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There have been a number of recent articles about Canadian librarian, Sherrill Cheda, who died June 7th, 2008. Cheda was a librarian at Seneca College, a columnist for Chatelaine, executive director of the Canadian Periodical Publishers Association, helped found the New Feminists in the early ’70s, and was also one of the co-founders of Emergency Librarian. See here, here and here for obits. Yesterday, Section 15 also had a great article about her.

I am writing on behalf of Amnesty International Canada to invite the
you to promote and join “Write for Rights” - Amnesty International’s exciting global write-a-thon on Human Rights Day on December 10. During “Write for Rights” participants write short letters to bring attention to human rights violations or to offer support to human rights leaders at risk of harm in other countries. Of particular interest this year, one of the actions will address the harassment and arrest of union leaders in Viet Nam.

In 2006, 150,000 letters were written by “Write for Rights” participants in 40 countries to address a variety of local and international human rights concerns. This year we are asking supporters throughout Canada to promote “Write for Rights” to others who may be interested.

It’s free, easy and fun to host a “Write for Rights” event and the letters generated can make a profound difference in someone’s life. To register your event or find additional information
about “Write for Rights,” please visit http://www.amnesty.ca/writeathon/.

If you require further information please feel free to contact Amnesty Canada at [email protected] or 1-800-AMNESTY.

Thanks,

Mandy Ashton
Amnesty International Canada

[via my mom ]

- JH

Social Justice Librarian is newish and We read banned books, and other stuff too a not as newish member of the Canadian library blog scene. these blogs are great their richness in content and snappy delivery. (I’m especially excited to see the intelligent, critical discussion about the links between policy and health information on Social Justice Librarian.)

as for the LA technical difficulties. these blogs would already be on the LA blog roll (and the library buttons on the top right which are way past-their-due-date would also be gonzo) but our need for a platform update has still not been met with the equal amount of free time and attention that it needs.

-PC-

Thanks to the PLG listserv for this bit of news about library innovation in Venezuela.

Here’s an excerpt:

Diving for books

A break came when it was my turn to ride a mule. I enjoyed a great view of the valley but held on tight as Chiquito veered close to the edge.

Hot and slightly bothered after two hours, we reached Calembe, the first village on this path.

Anyone who was not out working the fields - tending the celery that is the main crop here - was waiting for our arrival. The 23 children at the little school were very excited.

“Bibilomu-u-u-u-las,” they shouted as the bags of books were unstrapped. They dived in eagerly, keen to grab the best titles and within minutes were being read to by Christina and Juana, two of the project leaders.

“Spreading the joy of reading is our main aim,” Christina Vieras told me.

“But it’s more than that. We’re helping educate people about other important things like the environment. All the children are planting trees. Anything to improve the quality of life and connect these communities.”

And the full story through BBC News.

-PC-

From the PLG listserv.

The Progressive Librarians Guild stands in solidarity with the striking Vancouver Public Library workers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 391 as they fight for a fair and equitable contract that addresses pay equity, improvements to employee benefits, access to training, fair treatment of part-time and auxiliary library workers, protection against contracting-out and technological change.

Approved August 1, 2007 by the Progressive Librarians Guild, Coordinating Committee.

PLG website

-PC-

Here’s a trackback to a great post from Anthony Pash, Acadian University librarian at the Critical Librarian blog.

Asking questions about power.

Title of the post speaks for itself … check it out.

-PC-

Your chance to present at a conference with Drs. Toni Samek and Hope Olson! Or you can just attend the conference, too… no pressure. Please note that abstracts are due Oct. 15, 2007.

Courtesy of Dr. Elizabeth Buchanan, director of the Center for Information Policy Research, via James Pekoll.

