Librarians and Human Rights

http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/mccook/librariansandhumanrights.htm

 

 

 

Librarians and Human Rights: A Seminar

 

Each December 10 as the world celebrates Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948; the world community builds solidarity and a unified vision.

 

Human rights, the assumption that all human beings, by virtue of their human existence, deserve certain rights and dignity are most eloquently defined in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 

“Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. [United Nations. (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights.]

 

The aim of the Seminar, Librarians and Human Rights, is to present a historical and cultural analysis of the role of librarians vis-à-vis human rights as defined by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The course will highlight the stated goals of the profession and the work librarians must do to achieve a more equitable society in the United States and a compassionate nation among others.

 

Readings and Resources / Professional Organizations / ALA Policy 61

 

 

 

Readings and Resources:

 

ALISE Information Ethics Special Interest Group, Position Statement on Information Ethics in LIS Education: http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/mccook/additionalinfo.html#IESIG

 

American Library Association, Policy Manual. “Article 19 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 58.4. http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governingdocs/policymanual/international.htm

 

American Library Association. Core Values Task Force II Report. http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/corevaluesstatement/corevalues.htm

 

American Library Association. Libraries: An American Value. http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/americanvalue/librariesamerican.htm

 

Berman, S. (2006). Classism in the stacks: Libraries and poverty. 2005 Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture; American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/ala/olos/olosprograms/jeanecoleman/05berman.htm

 

Buschman, J. (2003). Dismantling the public sphere: Situating and sustaining librarianship in the age of the new public philosophy. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.

 

Bell, C. J. (2006). Libraries and human rights education. Catholic Library World, 77(2), 130-138.

 

Global Exchange. http://www.globalexchange.org/

 

Hauptman, R. (2002). Ethics and librarianship. Jefferson, N.C.: Mcfarland.

 

Human Rights Video Project. National Video Resources. http://www.humanrightsproject.org/index.php

 

Ishay, M. R. (2004). The History of Human Rights From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era. Berkeley: University of California Press.

 

Jensen, R. (2004/2005). The Myth of the neutral professional. Progressive Librarian, 24, 28-34.

 

Kranich, N. (2001). Libraries and democracy: The Cornerstones of liberty. Chicago: American Library Association.

 

Knuth, R. (2006). Burning books and leveling libraries: Extremist violence and cultural destruction. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood.

 

Mccook, K., & Phenix, K. J. (2007). (forthcoming). Public libraries and human rights. Public Library Quarterly 25(1/2).

 

(2005). Social justice as a context for a career in librarianship. In Perspectives, Insights and Priorities: 17 Leaders Speak Freely of Librarianship. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

 

(2004). Public libraries and people in jail. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 43, 26-30.

 

(2004). The Librarian and human rights: Protecting discourse against repression. Catholic Library World, 74, 23-28.

 

(2004). Sustaining the public sphere in libraries. Human Rights Project. http://www.humanrightsproject.org/

 

(2003). Suppressing the commons: Misconstrued patriotism vs. a psychology of liberation. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 42, 14-17.

 

& Barber, P. (2002). Public policy as a factor influencing adult lifelong learning, adult literacy and public libraries. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 41, 66-75.

 

(2002). Rocks in the whirlpool: Equity of access and the American Library Association.” Commissioned for the American Library Association, “Key Action Area: Equity of Access” Web site. http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governingdocs/keyactionareas/equityaction/rockswhirlpool.htm

 

Ongley, D., & Roy, A. (2002). Cultural responsiveness, tolerance and the Alaska library community. Pacific Northwest Library Quarterly, 66, 16-19.

 

& Meyer, R. (2001). Public libraries and comprehensive community initiatives. Public Libraries, 40, 282-288.

 

"A-Librarian-At-Every-Table." Includes mailing list and 2-3 messages a week. Launched 7/8/01. Subscribers as of 1/01/05 : 780. http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/a-librarian-at-every-table/ continued at the blog : http://librarianoutreach.blogspot.com/

 

& Brand, K. (2001). Community indicators, genuine progress, and the golden billion. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 40, 337-340.

