August 2000

Zzzzzzzz… Yo, it\’s Monday, and today\’s highlights include an expected increase in book sales, what the California energy crisis is doing to bookstores, and selling used books for fun and profit (mostly profit). Get thee the buzz! Or at least the highlights….

Zzzzzzzz… Yo, it\’s Monday, and today\’s highlights include an expected increase in book sales, what the California energy crisis is doing to bookstores, and selling used books for fun and profit (mostly profit). Get thee the buzz! Or at least the highlights…. * 5% Increase in book sales expected in 2000
PublishersWeekly.com: August 28, 2000. According to the Book Industry Study Group Trends 2000, book sales are expected to be $24.71 billion in 2000, that\’s an increase of 5.2% percent over last year. Thanks to Harry Potter, the greatest increase is predicted for children\’s books. The college segment will account for the second highest increase with $3.38 billion, or 8.1%. By 2004, the BISG expects that
annual book sales will be more than $30 billion.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/articles/20000828_89823.asp

* Energy crisis in San Diego
BookWeb.org: August 25, 2000. Deregulation of the California\’s electric utilities has left booksellers in the San Diego area feeling burned and trying to find ways to cope with energy bills as much as three times higher than
last year. Some are reducing lighting and computer usage,
while others are actually closing additional days.
http://www.bookweb.org/news/btw/3610.html

* $670,000 raised by selling used books
Contra Costa Times: August 26, 2000. Nonprofit groups have discovered the value of used books to raise money. Goodwill Industries raised $670,000 in 1999 by selling second-hand books. One library group is also selling on the Internet, \”I just sold a Paul Theroux to a doctor in Japan. He paid seventeen bucks plus freight for a book we would have sold on the table for fifty cents.\”
http://www.contracostatimes.com/biztech/stories_bizwire/346053l.htm

Progressive Librarians Guild, an affiliate organization of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association, was formed in January 1990 by a group of librarians concerned with our profession\’s rapid drift into dubious alliances with business and the information industry, and into complacent acceptance of service to the political, economic and cultural status quo.

The development of public libraries was spurred by popular sentiment which held that real democracy requires an enlightened citizenry, and that society should provide all people with the means for free intellectual development. Current trends in librarianship assert that the library is merely a neutral mediator in the information marketplace and a facilitator of a value-neutral information society.

Members of PLG do not accept this notion of neutrality, and we strongly oppose the commodification of information. We will help to dissect the implications of these powerful trends, and fight their anti-democratic tendency.

Progressive Librarians Guild, an affiliate organization of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association, was formed in January 1990 by a group of librarians concerned with our profession\’s rapid drift into dubious alliances with business and the information industry, and into complacent acceptance of service to the political, economic and cultural status quo.

The development of public libraries was spurred by popular sentiment which held that real democracy requires an enlightened citizenry, and that society should provide all people with the means for free intellectual development. Current trends in librarianship assert that the library is merely a neutral mediator in the information marketplace and a facilitator of a value-neutral information society.

Members of PLG do not accept this notion of neutrality, and we strongly oppose the commodification of information. We will help to dissect the implications of these powerful trends, and fight their anti-democratic tendency.
PLG recognizes that librarians are information workers, communications workers, and education workers, as well as technical workers. Like workers in every sector, our work brings us up against both economic and political issues. Cataloging, indexing, acquisitions policy and collection development, the character of reference services, library automation, library management, and virtually every other library issue embody political value choices. PLG members aim to make these choices explicit, and to draw political conclusions.

PLG\’s Commitment

Progressive Librarians Guild is committed to the following:

• 
  to provide a forum for the open exchange of radical views on library issues
  
• 
  to conduct campaigns to support progressive and democratic library activities locally, nationally and internationally
  
• 
  to support activist librarians as they work to effect changes in their own libraries and communities
  
• 
  to bridge the artificial and destructive gaps between school, public, academic and special libraries, and between public and technical services
  
• 
  to encourage debate about prevailing management strategies adopted directly from the business world, to propose democratic forms of library administration, and to foster unity between librarians and other library workers
  
• 
  to consider the impact of technological change in the library workplace and on the provision of library services
  
• 
  to monitor the professional ethics of librarianship from a perspective of social responsibility
  
• 
  to facilitate contacts between progressive librarians and other professional and scholarly groups dealing with communications worldwide

The web site contains information about their activities, their publication, Progressive Librarian, their email discussion list, a collection of documents and information about how to join.

The Detroit Free
Press has a typical story on how great the web is
for education.

\”Students say it\’s easier to do research on the
Internet than in the library, where they say they have to
struggle with confusing reference cards and outdated
books. Parents also don\’t have to worry about taking
their kids to the library. \”

The Detroit Free
Press has a typical story on how great the web is
for education.

\”Students say it\’s easier to do research on the
Internet than in the library, where they say they have to
struggle with confusing reference cards and outdated
books. Parents also don\’t have to worry about taking
their kids to the library. \”More from Free Press

even teachers can get help with homework. The site
offers lesson plan ideas, classroom activities, site
reviews and educational news.

\”I\’m getting the Internet installed now,\” said Irene
Merritt, who teaches eighth grade math at Taft Middle
School on Detroit\’s west side. \”I plan to use it for help
with lesson plans and to find out easier ways of
teaching certain subjects.\”

Benjamin Dirden, a social studies teacher at Detroit
Redford High School, already uses the Internet for help
with lesson plans.

\”Just about any educational site that you pull up has a
link to lessonplans.com,\” he said.