-SIO

************
May 15-17, 2008
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Sponsored by the Center for Information Policy Research, the School of Information Studies, and the UW-Milwaukee Libraries, UW-Milwaukee

This conference will explore critical theories as grounded in and by alternative methodological perspectives and issues in intercultural information studies. Information studies as a field has become more disciplinarily, culturally, and methodologically diverse. This conference is intended to help advance the extension of traditional inquiry in this field into the important exploration of, and linkages to, such theoretical perspectives and approaches as feminism, disability studies, post-structuralism, queer studies, post-colonialism, post-modernism, semiotics, critical race theory, hermeneutics, and others is evident, as we face technological, legal, cultural, and global transformations. This conference seeks to bring together scholars from multiple disciplines, who engage in the discussion of “information” and “information studies” from alternative and critical perspectives, with a goal to promote social awareness, provide insight into inequities, and lead to progressive change in our information research and practices.

We will present work from leading scholars in information ethics and critical information studies followed by break out sessions based on open space methodology. In open space methodology, participants generate topics of interest based on keynote addresses and their own expertise. A part of the conference program is devoted to in-depth group discussions of those topics logically organized to contribute to the overall theme. Outcomes of those group discussions will be presented to the plenary and eventually form part of the conference recommendations on how to promote critical theory engagement and further research in LIS.

We are seeking abstracts of 500 words for review. Papers will be presented in 45-minute time slots, with 15 minutes of general q/a, and longer open space discussions to follow. We are particularly interested in works from women and people of color.

Abstracts due October 15, 2007
Notification by December 15, 2007

Full Papers, of 10-15 pages, due by March 1, 2008 (Authors will retain copyright, but all papers will be distributed in the conference proceedings, and archived electronically in the Center for Information Policy Research’s Occasional Papers; all subsequent publication by the author should reference the CIPR and the Thinking Critically Conference)

Submit papers to [email protected], attention Elizabeth Buchanan, Director, CIPR

Fee: $125/$75 (students); (conference speakers will receive a 50% discount of the conference fee)
Conference Hotel: The Astor Hotel (Refer to CIPR when making reservations for appropriate rates; reservations must be made by March 1, 2008 to ensure conference rates)

Registration details forthcoming.

Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Rafael Capurro, “Hermeneutics in the Information Age,” Founder and Director, International Center of Information Ethics, Senior Information Ethics Fellow 2007-08, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee
Dr. Hope A. Olson, “Transgressive Deconstructions: Feminist and Postcolonial Trespasses on Post-Structural Methodology,” Associate Dean and Professor, School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee
Dr. Fernando Elichirigoity, “Living in the Age of Globally Distributed Algorithms,” Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
Dr. Toni Samek, “Action Research and Activism: Sustainable Library Interactions at the Grassroot,” Associate Professor & Graduate Coordinator School of Library & Information Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, Information Ethics Fellow, 2006-07, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee

To add on to Sabina’s earlier post … now that Siobhan Stevenson’s call for keeping the public domain in public libraries has cracked into the public domain itself through First Monday, it’s time to talk turkey.

First, let me wax poetic for a moment and say that isn’t it great to be a part of a profession that shares information amongst each other, just because we want to? It will never cease to warm my heart. Second, our commitment to information sharing means that private interests from Gates and vendors alike, with their prepackaged sales pitches and honourary Harvard degrees, can’t measure up to the library community’s capacity to educate and inform the public, critically. It’s what we do.

That said, when terms such as Free and Open Source Software and Community Informatics arrive on the scene, they may not make the best first impression. FOSS and CI at first seem like brash guests at the party. They talk over your head, interrupt and confuse the humble and loyal guests, eat too much finger food and then question your menu choices, all while being nervy enough to recommend a better place for you to get your veggies.

Humph. So much for an invite back. However, if techie terms such as these crash the party again and continue to be so obtuse and unreachable, I urge you to see past their initial lack of manners and see them as the bold and renegade newcomers that they are, and simply need a guiding hand from some of the more experienced kids on the block. (And hey, they’ve got a solid point when it comes to buying more organic and locally grown food.)

If I were to have a standing list of block party invitees to mentor these newcomers into our midst, who would be on it? First, I’d make it a potluck. Second, I’d invite the ppl with whom FOSS and CI are already good friends and regularly exchange recipes.