 

(2001). Social justice, personalism, and the practice of librarianship, Catholic Library World, 72, 80-84.

 

(2001). Poverty, Democracy and Public Libraries.” In N. Kranich (Ed.), Libraries & Democracy: The Cornerstones of Liberty. Chicago: American Library Association Editions, pp. 28-46.

 

(2000). Library Services and Diversity. Library Trends. (As editor, introduction, etc.)

 

(2000). Ending the Isolation of Poor People. American Libraries, 31, 45.

 

(1998). Rural Poverty Programs: Library Services to Farmworkers. In K. M. Venturella (Ed.), Poor People and Library Services. Jefferson, N.C.: Mcfarland Publishers, pp. 154-164.

 

Miller, R. & Bardales, A. (2006). Better together: The Joint conference. Library Journal, 131(18).

 

Joint Conference of Librarians of Color as reported in Library Journal: 'At a panel, Kathleen de la Peña Mccook (Univ. of South Florida, Tampa) reflected on a dearth in cross-organization work. Within ALA, the creation of the various groups-feminist, gay and lesbian, ethnic, and the Social Responsibilities Round Table-"may have divided us up too much," she said. Then she argued that librarianship is human rights work and suggested displays on subjects such as secret detention and rendition, enforced disappearances, the meaning of habeas corpus, and more. She and others encouraged the librarians present to, in Mccook's words, "commit to more active involvement in social issues.'

 

Montgomery, B. P. (1996). Archiving human rights: A paradigm for collection development," Journal of Academic Librarianship, 22, 87-96.

 

Phenix, K. J., & Mccook, K. (2005). Human rights and librarians. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 45(1), 23-26.

 

Primary Resources: Human Rights Seminar. http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/mccook/primarysourceshumanrights.htm

 

Samek, T. (2006). Freedom to Read Week: The Strength of librarianship in a fragile world. Feliciter, 52(1), 18-19.

 

Samek, T. (2005). Ethical reflection on 21st century information work: An address to teachers and librarians. Progressive Librarian, 25, 43-61.

 

Samek, T. (2001). Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in American Librarianship, 1967 -1974. Chicago: American Library Association.

 

Samek, T. (1996). The Library bill of rights in the 1960s: One profession, one ethic. Library Trends, 45, 50-60.

 

Samek, T. (2001). Library ethics, rights, and values: Provocative commentary on the utility of library rhetoric. (Canadian Library Association's Code of Ethics and the ALA Library Bill of Rights). PNLA Quarterly, 65(3), 15-17.

 

"Tracked in America." http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/mccook/additionalinfo.html#trackedinamerica

 

University of Washington. Human Rights Film Directory. http://db.lib.washington.edu/hrfilms/NewVersion/css2/hrfilms.htm

 

United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm

 

 

 

Professional Organizations committed to Diversity and Outreach:

 

American Indian Library Association: http://www.nativeculturelinks.com/aila.html

 

American Library Association. Office for Diversity. http://www.ala.org/ala/diversity/diversity.htm

 

American Library Association. Office for Literacy and Outreach Services. http://www.ala.org/ala/olos/literacyoutreach.htm

 

American Library Association. Social Responsibilities Round Table. http://www.ala.org/ala/srrt/srrt.htm

 

Asian/ Pacific American Librarians Association: http://www.apalaweb.org/

 

Black Caucus of the American Library Association: http://www.bcala.org/

 

Chinese American Librarians Association: http://www.cala-web.org/

 

Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) of the American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/template.cfm?Section=emiert

 

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table (GBLTRT) of the American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/ala/glbtrt/welcomeglbtround.htm

 

The Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force (HHPTF), a group within the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT), was formed in 1996 to help promote and implement Policy 61 (Library Services for Poor People) and to raise awareness of issues related to poverty (http://www.hhptf.org/?s=about ).

