September 2003

A short NY Times Magazine Piece covers the PATRIOT ACt.

Margaret Talbot says there is a way in which what the librarians have been protesting is symbolically important, even if most of us wouldn’t, as a practical matter, much care whether our borrowing records, with their overdue Dr. Seuss books, were made public. There is a way in which reading is a stand-in, and a reading list a short-hand, for a life of the mind, an interior life, that librarians rightly feel ought not to be violated. It’s not so much the reading itself they sense needs protecting, but what makes us want to read.

I just don’t have the heart to put this one under authors…AP Entertainment Reports Madonna’s children’s story, “The English Roses,” was published simultaneously around the world Sept. 15 and will top The New York Times’ children’s list for the Oct. 5 edition.
According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks sales in the United States, Madonna’s book sold 57,369 copies in its first full week, ranking No. 5 overall. The top seller was Dr. Phil McGraw’s “The Ultimate Weight Solution,” with sales of 215,536.

Tina Emerick writes “Author George Plimpton dies at age 76. He is the Author of “Paper Lion” and lived in Manhattan CNN has One Story.”

Other stories at SunTimes.com, and The Guardian.

Rich writes “Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has introduced
the Bejamin Franklin True Patriot Act
HR 3171 “To provide for an appropriate review of recently enacted legislation relating to terrorism to assure that powers granted in it do not inappropriately undermine civil liberties.
,” which will repeal sections of the
Patriot Act, restoring attorney-client privilege
and revoking FOIA secrecy orders
The bill has 20 other co-sponsors and support from the ACLU, NAACP and CAIR
You can contact Congress at visi.com“

Paul Coleman writes “This story from the Montreal Gazette provides a sketch of an urban, private library’s evolution and possible demise, despite its continuing importance to the people of its neighborhood. The article also deals with the current shortage of public funds for Montreal’s libraries.”
They say Board members of the 175-year-old Mechanics’ Institute of Montreal, mainly volunteer, non-profit private library are fretting about rising operating costs and a worrying list of building repairs.

Fang-Face writes “Somebody needs to get his story straight. Another article challenges Ashcrofts assertions, and this time offers hard evidence. From American Libraries Online:

A statewide survey conducted this summer by the California Library Association reveals that since September 11, 2001, FBI agents have formally contacted 14 libraries with requests for patron-record information. The September 22 disclosure of the survey data in the Sacramento Bee came four days after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft asserted to police officers and prosecutors in Memphis, Tennessee, that the Department of Justice has never invoked Section 215 of the Patriot Act to access records of patrons’ library use, citing a just-released memo he had written to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

Fang-Face writes “Somebody needs to get his story straight. Another article challenges Ashcrofts assertions, and this time offers hard evidence. From American Libraries Online:

A statewide survey conducted this summer by the California Library Association reveals that since September 11, 2001, FBI agents have formally contacted 14 libraries with requests for patron-record information. The September 22 disclosure of the survey data in the Sacramento Bee came four days after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft asserted to police officers and prosecutors in Memphis, Tennessee, that the Department of Justice has never invoked Section 215 of the Patriot Act to access records of patrons’ library use, citing a just-released memo he had written to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

Emphasizing that “not all formal visits are Section 215 visits,” Karen G. Schneider, who oversaw the survey as chair of CLA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, told American Libraries that the committee nonetheless “set up the survey so respondents didn’t provide personal information,” thus shielding any library worker from revealing the location of a Section 215 contact; such a disclosure is a felony under the Patriot Act.

Conducted at the request of the Bee, the survey was mailed to CLA’s 2,000 members and collected data from 344 libraries, of which 260 are public, 47 academic, and the other 27 school or special libraries or library schools. Respondents were also asked whether the FBI had made informal information-seeking contact with their libraries since the September 11 terrorist attacks; 16 answered yes, with six revealing that they had complied with the request. Additionally, 41% of respondents indicated that they had established new patron-confidentiality policies because of Patriot Act provisions. “I’m very pleased at how responsive librarians have been to Patriot Act issues,” Schneider said of the statistics.

A September 25 Associated Press report quoted Rep. C. L. “Butch” Otter (R-Idaho) as speculating that “there may be agents out there who have asked for this information that, quite frankly, the head of the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., is unaware of.” But DOJ spokesperson Mark Corallo dismissed as “laughable” the theory that “11 federal judges that sit on the FISA court could not identify that they have not sworn out an order for library records and that the attorney general and the Justice Department had falsified reports.”

Posted September 29, 2003.

The above article is Copyright American Library Association, 2003, and reprinted here with permission.”

Katie writes “From the Lynnfield, MA North Shore Sunday: “The Booking Process – A new facility at St. John’s Prep has set the standard for high school libraries. But are such posh digs a pipe dream for the state’s public schools?

More… (Note: may have to select city/paper to view.)”

Mock Turtle writes “From the AP wire via Salon comes the report of a new Latin translation of the immortal Dr. Seuss classic, “Green Eggs and Ham,” here retitled, “Virent Ova! Viret Perna!!”

What’s different here is that instead of a literal translation of the story, translators Terence and Jennifer Tunberg went for a reproduction of the Seusslike rhythm. “This book doesn’t just look like a Seuss book. It sounds like a Seuss book,” wrote reviewer Sharon Kazmierski.”

The Winners of 2003 Public Library Building Awards, offered every two years by the Public Libraries Group of CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals are in. Ardkeen Library in Waterford City carried off the prize for the best small conversion, Lowestoft was declared the best large conversion, Cootehill in County Cavan, Ireland, won the best small new building category, while the winner of the best large new building award was Clayport Library in Durham. The Library Council of Ireland has some good images, and cilip.org.uk has the details on the contest.

Each participant must agree to have one word of the story tattooed upon his or her body. The text will be published nowhere else, and the author will not permit it to be summarized, quoted, described, set to music, or adapted for film, theater, television or any other medium. The full text will be known only to participants, who may, but need not choose to establish communication with one another. In the event that insufficiant participants come forward to complete the first and only edition of the story, the incomplete version will be considered definitive. If no participants come forward, this call itself is the work.

The Full “Story”.