Banned Books: GLBTQ issues and Censorship Paper

Culture Wars regarding GLBTQ issues: Another Reason to Ban Books in America

I chose to explore a topic which has been and will continue to be an issue in our school and public libraries. Books are censored from school and public libraries for many different reasons and the ALA has a website which breaks down the instances of these challenges and the reasons given for them.[1]  The issue that I chose to focus on for this presentation and paper is homosexuality, particularly in children’s and YA literature. Those who oppose representations of homosexuality in children’s books are trying to guard their children against what they see as harmful influences. If we, as librarians allow those citizens to affect the materials that we select and choose to house in our libraries, we are censoring material that some patrons might find helpful.  As librarians, we have a responsibility to serve every member of our community, keeping in mind those communities who have been traditionally underserved.[2]

The Avoidance of controversy is the cause of most instances of censorship in libraries, often done by librarians themselves. As one of my group members, Karl, covered in his portion of the presentation, most books are censored in the collection development stage in libraries; that is, they never have a chance to be acquired for the library. It is understandable, for library professionals to be afraid of controversy, as it must be a scary situation to find yourself in.[3] Many library professionals assume that they do not have any GLBTQ citizens coming into their libraries because these citizens remain silent and do not ask for information. This is a mistake; libraries must provide ideas and information across the spectrum of social and political views.[4] Libraries also have an obligation under the Library Bill of Rights to disseminate information representing all points of view on the topic of gay rights.[5]

My group member, Alison, covered in our presentation, some of the main reasons why books are banned or challenged and what the differences between these two terms are.[6] Although book challenges happen and they are scary for professionals, making children’s and young adult books inclusive for all children is also important to their development. [7] Many teenagers, whether they are GLBTQ themselves or have family members who are, seek out “positive and realistic portrayals of GLBTQ characters in fiction” and these resources in libraries, openly available to these teens, helps to “reduce feelings of isolation and despair.”[8] The American Library Association (ALA), Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) and American Association for School Libraries (AASL) are all places where library professionals, facing challenges to materials in their libraries can turn to.

There are a few organizations which actively attempt to censor and help others censor materials in libraries; the FFL is just one of them. The FFL (Family Friendly Libraries) is a national organization which started in Virginia and really began to take off in 1996.[9] This organization was established to fight internet pornography and age-inappropriate materials in local school and public libraries. The FFL now helps to rally people in all 50 states.[10] They call for parental access to children’s borrowing records (which would be a violation of ALA policy on confidentiality), restricting children’s access to what they call “anti-family” books while increasing the holdings of what they deem to be “pro-family” works. The FFL represents people with concerns who try to get librarians to either remove titles or accept restrictive acquisition-and-access guidelines.[11] For example, with books like Daddy’s Roommate (1990) and Heather Has Two Mommies (1989), the FFL would expect that if a library did collect these books, those dealing with children from GLBT households, that it could acquire them, but it could not allow children to read them and this library would be asked by the FFL to “balance” these new acquisitions with titles such as “you don’t have to be gay,” or books like it that treat homosexuality as a curable psychological disorder.[12]

The result of these complaints by the FFL and others like them who try to censor materials in public and school libraries is that, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and the American Library Association (ALA) began drafting documents like the one that the class was asked to review before the presentation, from which this paper was born. Although documents like the Library Bill of Rights have been drafted and updated to protect libraries since the 1930’s, school and public librarians felt the need to draft more documents which cover specifics, like library acquisition policies.[13]

Another book, for younger children is a delightful one called, And Tango makes Three. Published in 2005, it is a young children’s book based on a true story of two male chinstrap penguins that adopt a baby penguin and raise it together as a family. It has been one of the most challenged books in libraries since 2006.[14] Because so many of these books, which are available, are not acquired by libraries for one reason or another, or are being constantly censored and therefore may be hard to find in some communities, websites are a wonderful alternative for families seeking information and entertainment with is truly “family-friendly.”

Unfortunately many of the issues with censorship that we face now are not only in the paper books that we read but also on the internet.[15] Publisher, Laura Matanah, started rainbow Rumpus, the world’s first online magazine for LGBT families.  This is the world’s only online magazine for children and youth with LGBT families. The website gives all families access to positive materials, such as free printable books, blogs book reviews and comics. Started by Ms. Matanah after she realized that families like hers were not being represented often in books or online.[16] Ms. Matanah’s daughter saw a photo in the Human Rights Campaign magazine Equality and said “Look mommy! Two moms and twins just like us!”[17] This online resource gives information to GLBTQ families all over the world. Unfortunately, internet filtering can block access to informational websites like Rainbow Rumpus in some school and public libraries. Often the filtering software looks for keywords like, “gay, lesbian and homosexual,” and blocks access to any websites containing these words, equating them with pornographic or shameful sites, which also serves as a negative example for children.[18]

In book selection, it is important not to assume that there are only heterosexual parented families in your community or even that those families would not value books with diverse stories and characters. It is also important not to avoid choosing certain titles because you want to avoid controversy. There is really no way to avoid controversy and by trying, you are actively taking part in another type of censorship, self-censorship. Both the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) here in Madison and the ALA’s website provides useful information for librarians in what to do if a book in challenged.[19] It is important for librarians to know their rights and responsibilities and to have places to turn to if they are facing a challenge.

Works Cited:

ALA.” Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials.”http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm (accessed on December 12, 2010).

ALA.” Resolution on Threats to Library Materials Related to Sex, Gender Identity, or Sexual Orientation.” http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/statementspols/ifresolutions/threats.cfm (accessed December 12, 2010)

ALA. “Challenges by Reason.” http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengesbytype/index.cfm (accessed December 13, 2010)

ALA. “ About Banned and Challenged Books.” http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/aboutbannedbooks/index.cfm (accessed December 18, 2010)

Alexander, Linda B. and Miselis, Sarah D. “Barriers to GLBTQ Collection Development and Strategies for Overcoming Them.” Young Adult Library Services vol. 5 no. 3 (Spring 2007): 43-49.

