month after the board denied a request by Hoffman Estates resident Christopher Bollyn to donate a copy of \”Final Judgment\” by Michael Collins Piper to the library.

The library\’s criteria to decide whether to acquire a book, ranges from the reputation or significance of the author to reviews of the material and its cost.

What the board continued to wrangle with, however, was material that is politically sensitive, such as is the case with \”Final Judgment,\” which advocates a theory that Israel was involved in the John F. Kennedy assassination.

\”We can\’t have everything on every controversial subject in the library,\” said board member Howard Sterling.

Others disagreed. Board member Robert Lyons questioned whether the book is controversial at all.

Meanwhile, board President John \”Jack\” Lucas said, \”Whether it\’s controversial or not is irrelevant.\”

Groups such as the Anti-Defamation League have condemned the book\’s publisher, the Liberty Lobby, as anti-Semitic.


But in a Monday interview, the author called the facts in his book \”thoroughly documented\” and said the Anti-Defamation League has attempted to thwart its distribution elsewhere.

February 23, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

The Not So Quiet Librarian

A Super Duper story HERE on the new director of the Detroit Public Library


Maurice Wheeler is the first African-American male to head the 135-year-old institution. At 41, he\’s also the youngest. And while many of the previous directors were bespectacled, the new director\’s glasses are decidedly hip.

\”I think we should be providing services that excite people,\” Wheeler says. \”This is not going to be the library of the past where you had to be afraid that the librarian would shush you. We want the library to be a social place. A place where everyone belongs.\”

A Super Duper story HERE on the new director of the Detroit Public Library


Maurice Wheeler is the first African-American male to head the 135-year-old institution. At 41, he\’s also the youngest. And while many of the previous directors were bespectacled, the new director\’s glasses are decidedly hip.

\”I think we should be providing services that excite people,\” Wheeler says. \”This is not going to be the library of the past where you had to be afraid that the librarian would shush you. We want the library to be a social place. A place where everyone belongs.\”

Wheeler, who served as a librarian at the University of Michigan and as the Detroit Public Library\’s deputy director before taking the head post in December 1996, envisions quadrupling the size of the Children\’s Library. The new space will include a puppet stage, a storytelling space and \”tons and tons of books\” for the 300,000 children who visit the main branch yearly.

But before that can happen, other departments will have to make way. The changes, including turning the video section into a coffee shop and a gift shop with new and used books, will cost $4 million. Money, says Wheeler, that will be well spent.

\”We were working so hard to keep the doors open that the kind of innovative services — the glitzy, sexy stuff that people are attracted to — were simply not priorities for us,\” says the Georgia native.

February 22, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

Win $100

Jamie at Slashdot.org continues his Must Read Filtering Series with this challenge.

Rules for the $100 offer are as follows. Find a search result URL that shows naked people, for a search on \”chocolate chip cookies\” or \”chocolate chip cookie recipes.\” I\’ll accept any variant that an inexperienced Web-surfer might search for. Your result must appear on one of the first five pages of results returned (typically the first 50 results). I\’ll accept any major search engine. Send me the exact query you used; I will only accept queries I can verify to work as claimed. You aren\’t allowed to put up a cookie page, submit it, then change its content; to prevent this, you have until 11:59 PM EST, Wednesday the 23rd. Only the first person gets the money; order is determined by timestamp of Received: headers at my server. I\’ll mail you a check or donate it to your favorite charity. This offer is made by me personally, not Slashdot, Andover.net, or VA Linux. Notify me at [email protected].

February 22, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

What’s So Smart About That…?

In yet another step towards embracing new technologies at the expense of user freedom, some libraries have started issuing so-called smart cards which allow patrons to access the Internet at varying levels, from \”full access\” [i.e. only mildly filtered] to \”restricted access\” [only safe sites]. Chat and newsgroups are never allowed and the viewing of obscene material may result in the loss of Internet privileges.

In yet another step towards embracing new technologies at the expense of user freedom, some libraries have started issuing so-called smart cards which allow patrons to access the Internet at varying levels, from \”full access\” [i.e. only mildly filtered] to \”restricted access\” [only safe sites]. Chat and newsgroups are never allowed and the viewing of obscene material may result in the loss of Internet privileges.some extra links to see what all the fuss is about:

February 22, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

Filtering flap continues in MI

Experiences draw group leaders into library Internet filter fight

The issue of requiring Internet filters at Herrick District Library has polarized the community.

And it\’s brought into the public eye several local people who have never been in the political spotlight before.

Those on the pro-filter side share a common passion — the fight against pornography.

All say their passion on the issue stems from personal pain.

Filter vote will prolong debate
\”I\’m just trying to make this a safe place to live,\” said Irv Bos, vice president of the local chapter of the Mississippi-based American Family Association.

\”I\’m so frustrated the community is bitter about this. I just don\’t understand the hearts and minds of those who criticize us,\” Bos said.

February 22, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

Harry Potter explained

In this essay taken from the current print edition of the London Review of Books, appearing online exclusively at Books Unlimited, comparative mythologist Wendy Doniger investigates why we love the wizard of Hogwarts.

Young Harry Potter\’s parents are dead. So far, so good: many of the heroes and heroines of the classics of children\’s literature are orphans, while others have invisible, unmentionable or irrelevant parents. The sorrow of grieving, not to mention the terror of helplessness, is quickly glossed over in favour of the joy of a fantasised freedom.

In this essay taken from the current print edition of the London Review of Books, appearing online exclusively at Books Unlimited, comparative mythologist Wendy Doniger investigates why we love the wizard of Hogwarts.

Young Harry Potter\’s parents are dead. So far, so good: many of the heroes and heroines of the classics of children\’s literature are orphans, while others have invisible, unmentionable or irrelevant parents. The sorrow of grieving, not to mention the terror of helplessness, is quickly glossed over in favour of the joy of a fantasised freedom.