 

The “Library Services to the Homeless” page provides recommended resources relating to the following four categories:

 

*Economic, Legal, and Human Rights Issues

*Local Statistics

*Selected Readings for Librarians

*Social Exclusions and Libraries

 

In addition, the page links to an archive dating back to March 2005 and offers a list of entries by topic. http://www.hhptf.org/index.php?id=24

 

Information for Social Change. http://www.libr.org/isc/

 

International Federation of Library Associations. http://www.ifla.org/faife/policy/paris_e.htm (accessed May 2, 2005)

 

Progressive Librarians Guild. http://libr.org/plg/

 

REFORMA: National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking: http://www.reforma.org

 

 

 

Other Sources:

 

Union Librarian (blog): http://unionlibrarian.blogspot.com

 

ALA Policy 61 (Library Services for the Poor)

 

The American Library Association promotes equal access to information for all persons, and recognizes the urgent need to respond to the increasing number of poor children, adults, and families in America. These people are affected by a combination of limitations, including illiteracy, illness, social isolation, homelessness, hunger, and discrimination, which hamper the effectiveness of traditional library services. Therefore it is crucial that libraries recognize their role in enabling poor people to participate fully in a democratic society, by utilizing a wide variety of available resources and strategies. Concrete programs of training and development are needed to sensitize and prepare library staff to identify poor people's needs and deliver relevant services. And within the American Library Association the coordinating mechanisms of programs and activities dealing with poor people in various divisions, offices, and units should be strengthened, and support for low-income liaison activities should be enhanced.

 

61.1 Policy Objectives

 

The American Library Association shall implement these objectives by:

 

1. Promoting the removal of all barriers to library and information services, particularly fees and overdue charges.

2. Promoting the publication, production, purchase, and ready accessibility of print and nonprint materials that honestly address the issues of poverty and homelessness, that deal with poor people in a respectful way, and that are of practical use to low-income patrons.

3. Promoting full, stable, and ongoing funding for existing legislative programs in support of low-income services and for pro-active library programs that reach beyond traditional service-sites to poor children, adults, and families.

4. Promoting training opportunities for librarians, in order to teach effective techniques for generating public funding to upgrade library services to poor people.

5. Promoting the incorporation of low-income programs and services into regular library budgets in all types of libraries, rather than the tendency to support these projects solely with "soft money" like private or federal grants.

6. Promoting equity in funding adequate library services for poor people in terms of materials, facilities, and equipment.

7. Promoting supplemental support for library resources for and about low-income populations by urging local, state, and federal governments, and the private sector, to provide adequate funding.

8. Promoting increased public awareness--through programs, displays, bibliographies, and publicity--of the importance of poverty-related library resources and services in all segments of society.

9. Promoting the determination of output measures through the encouragement of community needs assessments, giving special emphasis to assessing the needs of low-income people and involving both anti-poverty advocates and poor people themselves in such assessments.

10. Promoting direct representation of poor people and anti-poverty advocates through appointment to local boards and creation of local advisory committees on service to low-income people, such appointments to include library-paid transportation and stipends.

11. Promoting training to sensitize library staff to issues affecting poor people and to attitudinal and other barriers that hinder poor people's use of libraries.

12. Promoting networking and cooperation between libraries and other agencies, organizations, and advocacy groups in order to develop programs and services that effectively reach poor people.

13. Promoting the implementation of an expanded federal low-income housing program, national health insurance, full-employment policy, living minimum wage and welfare payments, affordable day care, and programs likely to reduce, if not eliminate, poverty itself.

14. Promoting among library staff the collection of food and clothing donations, volunteering personal time to anti-poverty activities and contributing money to direct-aid organizations.

15. Promoting related efforts concerning minorities and women, since these groups are disproportionately represented among poor people.

Library lust: The Library at Night

http://www.thestar.com

 

Library lust LITERARY AFFAIRS | Alberto Manguel's marvellous new book is utterly sensitive to the pleasures of reading, filled with odd combinations, unexpected transitions and wandering scraps of esoterica, all in service of homage to the library — as symbol, refuge

 

Nov. 12, 2006. 09:25 AM

JIM CHRISTY

 

The Library at Night

by Alberto Manguel

Knopf Canada,

373 pages, $35

 

Who better than Alberto Manguel, that globetrotting, multilingual citizen of the world — raised in Buenos Aires, for years a resident of Toronto, now living in France — to pay homage to the library as the centre of civilization?