Boyer, P.S. (2002). Purity in print: book censorship in America from the Gilded Age to the Computer Age. Print culture history in modern America. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

Chamberlain, Katherine. September 30, 2010, “Spotlight on Censorship—And Tango Makes Three,” The Office for Intellectual Freedom Blog, http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=1541 (accessed December 12, 2010).

FFL. “Guidelines for Working With Local Public Library Boards.” http://www.fflibraries.org/recommendations_public_library.html (accessed on December 12, 2010).

Rainbow Rumpus. “Our History and Mission.” http://www.rainbowrumpus.org/about/history (accessed December 12, 2010).

Rowell, Elizabeth H. Missing: Picture Books Reflecting Gay and Lesbian Families. Young Children vol. 62, issue. 3, May 2007: 24-30

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[1] ALA, http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengesbytype/index.cfm (accessed December 13, 2010)

[2] Linda B. Alexander and Sarah D. Miselis, “Barriers to GLBTQ Collection Development and Strategies for Overcoming Them.” Young Adult Library Services vol. 5 no. 3 (Spring 2007): 43. The authors refer here to GLBTQ teens as an underserved library community. I dare to extend this “underserved” label to GLBTQ families, which is the community I have focused on for this paper.

[3] Ibid.: 43.

[4]ALA,http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm (accessed on December 12, 2010).

[5]ALA http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/statementspols/ifresolutions/threats.cfm (accessed December 12, 2010).

[6] ALA, http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/aboutbannedbooks/index.cfm (accessed December 18, 2010). According to the ALA’s web page, “About Banned and Challenged Books,” often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. The following were the top three reasons cited for challenging materials as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom: 1.) the material was considered to be “sexually explicit”; 2.) the material contained “offensive language”; 3.) the material was “unsuited to any age group.”

[7] Elizabeth H. Rowell, “Missing: Picture Books Reflecting Gay and Lesbian Families.” Young Children vol. 62, issue. 3 (May 2007): 24

[8] Linda B. Alexander and Sarah D. Miselis, “Barriers to GLBTQ Collection Development and Strategies for Overcoming Them.” Young Adult Library Services, Spring 2007: 45.

[9] P.S. Boyer, Purity in Print: Book Censorship in America from the Gilded Age to the Computer Age. Print Culture History in Modern America. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press (2002): 326. The FFL was established by a woman named Karen Jo Gounaud in 1992 in Fairfax County, Virginia, the organization  really began to take off in 1996.

[10] FFL, http://www.fflibraries.org/recommendations_public_library.html (accessed December 12, 2010). This website provides those who wish to censor library materials with guidelines and suggestions for affecting library policy.

[11] P.S. Boyer, Purity in Print: Book Censorship in America from the Gilded Age to the Computer Age. Print Culture History in Modern America. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press (2002): 326.

[12] Ibid.: 326.

[13] There are several other groups such as PABBIS (Parents Against Bad Books in Schools), also based in Virginia which have similar goals in providing resources for citizens who wish to see a book or other material removed from a school library. Here in Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee, the West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries has been attempting to ban public library materials and fight the ALA and their Bill of Rights. These organizations are active online.

[14] Katherine Chamberlain, September 30, 2010, “Spotlight on Censorship—And Tango Makes Three,” The Office for Intellectual Freedom Blog, http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=1541 (accessed December 12, 2010).

[15] Since our group project was based around school libraries and the banning on books, in particular, I wanted to mostly stay away from the subject of internet filtering because I didn’t want to throw off my group member’s presentations or make it seem like we had missed something, when in actuality, I think we covered our bases rather well considering we were taking on such a huge subject.

[16] Taken from a personal telephone interview with Laura Matanah by the author, Jessica Miesner, on December 2, 2010.

[17] http://www.rainbowrumpus.org/about/history (accessed December 12, 2010).

[18] Linda B. Alexander and Sarah D. Miselis, “Barriers to GLBTQ Collection Development and Strategies for Overcoming Them.” Young Adult Library Services, Spring 2007: 45. This article provides many useful resources and examples of instances of discrimination and how it might adversely effect children.

[19]http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm (accessed on December 12, 2010). The website states that in the event that a material is challenged in a library, a response for a librarian is “The library has a responsibility to serve all taxpayers, including those you may not agree with—or who may not agree with you. We believe parents know what’s best for their children, and each parent is responsible for supervising his or her child. You can control what your children are exposed to simply by going with them to visit the library or supervising what they bring home.  Maegan covered many of these resources in her portion of the presentation.  

Urban Public Libraries and Big Box

Urban Public Libraries
Readings:
The example of the Near North branch in the article that we read is an unusual case, I would assume. To move the new, expensive library into an area in between an upper class white neighborhood and a lower-middle class predominantly African-American one is probably a rarity. Once this branch did move in, the other improvements that followed, such as new middle to upper class buildings that went up in the neighborhood where lower-income housing used to be, displaced the local population that had visited the library before these other neighborhood improvements. So, as we can see in this article, the good experiments, like the Near North branch turn out the same as many of the other urban branches who move into the rich area and do not open the lower and middle-class patrons. New, complex, beautiful and sometimes ridiculous buildings in urban areas of our cities try to build up an area but mostly fail to reach or cater to, all of the patrons in the area. I believe that this was a good reading to do to show the plusses of urban libraries when these libraries are run by a functioning and even thriving city public library system, like the Chicago Public Library. The article mentions the downside of moving a new urban library into a lower to middle class neighborhood (or actually on the edge of it). It does not dwell long in this negative atmosphere but chooses to venture into more positive aspects of the community programs of the Chicago Public Library as a large city system.

I do dislike at the end of the article, on page 11 of the text, how they refer to the musical programs for the community as offering "serious" music to the young people of that community. Sounds a bit to me like promoting the "right" reading. I also was a bit distracted by the mega-typos in the article. But I still feel that this was a pretty good article to choose for us to read before the presentation because it gets into the gentrification issues a little while still choosing to promote a positive view of the new branch in Chicago. I would have liked to see another article which got into some of the bad parts of these new urban library projects. Fortunately, the presentation sections provided some good and well-rounded oversight of the issues involved.

