February 2007

Paul writes “Welcome to Remote Access.ca Camels and donkeys are used in Kenya to bring literature, education and information to people who otherwise would not have access to them.

See it all in the fascinating documentary REMOTE ACCESS: Distant Libraries of the World.“

Fang-Face writes “You Say Scrotum, I Say Hoo-Ha, by Susie Bright, takes a look at the literary lynching of The Higher Power of Lucky. In it, she alleges that the core of the movement is ultra-conservativism . . .

Ms. Nilsson isn’t just a “teacher,” she’s a leader from the Durango Christian Science Church. When the media reports on issues of language or sexual attitudes and customs, it’s incumbent on them to inquire about their informant’s religious background and how it affects their decision-making. Who cares what Dana Nilsson thinks about librarianship, if her first priority is her Scriptural views of morality?

. . . and that the librarians associated with it are not at all representative of the field at large. She also places this incident in its socio-cultural context.”

Kelly writes “This article is an enjoyable little rant about observing the “mental worlds”, which is Hell, of other people via Amazon book reviews. The author believes this effort will be good for us, and we better do it soon, because, as he says,`Amazon’s remarkable venture in practical free speech is ending. In the nineties, before America’s dullard consensus had really gotten the hang of this internet thing, there really was a time when you could post honest reviews on Amazon. That’s over. First they did away with swearing and libel — the very mainstays of critical prose. Then they started insisting that reviewers use their real names, taking all the fun out of impersonating your enemies and plugging your own books.’ Learn how to go to Hell here: http://www.exile.ru/2005-March-11/hell_is_other_pe ople_on_amazon.html“

Here’s a woman that lives by Blake’s Golden Rule, nbc6.net Reports a Miami-Dade mother says a book (“Discovering Cultures, Cuba”) she checked out from her son’s school library contains false information about Cuba and she won’t give it back.

If you take it out and don’t return it, no kid can read it. It’s not censoring; it’s protecting our children from lies.”

Time for a new rule: Blake’s Second Golden Rule: You can do anything you want if it’s “for the children”

darakat writes “It appears that the British Natural History Museum have been doing something a bit naughty buy testing on Australian aboriginal remains despite agreeing that it would stop. “The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) has been negotiating with the museum for the return of the remains since 2000. The museum agreed to the request last year, but it subsequently started scientific testing on the culturally-sensitive material. The British High Court is currently in a case with the TAC and the British Natural History Museum on weather or not the remains should be returned. The case has some possible impacts for museums worldwide as it could set a precedent for the return of many remains otherwise that would be kept in the hands of museums as opposed to their traditional (or other) owners.

Here’s The Scoop“

JET writes “patriotledger.com Reports A high-risk sex offender from Norwell will be charged with possession of child pornography after he was caught printing photos of naked children off the Internet at the Hingham Public Library.

The second to last paragraph was interesting. We do not have pictures of are sex offenders posted in the library where I work at. However, it is a university library. I was wondering how many people here have those pictures of sex offenders displayed where you work at.”

News From Rochester, NY where the County Executive has apparently been asleep for the past decade.

In a strongly worded letter to Paula Smith, director of the county library system, Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks said she was “stunned” and “mortified” that the library would allow people, upon request, to obtain access to pornographic sites.

Brooks is threatening to halt about $7.5 million in county funding for the downtown library if it doesn’t tighten restrictions. The loss of the money, about 70 percent of the library’s budget, would essentially put the library out of business and cripple the library system in Monroe County.

Don’t worry, she’s doing it, for the children… “As a mother I was horrified to see our community’s children put in a position of being exposed to matters beyond their comprehension in some cases, in a place designed for learning,” Brooks said.

Don’t Buy My Book, Just Read It, in the New York Times, reports on the curious complaint of Seth Godin. He wrote a book and released it for free — under a Creative Commons license which allowed for commercial reproduction. One publisher is taking advantage of this for-profit distribution license and selling the book via Amazon, and Mr. Godin feels slighted. Read his blog for the latest.

Jim Demonakos wrote in to let us know Unshelved, the popular daily comic
strip about a library, is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Created by librarian Gene Ambaum and cartoonist Bill Barnes, the strip went live on the Internet on February 16, 2002, and quickly gained a cult following among library workers. Unshelved’s audience continued to grow as more and more people discovered the exploits of a sarcastic
public librarian named Dewey. Today over 35,000 readers enjoy the
strip every day at unshelved.com, via free email delivery, and by RSS
feed.

“Is it a comic that only librarians can appreciate? No.” says writer
Gene Ambaum. “A library is basically a store — everyone has been on
one side of the counter or the other. Fortunately for us there really
is such a thing as a stupid question.”

Camel Book Drive: Though The Camel Bookmobile (HarperCollins, April 2007) is a novel, the camel-borne library actually exists. It operates in Kenya’s isolated Northeastern Province near the unstable border with Somalia. It brings books to a semi-nomadic people who live with drought, famine and chonic poverty. The books are spread out on grass mats beneath an acacia tree, and the library patrons, often barefoot, sometimes joined by goats or donkeys, gather with great excitement to choose their books until the next visit. I visited the region and walked the bush with the camel library, and you can see pictures and a short video.