 

Manguel divides this marvellous work into chapters that bear such serious headings as The Library as Myth, as Power, as Order, as Island, as Survival ... This is a mere ruse or merely something that has to be done, such as it is necessary in a library to designate a section .921 or, beyond Dewey-land, Biography.

 

Manguel's mind cannot be contained within these categories. What he says of Aby Warburg's famous library in Hamburg applies to himself and his book: "There must be room for his ideas to migrate and mutate and mate."

 

And so they do. The Library at Night is filled with odd combinations, unexpected transitions and wandering scraps of esoterica with aphorisms appearing as signposts along the way. The great library at Alexandria was "a multitude of libraries, each insistent on one aspect of the world's variety." King Ptolemy, the library's founder, confiscated all books that arrived in the port of Alexandria. They were to be copied for inclusion in the library; thus the books came to be known as "the ships' collection."

 

Ironically, the Library of Alexandria, first mentioned by Herodas in the third century B.C., is being "rebuilt" in Egypt, although no one ever described what it looked like.

 

Friar Juan de Zumarraga was the first archbishop of Mexico and head of the Inquisition there from 1536 to 1543. On the one hand, he had all Aztec literature destroyed; on the other he was responsible for bringing the first printing presses to the new world, presses to print the first books for natives. On one hand, he forbade Jews to immigrate to the New World and burned at the stake most of the ones who had; on the other hand, it was a Jew he brought to Mexico to operate the printing presses.

 

Manguel is not shy about expressing his low opinion of the enemies of libraries and books, and what they have wrought. Of Melvil Dewey's decimal system, the world's most widely used, he maintains that it gives the spines of books "the aspect of license plates on rows of parked cars."

 

Of views expressed by one proponent of microfilm in libraries instead of actual books, Manguel writes, "There speaks a dolt, someone utterly insensitive, in intellectual or other terms, to the experience of reading."

 

This book is utterly sensitive to the experience of reading. By a library, Manguel means any collection of books, whether private or public, whether a vast holding such as the Library at Alexandria or the eight books maintained despite intense surveillance in Block 31, built for children, at the extermination camp at Birkenau.

 

At Bergen-Belsen, a copy of Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain was passed around. Inmates had it for an hour before it had to be passed along. "The book was my best friend," one inmate said. "It never betrayed me; it comforted me in my despair, it told me I was not alone."

 

Manguel has a wonderful discussion of imaginary libraries in literature, from Rabelais to Borges. Just as interesting are libraries one might think are imaginary but really do exist — the Father Christmas library, for instance, in northern Finland and the Dolous Library, which is housed in the world's oldest serving ocean liner and tours with half a million books

 

One's library is a self-portrait because, as Manguel writes, "readers are defined by the books they read." Patriots everywhere know this well, which is why Section 215 of the U.S.A. Patriot Act allows "federal agents to obtain records of books borrowed at any public library or bought at any private bookstore." These agents do not have to have evidence of any crime, "nor provide evidence to a court that their target is suspected of one." Furthermore, library staff would be breaking a law should they inform readers they are under investigation.

 

There is information in this book about Hitler's private library of 7,000 volumes. Although Manguel doesn't mention it, consider that if Adolph Hitler were living in the United States today, he'd be investigated for the radical books in his library.

 

The author's own library, south of the Loire in France, is constructed from the remains of a barn built in the 15th century. Sometimes at night, when he can't sleep, Manguel prowls around the shelves. When friends stop by at night, they sit outside the library under a couple of trees and discuss books they have read and wish to read.

 

Manguel, in this and his other books, comes off as quite the raconteur. I imagine he spins some yarns out there under the trees too.

 

Author and artist Jim Christy's most recent book is the novel The Redemption of Anna Dupreey (Ecstasis Editions).

 

Libraries in the Sand Reveal Africa's Academic Past

 

http://articles.news.aol.com/news

 

 

By Nick Tattersall, Reuters

 

TIMBUKTU, Mali (Nov. 10) - Researchers in Timbuktu are fighting to preserve tens of thousands of ancient texts which they say prove Africa had a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance.