Presentation of material and ideas:
The presentation of the idea of gentrification and homelessness were looked at in much more depth by our classmates who did a fantastic job. The gentrification that happens when libraries move expensive new buildings into neighborhoods that are suffering financially, is an area that needed to be covered and it was, beautifully. It was all good, every member did a good job but for me personally, Laura's discussion of problems and programs for the homeless in public libraries, is one of the most interesting issues with building new, expensive buildings in urban areas of our cities. Especially in large urban settings, the homeless and "street people" make up a large part of the patron population and we need to think about their needs when we build programs for our new libraries and improve them in the old buildings. This was a very good presentation.

Big Box
Readings:
The New York Times article talks about how books in these new bookstore inspired public libraries place their books in sections, like "neighborhoods," similar to a Borders or Barnes and Noble like bookstore. I personally find this annoying, but I like to know precisely where my item is going to be, and with Dewey classification, you have most of the related books on your subject, or Author placed in a collated fashion, so that it is easy to find on the shelf next to the item that you may have looked up in the catalog with a call number. I personally, would like to see bookstores classify their materials like libraries, but I certainly wouldn't force that idea.

I certainly like browsing, in bookstores and in public libraries but I want the option of finding the material right away, first try that a Dewey classified library can give me and bookstore can't. I like Dewey and so I do not agree with Mr. Courtright on this one.

I think we run the risk here of making our libraries too social and too comfortable and pushing out those patrons who come to study, not to hear someone talking on their cell-phone about the drunken escapades they may have had the night before. I don't want my library to be like my bus in that way! I know that a comfortable library is nice and I want my library comfortable but we need to ensure that studying happens there as a number one priority. I pretty much disagree with this article and it makes me even more interested in libraries and what makes them special and different and a place that I would be much more likely to inhabit for the day than a damn chain-store. The parts of the article where Coffman decides to put forth the idea that we could get away with paying our librarians a barely-livable wage if we wanted to be modern and posh, infuriate me.
Maybe we are really talking about the differences between a capitalist bookstore model-fake, pushy and fluffy; and a socialist library model-real, respectful and solid. Rachel's final comments were particulary nice, we have to be prepared to state to people why we, as librarians are important and worth the extra money. We care, we are not just in it to get extra Christmas spending money. We care about our patrons, not their money.


 Presentation of materials and ideas:
I really enjoyed Elizabeth's use of the pictures and concentration on libraries in our city of Madison, before and after renovations. Since I am brand new to Madison, this was a very enjoyable and informative approach.
I also really enjoyed Tomissa's presentation and how she went into the College Library cafe, here at UW-Madison and how the books are shelved, sort of in "neighborhoods," like the NYTimes article refers to.
The mention of storytime and how it differs in libraries and in bookstores was also really powerful.
I like the idea of keeping the libraries open for more hours, like Barnes and Noble and other such stores are open until 11pm, where most public libraries are only open until 9pm.

This pretty much sums up how I feel about this one,
One of my favorite things about being in a library as opposed to a bookstore: being left the hell alone!-JM

Electonic Book Readers and One City-One Book: inspiring MEANINGFUL conversations

Electonic Book Readers


My feedback after reading the document Electronic Book Readers:
The reading provided me with a good basic overview of the history of these devices, I didn't realize how long they had been around.  I love that it uses less power while also being easier on the eye: one of the many wonders of this new technology. The way I think of the "lag" in refresh time is that I don't friggin care! It is a great new technology with the crazy little balls and I would not complain if one of these were to fall into my lap this Christmas. Unfortunately, I am forever poor and so is my family and I don't see me or my husband actively using one of these unless they were more like 30$ a pop. But that is just us, what I once thought was a stupid waste of money, after the reading that we were assigned and the wonderful presentation, I find incredibly cool and worthwhile. I will be watching this new technology with anticipation of a cheaper or free option for someone like me. The article provided a lot of information to think about, both for personal use and for this new devices use in public libraries. It gave me, as a beginner in this new digital world, good insight into the different types of e-books and technologies and what may come in the future. It was well written and, most importantly for our purposes, very well presented.

Presentation of materials and ideas:

So, the electronic book reader...well, I might never be at a point in my life where I feel that I need or even want one, but the presentation given by my classmates, at least in part, made me want to see other people use them. They don't seem so frivolous when I think about how much they may help people who have issues, physically reading a book. Although it is also covered in the article, our classmate did a really good job of explaining how people with disabilities might utilize the electronic voice reading options. I thought that this was the part of the group presentation which made me wake up and really get into the idea of uses for these new devices.

Oh, and by the way, E-ink is incredibly cool and I am so thankful that Justine provided us with insight into how this all works and how it is different from the normal backlit devices that I am used to (or getting used to).
The group spent sufficient time talking about DRM, which of course I had no idea about until doing this reading. The DVD player-breaking analogy was very useful for those like me. Hell, even a "last VCR on the planet" analogy would have worked for me.

One City-One Book: inspiring MEANINGFUL conversations

My thoughts on the readings:

Inspiring great and meaningful conversations in any city is hard to do, especially with the choice of one book per year. Through a public library system in one city, trying to promote one book alone is a hard choice and almost certainly has to echo the diversity of that particular city. I feel that this is a great way to engage people since many people who do have the time to read for pleasure, might come into a library and thing, "so many choices." If there is an option to read a book that is being promoted, has been properly reviewed by people who know "good books," this serves as a great option for those who only have time to dig into one book (like those of us who are in classes for years and years).

It's interesting that the ALA provides a CD for purchase called one book,one community resource guide with poster templates and all of that included for libraries prepared to do a program.
It's nice that the ALA is so involved on the one hand, but I also find it kind of disheartening that publishers and writers may be kissing up to libraries to get their names and titles on one of ALA's booklists for community reads. That reminds me a bit of the ALA's first published selection books for libraries which ignored many controversial and important books. But, still I like the fact that libraries are trying to bring people together to discuss and get excited about reading books again.