The usual suspects of course:

Jessamyn West. Pimp your Firefox. Watch a video on installing Ubuntu. Make friends with Wikipedia.

Sarah Houghton-Jan. Too many ideas to mention.

Aaron Schmidt . Great blog title, appreciated the Gmail Greasemonkey tip.

Erica Olson. Another great blog title, probably helped me stay in library school at a moment of weakness. Includes some in your face techie goodness.

The Team at Lifehacker. (Still getting acquainted).

Casey Bisson. From whom there is recommended reading: Open Source Software and Libraries; LTR 43.3

And for a few Canadian based suspects

Richard Akerman - Science Library Pad.

Dean Giustini - Open Medicine.

… this list is a work in progress. Any suggestions?

-PC-

Siobhan Stevenson, faculty at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information Studies, has published a paper in First Monday entitled “Public libraries, public access computing, FOSS and CI: There are alternatives to private philanthropy“. Great read!

I had the great fortune to read her University of Western Ontario PhD thesis (The post-Fordist public library : from Carnegie to Gates) in which she lays out her critique of Gates and Carnegie-style philanthropy. Great thesis — interlibrary loan that baby if you get a chance. It’s only 125 pages long, too: good and succinct. She also has an article in the Winter 06/07 issue of Progressive Librarian entitled “Philanthropies Unexpected Consequences: public libraries and the struggle over free v. proprietary software”. Do you see the theme in her research?

Here is the abstract from her First Monday paper:

In January 2007, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) announced its second multi–year technology grant program for America’s public libraries. The purpose of Phase II, Keeping communities connected: The next step is to help public libraries sustain the public access computing infrastructure laid down during Phase I. Now, as then, the goal of the program is to bridge the digital divide. But it is a digital divide as defined by Bill Gates and not the public library community. Situating Gates’ philanthropy within a critical policy frame, this paper considers two alternatives to Gates’ problem definition of the digital divide, and how knowledge of these might benefit those communities served by public access computing (PAC) services as found in public libraries. The two specific alternatives considered come from the Free Software Foundation (FSF), and Community Informatics (CI). Significantly, both social movements promote the potential of free and open software as an important part of any solution. Finally, the public library literature is reviewed for patterns in the community’s use of FOSS, and the argument is made for its use in the delivery of PAC services.

First Monday is just super.

-SIO

Congratulations go out to Marcel LaFlamme of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston, MA. for his essay entitled “Towards a Progressive Discourse on Community Needs Assessment: Perspectives from Collaborative Ethnography and Action Research.”

LaFlamme’s essay will be published in an upcoming edition of the PLG Journal.

Honourable mentions go to Katherine Becvar, Department of Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, for her paper, “Intellectual Freedom and Sensitive Knowledge: Embracing Pluralism in the Process of Knowing,” and to Joshua Jackson, Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College, for his paper “Taking the Next Step: A Critical Encounter with Critical Information Literacy.”

I for one am excited to hear about the work of fellow library students.
Anyone else for submitting this work to E-LIS?

via the PLG listserv

-PC-

A couple of weeks ago, the University of Windsor hosted a conference that arguably was history in the making. But before this starts to sound like hype, let me continue.

The goal of ‘20 Years of Propaganda?’ was to critically examine the current relevance and role of the propaganda model twenty years after the publication of Manufacturing Consent. The event congregated the likes of media scholars, journalists, independent media reps and librarians from the US, Canada and Europe. Amongst a gaggle of speakers, Chomsky and Herman provided a (fairly delightful at times) plenary session, and on the final day Chomsky gave a public lecture to an audience of about 1000 ppl to round out the conference. Overall the event was interesting and galvanizing, if somewhat lacking in the new information and critical debate department. In the end, there was a final session to discuss launching/coordinating a media reform movement in Canada.

Things got interesting from the librarian POV at the public lecture. From the balcony arose the question (and I’m papaphrasing … those in attendance please correct me if I’m wrong).