 

Private and public libraries in the fabled Saharan town in Mali have already collected 150,000 brittle manuscripts, some of them from the 13th century, and local historians believe many more lie buried under the sand.

 

The texts were stashed under mud homes and in desert caves by proud Malian families whose successive generations feared they would be stolen by Moroccan invaders, European explorers and then French colonialists.

 

Written in ornate calligraphy, some were used to teach astrology or mathematics, while others tell tales of social and business life in Timbuktu during its "Golden Age," when it was a seat of learning in the 16th century.

 

"These manuscripts are about all the fields of human knowledge: law, the sciences, medicine," said Galla Dicko, director of the Ahmed Baba Institute, a library housing 25,000 of the texts.

 

"Here is a political tract," he said, pointing to a script in a glass cabinet, somewhat dog-eared and chewed by termites. "A letter on good governance, a warning to intellectuals not to be corrupted by the power of politicians."

 

Bookshelves on the wall behind him contain a volume on maths and a guide to Andalusian music as well as love stories and correspondence between traders plying the trans-Saharan caravan routes.

 

Timbuktu's leading families have only recently started to give up what they see as ancestral heirlooms. They are being persuaded by local officials that the manuscripts should be part of the community's shared culture.

 

"It is through these writings that we can really know our place in history," said Abdramane Ben Essayouti, Imam of Timbuktu's oldest mosque, Djingarei-ber, built from mud bricks and wood in 1325.

 

(Page 2 of 2)

HEAT, DUST AND TERMITES

 

Experts believe the 150,000 texts collected so far are just a fraction of what lies hidden under centuries of dust behind the ornate wooden doors of Timbuktu's mud-brick homes.

 

"This is just 10 percent of what we have. We think we have more than a million buried here," said Ali Ould Sidi, a government official responsible for managing the town's World Heritage Sites.

 

Some academics say the texts will force the West to accept Africa has an intellectual history as old as its own. Others draw comparisons with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

But as the fame of the manuscripts spreads, conservationists fear those that have survived centuries of termites and extreme heat will be sold to tourists at extortionate prices or illegally trafficked out of the country.

 

South Africa is spearheading "Operation Timbuktu" to protect the texts, funding a new library for the Ahmed Baba Institute, named after a Timbuktu-born contemporary of William Shakespeare.

 

The United States and Norway are helping with the preservation of the manuscripts, which South African President Thabo Mbeki has said will "restore the self respect, the pride, honor and dignity of the people of Africa."

 

The people of Timbuktu, whose universities were attended by 25,000 scholars in the 16th century but whose languid pace of life has been left behind by modernity, have similar hopes.

 

"The nations formed a single line and Timbuktu was at the head. But one day, God did an about-turn and Timbuktu found itself at the back," a local proverb goes.

 

"Perhaps one day God will do another about-turn so that Timbuktu can retake its rightful place," it adds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public libraries: who or what is "public"?

 

[An interesting article on Montréal's new anti-homeless policies with an extension to library access

and how "the public" is defined by those in positions of power]

 

http://www.gslis.mcgill.ca/marginal/public.htm

 

The Marginal Volume 14, Issue 1 October 2006

 

Public libraries: who or what is "public"?

 

by Katharine Barrette

 

The recent announcement that the city of Montréal will begin cracking down on homeless people sleeping in "public places" and downtown squares as of midnight Friday the 29th of September has raised the ire of homeless groups here and elsewhere in Canada. Up for debate is the idea of "public" space - who is the public that gets to use public space and for what purpose. Despite the fact that there are not enough beds available in local shelters to accommodate the city's homeless, it appears that the use of, or access to, public places are subject to change, particularly when the city has "received complaints". So what, you ask? Poverty is not new, nor is homelessness and what does this have to do with libraries anyhow?