Presentation of materials and idea:

The group who presented did a fantastic job in capturing most of the positive and negative arguments for these types of programs. I really liked the fact that they included the idea that this is not just an expansion of the "book club" idea but instead, it is meant to engage all branches of a city's library system, as well as cultural organizations, and bookstores. I really thought that the flyer of the presentation was an excellent idea as well, as it helped to solidify the main points and give us something to contemplate after the presentation.

The Warhol Foundation fights back!

The Warhol Foundation is fighting back against the censorship at the National Portait Gallery of David Wojnarowicz's work. I am glad someone has the power and authority to do this.

Now, another artist has asked for his work to be removed from the exhibition. Artist AA Bronson, whose work "Felix, June 5, 1994,"

Ruth Brown Blog

Ruth Brown: Why was her story so important?

The reason why Ruth Browns story is so special, as Louise Robbins states in the beginning of her book, is because even though the story seems to be about communist ideas, it centers around the breaking down of racist policies in libraries in American life. Ruth Brown was not targeted and fired because the library board in Bartlesville thought that she was a communist. The communist approach to her attack was a convenient excuse in a time when America was experiencing mass hysteria of sorts in the name of the "red scare." The battle against communism was convenient to use as an excuse because it was a battle being fought even at the highest levels of government. No, the library board and citizens who fought against Ruth Brown were fighting to keep their own ideas of a segregated society in place. These officials and citizens alike, thought that Ruth Brown represented a new and scary "other" and this is why she was targeted.

Ruth Brown was a threat to citizens because she wasn't shy and timid, like most librarians were seen to be (the stereotypical librarians that we have talked about in class since the first week of readings). She felt that she had little or nothing to lose, she was near retirement, had no children except for the two girls that she raised to maturity after their parents died and adopted as her own. These two girls were now raised and grown and had moved on. She saw herself as having no dependents. To the citizens of Bartlesville who wanted her removed, Ruth Brown was a very big threat.

In a way, the fight against censorship, communism, and equal rights for African-American citizens in the South, go hand-in-hand. They coincide at this time and Ruth Brown is a prime example of things that were most likely happening all over the country to peole in different ways.

People like Ruth Brown presented a threat to others comfortable and secure ways of life and thinking and to the values that they were comfortable with. People are reluctant to change their morals and THIS is the real fight presented in these pages. Seeing how far this fear can go to ruin lives and careers, when our local State and federal govt's do not take a stand against them, this causes real fear.

The communist rhetoric of yesterday is continued in the socialist rhetoric of today. This is the true reason why I found this book so interesting and powerful. Louise Robbins did a fantastic job researching these topics. Being from the area, I think she had a much better understanding than most of the underlying and unspoken fears of the public and how they must have played into the controversy in Bartlesville. Robbins did a beautiful job presenting this story in a bigger context than what may have been in the memories of those involved.

Library as place

In the Freeman article, we get an idea of library design from an architectural/design firms perspective. Here, a successful library expansion or new library design in an academic setting requires flexibility. Separate spaces for contemplation (silent reading rooms) as well as areas for collaboration with others (enclosed study rooms for groups) are both needed. The problem that I have with new library design ideas is that I believe that if possible, room should be made for the physical book stacks to be integrated into the library site. I don't believe that off-site libraries fulfil the needs of most college students on campuses at this time. The actual books need to be readily and easily accessable. If it takes a week to get a book, this may be too late.

As the Freeman article states, projects for classes which used to take two weeks to research now might only take an evening of a students time. Therefore, I feel that the library materials need to be physically accessible both in print and on the web. It goes without saying that flexible library design includes places for plugging in laptops and such but there also need to be adequate spaces for those students using print materials. I think that most libraries on campuses have successfully adapted to this rising need for laptop computer outlets.

Libraries as learning laboratories
The idea of private study rooms is an important one. I feel that a successful collaborative space will have the technology available to do dry-runs of presentations with digital projectors in each study room so that groups of students working on projects may have a good sense of how the next days presentation will go. These group study rooms should be laboratories to test how a presentation might go in the actual classroom setting . This would be very helpful. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to practice in a similar setting before giving a group presentation. Since students don't have access to the classrooms, usually, I believe it is very useful for their academic libraries to have areas where they can reserve space to practice.

Gov Docs

All three readings for this week were very interesting but I warmed up most to the Eschenfelder/Miller and the S+R for several reasons. The article from Ithaka S+R was quite useful in helping me understand the many issues with Goverment Documents and their distribution issues. The Eschenfelder/Miller reading brought up issues of different levels and standards for providing information to the general public and how this differs between the GPO and other institutions such as the DNR. Nancy Mulhern from the WHS explained many important points which were needed for me to properly analyze and understand the implications of the readings for this week.