Freud called this the Family Romance and argued for its utility in defining your apparent parents as people whom (unlike your real parents) you are allowed to desire or hate. This is the Oedipal configuration, best known from the eponymous case that Freud wrote about, but also from the myth of the birth of the hero explored by Freud\’s disciple, Otto Rank. The child\’s joyful expectation of coming someday into the greatness of his parents sustains him in the present situation of humiliation and impotence.

February 22, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

populist software rating startup

Charles Greenberg writes
\”I\’m one of those librarians that doesn\’t have enough to
do already and has wondered why populist sentiment for
software inadequacies (bad design) couldn\’t be harnessed and
aggregated to actually help consumers identify the simplest
and most usable programs. I decided Y2K might be the year
that a community of software raters could be found to launch
this, so I started techsimple.com

I do this on my own time with my own home resources, but I
believe there will be eventual benefit for librarians that
want an idea of what programs are simplest to use in a
number of categories, or they may want to refer library
users to my site.

I just started this site and need populist participation.
Librarians and educational technologists who have studied
usability and design will recognize that my rating survey
for each program is based on Jakob Nielsen\’s useit.com usability
heuristics for software design. Privacy for all individual
ratings and identities is maintained, and I don\’t see why a
rater couldn\’t have the application being rated open at the
same time they complete the survey.

I would appreciate feedback and

February 22, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

Can volunteers do it ?

Benton Foundation, at the request of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, published Buildings, books, and bytes in November 1996. The report reveals what library leaders and the public have to say about the future of libraries in the digital age. Follow this link to read the HTML version of the report. A PDF version will be available soon for downloading.

Elizabeth
Christian writes \”It jumps out from the recent
publication, Buildings, Books, and Bytes,Libraries and
Communities in the Digital Age by the Benton Foundation,
urgent, demanding a response. From one focus group which
made up much of this report
the statement
\”They..sanctioned the notion that trained professional
librarians could be replaced with community volunteers, such
as retirees.\”

As we try to push our \”information literacy\” services on our
publics they also said
\”they preered to acquire new computer skills from \’somebody
they know\’, not from their local librarians.\”

Retirees as volunteers…..

Benton Foundation, at the request of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, published Buildings, books, and bytes in November 1996. The report reveals what library leaders and the public have to say about the future of libraries in the digital age. Follow this link to read the HTML version of the report. A PDF version will be available soon for downloading.

Elizabeth
Christian writes \”It jumps out from the recent
publication, Buildings, Books, and Bytes,Libraries and
Communities in the Digital Age by the Benton Foundation,
urgent, demanding a response. From one focus group which
made up much of this report
the statement
\”They..sanctioned the notion that trained professional
librarians could be replaced with community volunteers, such
as retirees.\”

As we try to push our \”information literacy\” services on our
publics they also said
\”they preered to acquire new computer skills from \’somebody
they know\’, not from their local librarians.\”

Retirees as volunteers…..Coming perhaps, when a library job
bulletin board, is currently running along side ads for
library webmasters and managers, job descriptions that look
very much lik \”real\” jobs for library volunteers. What
occupation runs classified ads for volunteers in the same
space as ads for employees ?

I will be retiring soon,and it has occurred to me that I
might well volunteer at my local public libraries if I could
do something other than just shelve books. I am rethinking
this option now. I can see how volunteering, however well
meant might well further cut into the professionalization of
library work that must continue if libraries are to continue
to be important forces.

Libraries are more important than ever as they are the only
agency that really stands for the democratization of
knowledge. As more and more agencies and companies retreat
behind their \”itranets\”..all this information so available
in t this window of time may in fact be privitized again. No
one is there to speak out

February 22, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

Five science books rejected

This Story sent in from a reader in Oklahoma.

It was survival of the fittest textbook Friday as the
Oklahoma Textbook Committee rejected five of 16 science books because
of the way the theory of evolution
was presented and other issues.


With split votes each time, the committee rejected \”Fearson\’s Biology,\”
\”Biology Principles and Exploration,\”
\”Holt Biology: Visualizing Life,\” \”Asking About Life\” and \”Biology: The Living Science\” on the basis that they
contained either inaccurate or noncurrent information. The committee
adopted the remaining 11 textbooks.

This Story sent in from a reader in Oklahoma.

It was survival of the fittest textbook Friday as the
Oklahoma Textbook Committee rejected five of 16 science books because
of the way the theory of evolution
was presented and other issues.


With split votes each time, the committee rejected \”Fearson\’s Biology,\”
\”Biology Principles and Exploration,\”
\”Holt Biology: Visualizing Life,\” \”Asking About Life\” and \”Biology: The Living Science\” on the basis that they
contained either inaccurate or noncurrent information. The committee
adopted the remaining 11 textbooks.

Adoption of the 16 textbooks had
been on hold since November, when
the committee required that disclaimers be placed on the books stating
that evolution was a \”controversial
theory\” and urging students to keep
an open mind concerning the issue.


However, Attorney General Drew
Edmondson said last month that the
committee had no legal authority to
require such disclaimers and that the
panel had also violated the state\’s
open meeting act by failing to include
the item on its posted agenda.


The battle lines on the issue
were clearly delineated Friday
when two committee members
read opposing statements.


\”We are not here to debate
the theory of evolution,\” said
committee member Laura Dobson, an instructor at Roosevelt
Elementary School in Ponca
City. But Dodson went on to
quote two books indicating that
scientists have varying opinions
on the theory of evolution and
question whether there is any
evidence for macroevolution, the
idea that a species can evolve into another species.

February 20, 2000 by Uncategorized 0

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