 

It has a lot to do with libraries, in particular, public libraries. Public libraries are public places. They are warm, dry and quiet. They have books and local newspapers, many have internet-access computers and by extension of being public places, they have public washrooms. Unfortunately, in many cases, many libraries actively create and enforce policies that exclude the homeless or treat homeless users with little respect upon having "received complaints" from other library users.

 

With the announcement in March that the New York Public Library was to begin requiring a library membership card for users of the internet-access computers at the public library, the debate raged over exclusionary library policies. Homeless groups, librarians, even legendary library activist Sanford Berman weighed in on the issue, most taking a dim view of this policy that seems to be part of a growing trend across Canada and the US. While the library issued a statement that the new policy was due to a "technology upgrade", the fact remains that in order to obtain a library card; applicants are required to provide an address, thus excluding many homeless who regularly live outside of city shelters. Limited internet access bars the homeless from searching for jobs on local classifieds sites, from retrieving information on programs that may be available to them and from doing research or reading on topics that interest them. All of these are valid information needs because they are examples of some of the needs of the public.

 

To bring this home to Montréal, I learned last spring that a major public library in Montréal has a similar internet access policy, despite their advertising campaigns that touted this as the library of the people. Interestingly enough, the librarian to whom I had enquired about this, quickly added that they have "outreach programs and initiates" with homeless shelters in order to serve the population who might be excluded. While these were unspecified, it appears that only the homeless, who sleep in shelters and use them as their address, benefit from these programs. While outreach programs that "reach out" to the homeless are certainly to be applauded, why is it that we are unable to reach out and bring these people comfortably into a place that should be open to all?

 

As information studies students we all know that poverty can be a major barrier to access to information and that as librarians we should be sensitive to the information needs of our users, no matter who they are. As people, we also know that when we see the homeless sitting outside the grocery store, sleeping on benches in the Métro or washing up in the ladies room in the local public library, we experience a wide range of emotions such as pity, guilt, fear, revulsion, or sadness. So what do we do as librarians when a patron comes to complain that there is a homeless person dozing in the periodicals department and adds a comment on their level of hygiene? Do we sympathize with the patron and throw the homeless person out or do we sympathize with the homeless person because it's -25 outside and we know they aren't often permitted to spend the entire day in a shelter? The homeless do not always have access to clean clothes, hot showers, or places to store their worldly possessions. Is it fair for us to hold them to a set of standards that are only attainable by someone privileged enough to have these things? Do they deserve less respect, or a "special" kind of respect because of their situation?

 

Though a CLA statement on library service and poverty was not readily available, the ALA has published objectives for library services to the poor in their policy manual. Interestingly enough, the objectives seem to focus on working towards special services and "reaching beyond" the library, on access to material geared to the poor, or on poverty. There is also a vague:

 

"11.Promoting training to sensitize library staff to issues affecting poor people and to attitudinal and other barriers that hinder poor people's use of libraries". ( ALA Policy Manual, s. 61.1)

 

Interestingly, if you read the entire section, you may notice that more palatable terms like "poverty" and "poor people" are used throughout the section, with "homelessness" used only once in the introductory paragraph. It seems unfortunate that the homeless have been lumped with many other marginalized groups under a common heading when their needs and their situations may be completely different.

 

We don't like to think about it or talk about it, but when we think of "the public" we think about people on the bus heading to work, people walking along the city streets with places to go, the faces we see through restaurant windows. The homeless seem to exist in our minds as a separate "public" in the periphery of our thoughts when we think "library user community". Even at the forefront, they remain separate from "the rest of us" and we often choose to deal with them using outreach programs to bring books to shelters, have book mobiles, etc. I'm not knocking outreach, but we must admit that many of these programs are very effective in keeping the "unsightly" homeless out of our libraries.

 

What I'm getting at here, is that the homeless make us uncomfortable because most of us can't imagine ever being homeless or picture our friends, co-workers or family members living on the streets, but it could happen. Certainly, there are many factors that lead people to live on the streets, some within the scope of their control, some not. The point is that, like you and I and Todd next door and Lucy from school and that elderly lady at the grocery store, people are people; they have information needs that deserve respect and attention.