The issues that Nancy covered in her fantastic lecture that I found particularly interesting were: (all while still being obviously sick, which was impressive) 
(1.) Explaining more about the mission of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
I am new to this region and being new, all is confusing when it comes to the state buildings surrounding us because we are the capital city. I have never spent much time in a capital city before so it is a bit overwhelming because there is so much to learn. I find it interesting that they collect what they can from all of North America and that, as a result, it has become one of the largest libraries on this subject.
(2.) Questions about going electronic.
In both the Ithaka S+R and the Eschenfelder/Miller readings, I automatically wondered about the issues associated with having fully digitized and digital born documents available for people. With the Eschenfelder/ Clark, I wondered why they didn't have more paper documents available for people with questions about CWD. I realize that this particular study was not about analyzing the information from DNR in paper-format, but in website digital format. I just thought about how much information is probably not being released in paper format either since adding things to the website would probably be easier and definately less expensive that distributing paper documents. I have not looked fully at the website, though I am sure that they do not have all the information that the public wants on that site. It sounds like Wisconsin and Colorado are the only two states who even try to make documents available, even if it is only partial information.
There is definately a problem there in several ways: one way being that many people who might be looking for the info are not on the web and might have no clue that the DNR even has a site; and another being that the DNR might be picking only the information which would benefit their organization and maybe not providing some statistics because they feel there has not been enough research done to warrant placing it on the site and perhaps creating more of a problem for themselves. I say, this only leads to more public mistrust. They can say, "this is what we think....but these are the facts, decide for yourself." In the Ithaka S+R article, I had the same questions about the people who don't use digital formats to recieve their information. The article states that 97% of NEW government documents are available digitally as of 2009, and part of that exists only in digital form. Nancy brought up the fact that many places are able to choose many items to be kept in print, but not others. She seemed to be very suprised that she was even given a choice on anything, that they even bothered to ask. As is stated in the Ithaka S+R article ( in footnote #4), print brochures are a very important way of getting information to the general public that may not have or want to use digital formats for their research.  It seems to me that print is a great way to preserve information in an age where we are constantly enundated with new technological concepts and formats. Print will always be print it won't change and I believe that there should be at least one official print version of everthing, just in case. I say, digitize it but also keep as many paper copies as you can because most digitization is not akin to preservation. The problems is, how do you store it. 
(3.) The Preservation of these documents, both print and digital.
The Ithaka S+R speaks about the preservation of these documents and the problems associated with having them in digital formats, particularly when the documents are being edited and updated. There is the FDsys federal digital watermark which authenticates the document but what about preservation?
(4.) What is accurate and what has been edited.
We kind of got the impression from the research conducted by Eschenfelder/Miller that there are issues with the DNR only putting certain documents and statistics on their websites, which I really have a problem with. In the area of federal government documents online, there is another issue which pertains to preservation and accuracy in government documents. This issue has been partially solved by using the FDsys to create a way of certifying that the information is accurate and the document is trustworthy. FDsys created a federal kind of digital watermark. I was still a bit confused about exactally what this meant and about FDsys and what it was until Nancy came to speak to the class. This is all new to some of us and just reading an article usually isn't enough to explain some of these devices. Some of these articles that we read assume a previous knowledge base for these issues which we might not have during our first semester.
(5.) Problems associated with the release of this information to the general public without charging a fee.
I was also happy to hear Nancy explain a little more about Hathitrust vs. Google books. I had hear a bit of a complicated professionally informed conversation between Michele Besant and one of the students in the program who knew a lot about the Google digitization project. I have been confused by what Hathitrust did and how it worked with Google books, how they were different. This issue is much more clear now. I had no idea that UW-Madison was so active in the digitization through Google. Nancy was kind enough to explain about the copyright status of government documents which we learned about in the fabulously informative lecture by Kristen Eschenfelder the week before so I understood what she was talking about. When commercial vendors get hold of these materials and start charging fees that the government does not pay for, we have to pay for it. This goes against the basic principles established first, long ago, by people like Thomas Jefferson, that to have a truly democratic state, you must provide the public with the information they need to make an informed decision. I am glad to hear that there is another viable option for the digitization of documents for the public.

What I really thought about after reading all three of these articles is that since so many people rely on the public libraries for their gov. docs, are there special training programs for public librarians who want to take continuing ed. classes or offer them to the employees who will most likely have to deal with reference questions in this area? As a future public librarian (maybe, perhaps), I wonder about how much training most public librarians (and library assistants) have in this area and how much the government can do to help to educate them? Some, if not most of the people trying to access law documents are in the public libraries without any money to spend on these subscriptions or anyway to know where is best to look. This is being left up to the under-paid and overworked public librarians and they need help. For instance, Nancy spoke about the fact that when you search online for government documents, there is no author so you have to have knowledge of which dept. of the govt. this document would be included in? This takes special training and experience.

Intellectual Property Laws and Heritage Protection

I disagree as much with the author on certain points which are made in this article as a I agree with other viewpoints that were illustrated. What I really disagree with in this article is the paragraph on page 54 where the author states that he feels Johnny Bulun Bulun leaves important questions unanswered in his statement in the that the author places in the above paragraph. The author states that he does not see how a reproduction in a book or in this article has less negative impact than the art reproduced on a T-shirt or blanket to be sold by someone other than the community and person who has made the art. I disagree totally. I think that if the artist was given a chance to explain this, he would. I believe, having read this article and it's issues very carefully, that the artist and his community might not have as big of a problem with the reproduction in a book because the art is reproduced to be a teaching tool about the culture and it's aesthetics, whereas reproducting this on another type of product implies that the person wearing this art reproduction might in fact be trying to embody the art. This cannot be done by anyone outside the community.I guess this would be considered part of the fair use doctrine? I am not going to say what this is an what this isn't because I just don't know enough about it. I think the author should have done the same in regards to the spiritual issues of this case. I feel that the author could have tried to take a more neutral stance here but instead he interjects his own opinions which lead the reader to believe that he finds Bulun Bulun's claim to be fraudulent. Otherwise, I actually found this article and it's discussions to be very interesting and important. I don't really know anything about Aboriginal cultures in Australia but I know that in some ways, these issues mirror issues closer to home for all of us. Unfortunately in this country, we do not hear very much about the constant battles which still go on in American courtrooms since our ancestors colonized the U.S. and took land away from our own native peoples.
I think that the author makes some really solid points later in the article and provides good examples to give his readers a sense of how complicated all of this is and how different our cultures are from one another. We cannot infringe our own rules onto others because, as Michael Brown states late in the article, "the theft of musical and artistic genres becomes the final assault after colonialism has taken away everything else.
Michael Brown also starts a conversation about the expiration of intellectual property and what this might mean for cultures like the aboriginal community that Bulun, Bulun belongs. I feel like these rights should extend to the communities from which the artist comes. They are from a different culture than we are and we should not try to impose our laws or ways of being upon them.