What significance do libraries and librarians have in relation to the propaganda model?

Chomsky’s response gave kudos to American librarians for refusing to comply with the Patriot Act … especially since they weren’t known for being a ‘radical’ bunch (ha ha). And that was it, save for the nod for being helpful and keeping the Interlibrary Loan service trucking along.

Chomsky reportedly answers all of his email messages. On the way out of the auditorium, a fellow librarian recalled Naomi Klein’s view of the radical nature of librarianship. I’m thinking maybe Chomsky would like to have a look.

Because as you all know, we are more than helpful. We are a force.

Open Medicine’s first issue of peer reviewed medical literature is available online. Dean Giustini of UBC Library and the Google Scholar Blog has been a key player in bringing this new publication to life, and writes about it on both his blog, and now the Open Medicine blog as well. The journal was created in response to an editorial fiasco at the Canadian Medical Association Journal, with the intention of removing pharmaceutical industry influence over the production and dissemination of medical information.

Open Medicine is such a great title. It speaks to the need for not just open access to information, but also an open dialogue on how medical information is conceived, constructed, communicated, digested and negotiated. And while the open nature of the Internet provides an opportunity to level the playing field for patients, it is merely the first step to patient empowerment (not that anyone at OM has made an argument for technological utopianism). Pearl Jacobson notes in Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, power dynamics between patients and physicians are a key aspect to whether access to information will translate into actual patient empowerment on the ground.

Any open dialogue in the health library field that discusses what it means to ‘open medicine’ would best include a look at the term ‘consumer’. Does a term with free market connotations belong in the discourse of a public system? ‘Consumer’ suggests that patients have free will and ultimate control within the physician-patient encounter, which according to Jacobson’s review is not the case for a myriad of reasons. Recently on the PLG listserv, there was some excellent discussion and commentary on how language that expresses capitalist values and norms are not transferable to the field of librarianship. The term ‘customer’ was used on the CHLA listserv recently, and while I’m not familiar with the context from which it originated, it made me uneasy. Is there room for open dialogue on this subject in health libraries? What are the implications of a discourse that involves ‘consumerizing’ health information?

You can support the volunteer-supported Open Medicine by making a donation.

-PC-

Here at LA we’ve made the odd mention of the value of new and accessible audio materials, and how they support patrons needing alternatives to print materials. Shannon LaBelle, a MLIS student at SLAIS, UBC put together a fantastic presentation on the complete history of audio books in Canada.

Have a look …Audio books and access to information for Canadians with print disabilities.

I’d like an iPod in the fetching canary yellow depicted in “an example of an audiocassette player”.

-PC

An article about the shift in the role of public library from “library” to “homeless shelter”. (via MetaFilter which, as always, has lots of good discussion around all aspects of this issue.)

- JH

… and while possessing wisdom is no doubt its own reward, receiving some props from your peers and being granted an opportunity to network with the PLGers at the ALA conference in Washington DC is nothing to sneeze at.

Submissions are being accepted by the Progressive Librarian’s Guild for the Miriam Braverman Memorial Award.

Okay it is end of term. But I’m happy to inform you that the call is open until April 30.

So what are you waiting for?

— PC

Working Together is an innovative project attempting to overcome social barriers for marginalized people in Canada’s libraries. Right now, Working Together exists as a pilot project in four Canadian cities - Vancouver, Regina, Toronto and Halifax as well as a CLA interest group “Libraries in Communities”. The new Working Together web site has lots of information, an overview of best practices in this area as well as a discussion board.

Here’s the official announcement:

Hello all,

We are pleased to announce that the Working Together National
Demonstration Project website is now live at
http://www.librariesincommunities.ca/

We will be adding content as we create it and look forward to
participating in discussions about community development in a library
context.

Thanks,

Sandra Singh
National Director, WTP

Annette DeFaveri
National Coordinator, WTP

(via CLA mailing list)

- JH