 

As I work in an academic library department with a certain mandate to serve the general public I have met many patrons. Some have been homeless, while some fit the stereotypical "homeless person" appearance of tattered clothing and odiferousness, but were not homeless. Some have had mental disabilities or have only ever used a computer once or twice. Of the students, faculty, staff and members of the public I have met, some were extremely intelligent, pleasant and kind; others have been rude and aggressive and boorish. Did I treat those that were or may have been homeless in the same way that I would treat any student or faculty member? Of course I did, although I will admit that there have been moments when I felt uncomfortable or frightened. I'm not saying this so that I can feel like a "nice person" or a "charitable" person; I am saying this because for information professionals who work with the public it is our duty to offer our professional services. This means behaving professionally to the whole public without excluding the traditionally marginalized. Emergency room doctors and paramedics are bound by duty (and in some cases, oath) to help those in need of their professional services, without exception. Should not librarians working in a public environment feel bound by duty to help with information needs?

 

Further, homelessness should be important to librarians because librarians have a role in education. If another patron complains that "this guy smells" and "that lady's bags are taking up all the space", or says "poor you, having to help that retard", I would proudly see it as an opportunity to try to point out that these people are members of the public and are deserving of respect, service, and most importantly, of consideration. If a concerned parent comes to complain that there is a homeless person in the library and that he or she might upset the children, I would consider it an opportunity for them to explain to their children about the respect and attention deserved by people who are less fortunate.

 

As weighty as this topic is, it is important to be mindful of it as we go about our work in libraries that serve the public. Words like public mean different things to different people; certainly, to the city of Montréal, a public place is not open to the homeless public for sleeping, even when the city is unable to lend sufficient support to ensure that everyone has a safe warm bed to sleep in. Our concept of the public has to be broadened to include everyone, and our concept of the public library as a public place should be directly reflected by the way in which we make the homeless patron feel comfortable, secure and, to use the old cliché, at home.

 

This personal musing is intended to provoke thought, enquiry and mindfulness. Some of the following may be of interest for further reading:

 

Akram, Aysha. "Homeless Barred From Web: New Rule Limits Library Usage" City Limits Weekly, March 16th, 2006. Online

 

American Library Association. ALA Policy Manual. Online

 

Berman, Sandford, "Classism in the Stacks" Transcript of the 2005 Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture. Online

 

Collins, Ariel W. Bibliography on Library Services to Poor People. Online.

 

"Community Spotlight: Librarians Examine their Role in Helping the Homeless", Shared Learnings on Homelessness, July 2003. Online.

 

Venturella, Karen M. ed. Poor people and library services. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1998.

 

 

 

Senators Question Closing of EPA Libraries

 

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is sharply reducing the number of technical journals and environmental publications to which its employees will have online access, according to agency e-mails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This loss of online access compounds the effect of agency library closures, meaning that affected employees may not have access to either a hard copy or an electronic version of publications.

 

As the cutbacks & closures continue, other stakeholders are beginning to agree with the EPA scientists & other employees when they conclude:

 

"We also believe that the sudden, draconian manner in which the EPA libraries are being closed, with little regard to protection of its unique collection of past technical reports and documents, is one more example of the Bush Administration's efforts to suppress information on environmental and public health-related topics while cloaking these actions under the guise of "fiscal responsibility"."

 

Full: http://depaullaw.typepad.com/library/2006/11/senators_questi.html

 

 

Fresh EPA Library Cuts May Limit Safety Scientists' Knowledge

 

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3840

 

 

by Megan Tady

 

Nov. 1 - Critics of the Environmental Protection Agency's latest downsizing of scientific library materials say it threatens to strip access to information from the very people who help develop environmental policies.

 

The Agency this month closed the library that its own scientists use to research and evaluate new and existing chemicals before approving them for public use.

 

With no public announcement, the EPA shuttered the Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances Chemical Library as part of its 2006 plan to "modernize and improve" its network of 26 libraries by closing some physical spaces and digitizing library holdings. The plan, released in August, was spurred by the Bush administration's proposed cuts to EPA library funding.