Literacy in American Lives

Although this book is a bit outdated, because as Brandt states, what held true of valuable levels and kinds of literacy might not be true in the future. Her research is still fairly relevant today and I believe that she charts the changes in the standards of literacy very well.
The thing that I warmed to the most about this book is the way in which Deborah Brandt uses economic research into education to show her points. I liked especially, the example of how employers may use their own funds to provide an education to improve literacy in a certain area for certain employees. This way, the employer may be guaranteed to earn more money from this employee in the future because of their increased literacy. Because this book is older, there are issues which Deborah did not really have a chance to cover totally, simply because things have changed so quickly in the area of computer literacy standards of today.
Continuing with this thought I was thinking of my own literacy experiences growing up, thinking about others' experiences growing up now, who may not have even the regular opportunity to be "computer literate." These young, poor people live in many areas, even here in Madison. They might not have access to computers as often as we do. When I was growing up as a kid and teenager, it was the 90's. I was at the tail-end of Generation X. Since my parents did not (and still do not) own a computer at home or even know how to email. I didn't even get my first computer lesson until 2002, when I took a beginners level computer class and got my first email, this is way later than most other people I knew. The best places to play with computers in the early 2000's was at the public library, although you could either get a 15 minute computer or an hour-long computer to practice on. When I was in high-school, my school recieved some sort of grant because our scores were so low and they gave us one computer in every room for the teachers and students to use. Of course what happened there was that inevitably, the people who were already familiar with how to use a computer were the ones to play on them. This was the same at the public library. Since I didn't really know how to use one, even after my beginning computer class, I just kind of avoided them.
Flash forward to now, 2010. I have had a good 10 years to become acquainted to computers and have one at home but I still feel like I am constantly behind everyone else in my computer literacy. I think this is because I had such a slow and disjointed introduction to them. When you are uncomfortable with something, you tend to avoid it. Now, I have my husband to help me when I don't know how to do something on the computer and I think that even if I didn't have a husband who had dreamed at one point, about 10 years ago, of becoming a computer programmer, I would probably still own one. But I don't really know how comfortable I would be with one, if I had not had 10 years of uncomfortable computer training from taking classes in college. If I had just chosen to work a job that did not require me to use a computer, how computer literate would I be right now?
We do not all have the same skills in computers. A lot of adults and children cannot afford computers and therefore probably have an even harder time than I do. When I think of my own experiences, I also think about how someone else, with less materially than I have or have had in my life, might deal with the same issues. The children in most school districts are taught on computers, but how many have them at home? I know that they can easily access them at the public libraries but what if they cannot get to them?
Computer literacy is now, in my opinion the most important type of literacy, when it comes to getting into a better program in school, or getting a job. Unfortunately, we still live in a very uneven and unfair system here is the U.S. and people in other places around the world have it even worse. Look at the children in certain countries in Africa or the Middle East; they might not have a chance to even go to school, let alone enough time to become proficient in computer usage.
You asked us in class to think about our own and others' experiences with literacy. I have thought about it and I have come to the conclusion that our experiences differ more than they are the same. This is an issue that Deborah Brandt touched on but I really started to think about after I read most of the book and after the last class. How much has literacy changed since Deborah wrote this book? Will the gap grow even wider in the future? I hope not, especially with the web so easily at our fingertips, for some of us.
Literacy changes and we constantly have to learn more and more just to keep our heads above water. One of the reasons why I am so happy to be in this program is because there is such a push to become a computer expert in library work.

Hello, just for fun!

The New York Public Library cetainly does rock!

This is an update on recent acquisitions-Jessica

HeLa and the local library

I immensely enjoyed this book. I also enjoyed Rebecca Skloot's lecture to a great extent. I do, however have more questions that were not addressed in this book. For  instance, what is up with the local library in the town where the Lacks's live? Do they have many other materials that can or could aid Deborah Lacks and her family in finding more information about HeLa and what it was, where it has been and what that means to the world? There was a few sentences about Rebecca being taken to the local library by Miss Courtney Speed. Skloot was lucky enough to speak with Miss Speed when she drove to Turners Station hoping to visit the family. Miss Speed took her to the library and checked out a book for Rebecca to watch at Speed's Beauty Parlor. Obviously, from this part of the text, the local library was holding at least one important record which is the tape of the show the BBC produced about Henrietta and her cells. Rebecca was made to sit down and watch it but does not really tell us what she learned from it.

Libraries become, in some ways and some places, the keepers of local history. How important is this? How could the library have helped the Lacks family more than they did. I realize that many of the issues were just recently discovered when Rebecca researched them and compiled them but there was information out there available to the family, wasn't there? I guess my whole point in writing about this, is to say how important it is for the local libraries in places like Turner Station to keep track and make their patrons aware of what goes on or went on in their communities.

Obviously I enjoyed other parts of the books as well. Really, the thing that I enjoyed the most was Rebeccas' truthfulness in telling the perceptions she had of meeting the family and friends of Henrietta. She really did need to be a part of this story, because she was. As she said at the book lecture, Deborah told her that there were issues which she had access to because she was white, not just despite it. Anything else that she needed to know, people who were not white told her. She has written a truly remarkable book and I have been bragging about it to everyone I encounter since I have read it. I was really blown away by this one!

Decontextualization, Information Values and the Older Generations

Museums, Management, Media and Memory: Lessons from the Enola Gay Exhibition
by: Elizabeth Yakel

This is quite an interesting read. One of the most important first questions posed here is:

"Who has the authority to interpret history to the public-indeed, who 'owns' history?"

We already know what the answer was in the time of the atomic bombing of Nagaski and Hiroshima; the government and other great lords of censorship. However a person feels about this part of our history, they cannot deny that things are very different now. Whether good or bad, the media should uncover and present all sides of an issue to the public. I believe it is safe to say that we all know that this is not always the case in real-life, but it is not a crime to dream of a more balanced and truly democratic country.  My belief is that if scholarship is presented honestly, it can only aid in the public's intellectual and emotional decision-making process. Unfortunately, in some cases, more fully researching our past is not considered to be patriotic. I believe that we all need to have a more fully fleshed-out discussion about our past, as a country; but this is because I am from a certain, younger generation. My Grandfather was almost old enough to have been on of the potentionally dead as the time that the atomic bomb was dropped from the Enola Gay, referring to President Truman as "MY President." This is a source of true pride for him and I would never wish to rob him of that pride. On the other hand, I also believe that teaching the future generations of young people in this country to ask the tough questions and research the OTHER side of the issue is necessary for building a better and more humanitarian country.
Mom and Me: A difference in Information Values
I have never gone to a dealership to purchase a new car but I did purchase a used car and it was probably one of the worst car experiences ever for me! Wayne Wiegand's article in American Libraries was relatable, sweet and heart-felt, showing how the issues of the field of Library and Information Studies can be applied to everday life. I understand totally what he is saying because when I worked in public libraries, I would rarely see or be asked to pull out Consumer Reports for products. Few people think to do that when looking for a car unless they have used that information resource before and it has worked. It would be the first thing a librarian would do, but it is not the best way to decide for everyone. Color of a car, how it feels, and how it makes you feel emotionally when you see it or drive it are all factors that cannot be described as well thought-out or proven in a scientific sense but they are still the deciding factor for most people anyway.
Science isn't always the deciding factor. Information recieved from television, radio and discussion with other people like us can be the most important information for us. He uses as personal story to illustrate why we, in the field of Library and Information Studies, need to be sure to include all different kinds of ways of getting information and why one, cutting-edge, technological way may not be the best way and should certainly not be the ONLY way,Cute!

