Archive for September 16th, 2003

Librarian Breaks Stereotype

Tuesday, September 16th, 2003

Somewhere in all the recent discussion about the librarian action figure, someone said to keep an eye out for articles about librarians who don’t fit the stereotype; see if any news agencies report about librarians in non-stereotypical ways. Here’s one example from The Philadelphia Inquirer, though I have to wonder whether rare book librarian Laura [...]

“Ashcroft Mocks Librarians”

Tuesday, September 16th, 2003

John Ashcroft is attacking the American Library Association for its work against the USA PATRIOT ACT. “”If he’s coming after us so specifically, we must be having an impact,’ said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the library association’s Washington office.” Apparently John Ashcroft hasn’t learned the lesson Michael Moore knows: don’t mess with librarians. (Not [...]

GAO Report on FOIA Requests (pdf)

Tuesday, September 16th, 2003

The United States General Accounting Office examined how U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s policy changes regarding Freedom of Information Act disclosures have influenced FOIA disclosures. At the beginning of each new presidential administration, the Attorney General distributes a memo regarding FOIA compliance. Ashcroft’s memo in October, 2001, indicated a much more conservative policy for releasing [...]

A Day in the Life of a Collections Librarian

Tuesday, September 16th, 2003

Dennis Dillon, assistant director for collections and information resources at the General Libraries of the University of Texas at Austin, contributed a “day in the life” sketch of what he faces each day to this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education. This subscriber-access-only timeline shows how he deals with faculty who want to subscribe to expensive [...]

Competia Interviews SLA President-Elect Ethel Salonen

Tuesday, September 16th, 2003

Ethel Salonen, who I know through the Boston Chapter of the Special Libraries Association, talks about the importance of the Special Libraries Association, industry trends, and keeping up-to-date in this interview with Competia Online Magazine. Ethel is currently SLA’s president-elect. She will become president in June 2004. (Competia is a “consultancy and training organization for [...]