 

The Agency has already closed or is planning to close three regional libraries in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City. The EPA's library headquarters was also closed to "walk-in patrons and visitors" this month, and is now being used as a repository for library collections.

 

The EPA maintains that "unique" holdings of the Chemical Library will be made available on-line, while "sensitive" data will be available to EPA scientists through "internal mechanisms." Critics worry, however, that access to information will be difficult and elusive, and could severely threaten scientists' ability to thoroughly research the effects of chemicals before approving them.

 

Internal e-mails reviewed by The New Standard also suggest that much of the Chemical Library's collection was being dispersed to other libraries haphazardly, and the closure of the library was done hastily. The environmental watchdog organization Public Employees for Environmental Protection (PEER) received the e-mails from EPA staffers.

 

TNS is providing anonymity to the authors of the emails in order to protect the employees involved, who fear retribution.

 

The e-mails indicate that EPA library personnel were confused and upset by the hasty library closure. In one message, dated October 20, an EPA staffer urged other Agency libraries to claim materials by the next day.

 

In reference to a list of chemical journals another EPA library employee wrote, ".I hope we get more than 2 days also.. We have dropped everything and have reviewed the Chemical Library holdings this past week so that we can get what we really need before it is discarded."

 

A second email from another EPA library staff person complained about the "scattered disbursement, short time frame and minimal communications coming from on high."

 

The dispersal of library holdings to other facilities is outlined in the EPA's 2007 library plan. However, the Agency itself warned: "Although it may be tempting to dispose of library materials quickly, the loss of important and unique materials could have serious future consequences if the Agency cannot document scientific findings or enforcement actions."

 

The EPA refused to comment to TNS on why the Chemical Library holdings were being dispersed, or why the dispersal was happening so quickly.

 

But Jessica Emond, a spokesperson for EPA, defended the library closure program.

 

"Staff walk-ins to the libraries have declined dramatically over recent years as the rise in electronic communications has made it easier and quicker to obtain information," she told TNS. "In response, EPA has been examining ways to streamline the system while continuing to ensure that staff has access to library services needed to carry out the agency's mission."

 

Bill Hirzy, a senior scientist with the EPA for 25 years and vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union, the union which represents EPA employees, told TNS that the union believes the library closure has dangerous implications for public health.

 

Hirzy said when evaluating a chemical, scientists must look at such things as "toxicity to humans and other mammals. Will it be an ozone-depletor? Will it travel through groundwater?" He continued, "And where this information resides is, guess where? In the library."

 

One arm of the EPA that uses the library, the Office of Pollution, Prevention and Toxics, regulates testing of new and existing chemicals.

 

Hirzy also said he is not convinced that the EPA will quickly and efficiently transfer all of the library's hardcopy information into electronic databases.

 

He said scientists will have to "hope that (they) can track the information down through some system of computers instead of being able to take the elevator down to the third floor and find the information right there in front of you."

 

The EPA's library plan warned that "some disruption to access" to library collections may occur "until funding for dispersion is available."

 

"To preserve accessibility, a minimal level of staffing will be necessary to retrieve, reshelve and mail items," the plan said.

 

Because it is unclear whether scientists will have the same access to information previously afforded at the Chemical Library, Hirzy warned that the general public could be affected if scientists are making decisions about chemicals with less information at their disposal.

 

The EPA would not comment to TNS on how soon all of the Chemical Library's holdings would be digitized, and if funding was available to do that work. However, the library plan says, "The digitization process is proceeding smoothly and has the funding necessary to continue."

 

Hirzy said having an online library does not ensure the public will continue to have access to EPA information.

 

"The other wrinkle is that the general public right now, when they go into the library, there are librarians that can guide them through the search process," he said. "If you can't navigate your way through the electronic maze, too bad, you're on your own."

 

In the EPA's library plan, the Agency said it will create a plan to manage public inquiries and provide answers to frequently asked questions on the Agency's website. Additionally, the EPA says it will develop an "expert" list to facilitate the referral of more detailed questions.

 

Hirzy continued, "In general, the whole idea that the richest country in the world can't afford libraries for its environmental staff is pretty crazy."

 

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