Information, gender and the miscellaneous.

Information as Thing
by: Michael K. Buckland

According to this article in the Journal of the Amercian Society for Information Science from 1991, there are three uses of the word "information." The first use is active, it is information as a process and this information is in the process of changing someone's knowledge and is in itself also in the process of being changed by that person as they process it. What a person gains from the process of taking in this information is known as knowledge. Finally, information as thing refers to the physical object which contains the information which then leads to knowledge. Buckland refers to the fact that sometimes, when given information which becomes knowledge, a person may become more confused because what they thought they knew has been changed in a process of information. Buckland writes about the differences between the first two definitions, information as process and information as knowlege, which are intangible, untouchable notions and the tangible and increasingly real information as thing. Just as the JSC (joint steering committee) for AACR2 was charged with updating the meanings of work, expression, manifestation and item; work and expression being closer to what Buckland calls information as process or knowledge and manifestation and item being closer to information as thing. Here, manifestation and item are tangible items, whereas work and expression are more ideas and intangible. This is an incredibly complicated way of saying something that I believe to be very clear, concise and simply understandable.

Everything Is Miscellaneous
by David Weinberger

Well, I personally think the ideas represented in this book are marvelous. I am a huge fan of Google Earth and bits have saved us both time and space. No system is perfect and I certainly let my digital photographs get out of control like most people but the idea of the "third order of order" where bits replace atoms and there is now enough room for all, subjects can be searched indefinately and automated according leaves me both swooning. I am just so amazed at how fast all of this has taken over and how much it has made our lives richer and more complicated. Although we now have less time to devote to these bits, they don't take as much time out of our days so I figure the pros and cons sort of even out eventually.


The Power to Name: Representations in Library Catalogs
by Hope Olson

National Digital Library

This is an article that I found from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Enjoy,
Jessica

Access to Online Local Govt. Public Records: The Privacy Paradox

I really enjoyed this article. I agree with the author that local governments are doing a pretty good job protecting certain sensative information from falling into the wrong hands. In the case of Joe the Plummer. Yes, he was thrust into the spotlight without his concent, really, but why should he be able to hide his personal life from the media. I would not be ashamed of people knowing my past. I've never been arrested or anything but I am sure people could have some interesting things to say about me. I say to those people who want to know about me, "bring it." I am not ashamed of anything I've ever done or if I am, there is a reason behind it which can be explained. If celebrities, in our society can be outed so easily, why can't the average man? If Joe, the plummer needs to pay his taxes, then maybe he should do that instead of going to political rallies and speaking about the corruption of Govt. all while being a goddamn hippocrite. If poor Joe can be discredited, than maybe he should be. If Joe has issue, it should be taken up with those who thrust him into the spotlight unwittingly, the McCain people, not the media. The McCain people were the ones responsible for changing Joe's status to "political ploy." The media was just doing their job. I think that it is hippocritical of us, as citizens to expect for our government to be transparent, while at the same time preferring non-transparency for our own personal cases.

On the other hand, after reading a bit about the case of Rebecca Shaefer, I would like to state that I do feel that maybe certain items such as place of residency, SSN and other such personal information (certain authorship and instrumental mapping information other than NAME) should not be made so easily accessible to the general public although they may be available elsewhere. This private information should be redacted from public records no matter what the cost and persons should be aware of what they are disclosing when they state their place of residency online. For those parts of a persons record which need to be kept secret, like SSN, personal address or phone #, perhaps there could be some kind of password for the govt. employees who need to have access. A person would have to go through some sort of verification process to get to that information from the Govt. agency, even if they can easily obtain it elsewhere. In other words, I feel that if you are arrested for an impropriety, have a domestic record which needed to be handled by a govt. agency, such as a divorce or some sort of dispute over property of business, this information should be disclosed to whoever has access to it, either on paper or through the internet.
I think that one of the major issues that we are really speaking of here is that not all records should be public. There will have to be much more care when placing documents into a publicly accessible database that the public is blocked from retrieving such information and that those who leak this information are prosecuted. I do not believe that it is right to block or seal the entire record from public view although states like Wisconsin and Oklahoma have chosen to do this either altogether or on a case-by-case basis.
In those cases where a person needs to pay money and register to access a record, I feel that registration can be required but people should not have to pay because this limits the access to only people who CAN pay, which is wrong as was done in the State of Rhode Island. I don't believe that having to pay for access would limit data-mining anyway, since much more money can be made by mining the data on a site than it would take to access it. I do like those little boxes on webpages where you have to enter the numbers and letters to access a site. This does help with computer program bots who are set to data-mine but it will not stop humans doing the same thing.
The real issue here is whether or not Govt. laws concerning open-access to records that are financial and personal in nature should be treated with the same as open to anyone while personal non-govt. records remain mostly closed. I believe that they should be treated differently but I also think that one should be able to do research on an individual if needed but without having easy access to their ultra-personal information which could potentially reak havoc on their lives and reputations if gotten hold of by the wrong parties.
I must say that one of the reason why I think I feel so strongly about certain descriptive and criminal data being fully disclosed about individuals online is because of my background as an art historian. We would not know anything about certain artist like Frans Hals for instance if it were not for Dutch court records and the birth and death dates of his children or wife. This information needs to be kept accessable while also keeping certain information unaccessible except maybe by specific request on a case-by-case basis.

