AnnaKh

I\’m having a contest over at Libr.org to replace my utterly weak 404 page with something better. Prizes include books,
music, and a little bit of booze. Libr.org is a domain hosting websites about libraries with a social and
political orientation, and is the home of the online presence of SRRT, the Progressive Librarians Guild, the
British group Information for Social Change, Library Juice, the GATS and Libraries page, Progressive
Librarians Around the World, Frankentoons, and other stuff. Details on the contest are at http://libr.org/contest.html. Deadline January 31st.

ALA\’s Social Responsibilities Round Table is taking a lot of heat at the
moment from pro-Israel activists who are incensed with ALA\’s resolution against the destruction of libraries
and cultural institutions in the Palestinian territories, and aware of SRRT\’s role in the initiation of that
resolution. If you would listen to these critics, all SRRT does is plot a radical international agenda for
ALA. In truth, SRRT does a lot of things through its seven task forces, and brings issues to ALA Council in
a variety of areas. A good way to find out about what SRRT actually does is to check out its website, or better yet, to read the latest issue of the SRRT Newsletter, which gives
the whole run-down on what SRRT and its various Task Forces have been doing. For the record, I am the
current Coordinator of SRRT, and I am a Jew who is not self-hating, and I am very comfortable with the
positions that SRRT has taken on international issues, led by our International Responsibilities Task Force.

Like it or not, a few hundred librarians have already signed
a
statement written by Mark Rosenzweig on behalf of
librarians in opposition to preparation for war in Iraq.
I signed it and I put it on the web, with a form for people
to use to add their signatures. I am a firm believer in the
ethic of neutrality on the job; but I also don\’t believe
that this neutrality means we shouldn\’t have opinions as
professionals or express our opinions as professionals off
the job. Read the letter; if you agree with it (strongly
worded though it may be) I urge you to sign it.

Over at Library Juice I collect the strange, stupid, sick, childlike and just plain funny searches that people do in Google and other search engines that lead them to pages on my server (Libr.org). Last night I compiled these monthly collections into one rather long list. To give you seven quick examples:

• number of electric guitar users in india
• the bibliography of dr. web dubious
• largest canadian gas mask bongs
• how to tell apart human gender
• Specifically Pictures of Condoleeza Rice
• millionaires with less than a high school education
• librarianship is a lie

Here\’s the official abstract from this interesting article in the new First Monday:

By examining the psychodynamic effects on human cognition of the adoption of the technology of writing we
can logically assess and contextualize the potential effect of the massification of networked information
systems on our day-to-day thought processes. The identification of congruent, parallel and differential
affect between writing and network technologies demands that their development be considered above and
beyond the dictates and imperatives of consumer capitalism, it demands that the Internet be thought of in
terms of public infrastructure rather than saleable capital.

The article is
The Network Society: A Shift in Cognitive Ecologies? by Mathew Wall-Smith

The list of user-centered original
subject headings created by Sanford Berman and his staff over two and a half decades
at Hennepin County Library is now going to be replaced in the catalog by
straight LC subject headings, or something close to that. In Sandy\’s
words, \”The curtain is coming down.\” He got the news on Tuesday. Sandy\’s ideas about user-centered cataloging live on in the books and
articles that he has written and in the work of the many catalogers who have been inspired by him around the world.

A story/thread on Slashdot entitled The
Futility of Censorship is about a project called The File Room by an
artist named Antonio Muntadas, and how it shows (or
doesn\’t show) that the existence of the internet stands to
work against censorship. What The File Room is is an
archive of censored materials from around the world,
making them available to anyone who has (full) access to
the internet.

Countering
Marginalization: Incorporating Zines Into the Library
is an article by Jason Kucsma, editor of Clamor Magazine
and former zinester. It\’s longish and interesting and it
is on the web as a recent supplement to Library Juice. Kucsma
writes, \”The
acquisition of more alternative
literature titles can help bridge the gap between the
traditional notion
of a library that focuses primarily on the printed word
and the more
unconventional idea of the work of libraries that we see
in the Popular
Culture Library. Included in the realm of alternative
literature are the
independently produced zines that have exploded in
numbers during the last
twenty years.\”

In case you aren\’t aware of him, Sanford
Berman is a living legend. This nicely-designed site
by Madeline Douglas brings
together diverse material by and about the great man
of progressive librarianship and LCSH reform. Included
are a bibliography;
the full text of his groundbreaking book, _Prejudices and
Antipathies_;
materials on his departure from Hennepin County Library;
biographical
information; the festschrift-zine \”Kiss My Filing
Indicators;\” an issue of
the HCL Cataloging Bulletin from 1974; links to related
organizations; and
a collection of writings (which you can find under
\”what\’s new.\”) Madeline
did a very good job with this site. I am happy to see
that it is nearly as
extensive as its subject deserves. Check it out.

I seldom plug my publication here, but this week\’s issue of Library Juice deserves mention, because it contains a good portion of the intellectual product that came out of the first ALA meeting following Sept. 11th. Contents include a report to SRRT by Al Kagan on the ALA Council meetings, the text of the resolutions (and a statement) brought by SRRT to ALA Council, an essay by Mark Rosenzweig on why war issues are library issues, the text of the IFRT/IFC resolution regarding the war that was passed by ALA Council (which I believe has already appeared here), a link to a collection of photos Howard Besser took in New Orleans, links to the two most recent SRRT newsletters, and lots of other good stuff. It is a very SRRT-y issue, because that\’s who I spend the bulk of my time with at conferences. Library Juice is often not this political, but I like it when it is.