Body of Research and Informed Consent
I found the article "Informed Consent" to be very interesting. I have tended to let the whole stem cell debate pass me by. I used to live right next to a large corporation for stem cell research in K.C. called the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. One day I was walking to my apt. from my parked car on the street right outside of Stowers and was inundated by hand-scrawled signs of all sizes being held  by protestors of all ages protesting stem cell research as "murder";  I thought to myself, "oh, these are the people who make it necessary for my local Planned Parenthood to employ such stringent security practices. I also thought of the Fred Phelps people in Topeka being ridiculous and protesting a Tori Amos concert with signs which stated "god hates fags." In other words, I just felt that these people were whiney, uneducated troublemakers forcing their imposed morality on others and using their president, George W., to justify their outbursts.

After reading this article, I understand more fully the justification for reform in the areas where consent forms are needed. Although I may still disagree with the protestors, I do believe that people need to be better informed about what the donation of their cells could mean and the NAS guidelines seem a perfect pattern to follow when revising these forms, which obviously needs to be done. Now, I certainly wouldn't protest this outside Stowers but I do feel that writing an article in a respected journal is the perfect way to protest, which our author has most skillfully done.  Valuable research needs to be performed to find new cures for old diseases and I don't think that putting more restrictions on everything is the answer. I agree with the author that after we overhaul these forms of consent, there will be no reason to reconsider federal funding. Obviously, this article would not have been possible without the Freedom of Information Act enabling the author to recieve copies of the forms from the NIH.

Reading is like eating wheaties?

The Company of Readers

I highly enjoyed the Ross reading this week. She provided me with many funny visual moments, like on page 5 when she lists different types of reading such as skimming, professional, pleasurable and reading aloud in a shared reading experience. I realize that the shared learning experience being referred to is most likely referring to adults reading to children in a story-time setting but I envisioned a large group of hippies sitting in a circle and reading aloud. I had to giggle because I have actually done this. When the author Hunter S. Thompson died, my friends decided to get together over some wild turkey while each of us in the group took turns reading our favorite Thompson exerpts aloud to each other. This was a fun shared reading experience and I am that hippie and so reading this made me laugh.

In the beginning of the Ross selection this week, she brought up statistics in opposition to each other. Some statistics show that readers are reading less because of the texting phonomenon. I believe that this may be true to a certain extent becuase of the time spent in our society on addictions to Facebook. I believe that the problem with our increasingly computer driven society is that people cannot seem to spend enough time doing in-depth reading for pleasure or information. They choose instead to watch movies and go online to play on Facebook which just sucks up too much time. But I guess Facebook would be a form of reading, wouldn't it? On the other hand, I know plenty of book addicts who manage to spend tons of time tweeting and Facebooking and still somehow find time for some serious pleasurable reading. Don't mistake me here, I am not saying that Facebook and television are affecting peoples ability to read but I am saying that these activities are taking time away from reading. I agree with the author that reading is practiced. We must practice to become more comfortable and if our time is spent on other things, this simply cannot happen.

Anyway, I feel that many readers get left behind for varying reasons. One reason which I have seen in my own family, is that a person might work a job which does not require reading, such as painting houses or other construction work. Long hours, hard physical labor and little time off may make this person more inclined to sitting and enjoying television rather than taking the time to navigate through a book or magazine. The example above is my father. He is a smart man and a hard worker but he does not read unless he has to and I believe this stems from not being read to as a child (mother was an alcoholic), not being instilled with a passion of reading for pleasure (as Ross's article alludes to), and as a result, he does not feel comfortable when reading today. Also he is just worn out after a hard day at work and wants to enjoy himself in a way that he finds relaxing, which is never reading. When he has been out of work for short periods of time, he doesn't read any more than he did while working. He just does not find it pleasurable. I think this is the same for a lot of people. This could change over time but he has to be committed to changing it.

What is the solution? Well, the strategy that I have taken with my father in particular is to try to introduce readings that he is interested in such as an article from Smithsonian or Nature. Also, I  have tried to get him to read through my papers from school. I am trying to force reading on him but in the most benign way possible.

Reading is a social activity

Oh, the models-those models which utterly confused me yesterday were made much more clear tonight in our discussion of them. Neither model really accounts for everything because it is a model. Models are not really supposed to be specific. I guess I never thought of reading groups as having so much power as to constitute their own group. That could be a really scary concept if taken on by the wrong group. There is one in particular that I am thinking of right now, but they don't really read, except for Sarah Palin's books, so I guess we're safe, huh?

Unequal legacies: Race and multiculturalism in the LIS curriculum by Christine Pawley

Although I had already read this article before, it was a pleasure to read it again and confirms my good choice to drop everything in Kansas City and move here to study with such a fine faculty open to new ways of thinking about both our past and our future as information professionals.

I read this article when I was researching library schools. I looked at the staff pages of three institutions and picked out Christine as the person who I felt did research that was close to what I planned on attempting to study. As a matter of fact, after reading this, I felt a little anxious because I realized that I was a 30 year old white girl from the midwest who was trying to get into a library studies program. I figured at that point I had better stress the fact that I was from an atypical working class background which most likely set me apart from over half the student population; otherwise I am just another white girl trying to be a librarian. I know that Christine didn't mean it that way, or did she?

First of all, I like how she writes about "race-neutral spaces,"; although I feel that it is very important to talk about inequalities in our society, it's a nice thought. We cannot make these issues go away by ignoring them. We need to put them out in the open and pinpoint where we went wrong and then try to imagine ourselves in a better and more equal place where everyone gets to play the library game in the same building and even the same room. I agree with her about the blanket term "multiculturalism" and how it serves to hide the problems from us that still face us as a nation and as future librarians.

Page 60 of the text hit me particularly hard, when Christine points to subject headings for "public libraries/Services to minorities" and then lists 7 minorities which do not include German and Irish Americans.

Christine points to the vast technological changes that libraries warmed to so quickly and learned with as much speed and grace as is possible in that situation. Could we also change parts of our curriculum to study these issues. I guess that is partially what we are doing now, in this class but we may need more.