dws@mit-eddie.UUCP (Don Saklad) (03/16/84)
Boston has asked for some feedback as the search for a library director continues: It seems that a scientist or humanist is needed rather than a librarian per se, for a generalist will likely consider the community and the mandate of the library service. Now, preservation has priority over access to books, records and other resources there. All the good intentions do not survive the bureaucracy and misinformation about locating materials. The last direction of the institution focused on foreign language books and catalog computerization. Next, a administrator should look at users, visitors and reaching out to fulfill a mandate for library service to the community.
dws@mit-eddie.UUCP (Don Saklad) (03/21/84)
Library's arrogance and imperial attitude: When locating books and records in Boston, they delay or refuse to allow access to documentation on the resources of the institution. They say internal matter is not the province of public oversight. This includes inhouse documentation about the work of the library. This documentation is public record. How would users and visitors to the library know capabilities and limitations of library services? Existing annual reports and manuals for different departments of the library would serve to acquaint everyone with specific library services as well as deriving greater support from readers.
berry@zinfandel.UUCP (03/24/84)
#R:mit-eddi:-144100:zinfandel:24200003:000:1171 zinfandel!berry Mar 22 09:19:00 1984 Re: imperial libraries. I am a graduate of the University of California and a life member of the UC Riverside Alumni Association. When I left UCR the head librarian no less told me that as a graduate I would be able to get library priveleges in any UC library forever, whether I was an Alumni Assoc. member or not. So I get a great job in Computers making Lots of Money and move to the San Francisco Bay area. Ah, wonderful. Berkeley has such a good library. Well, after being told that I was low scum for not being a BERKELEY graduate (BERKELEY is THE University of California, maybe we'll deign to acknowledge UCLA, but the rest of you slugs aren't worth noticing), and being refused permission to inspect the Library regulations which the Gestapo agent at the circulation desk claimed didn't exist, I finally waved my Alumni card at them and they condescended to allow me temporary priveleges. ARRGGGHHHH. I feel better now. Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900 (P.S. a librarian (not a drone) in the Reference section of the main UC library was once very helpful indeed. Thank YOU.) (PPS closed stacks suck.)
dws@mit-eddie.UUCP (Don Saklad) (03/27/84)
Central library at Copley Square, Boston delays or refuses requests for documentation about policies, proceedures, rules and regulations. Annual reports and department manuals aren't accessible and it's a public library--a division of municipal government. They're intimidated and defensive on reference questions about the library per se, yet it'd be one smallway to kindle any visitor's or user's interest about library concerns. NYPL Opens the Book on Censorship _________________________________ Beginning June 1, The New York Public Library will explore the subject of censorship through major exhibitions, films and public forums. CENSORSHIP: 500 YEARS OF CONFLICT __________________________________ The most comprehensive exhibit ever mounted on the subject of censorship will inaugurate the restored Gottesman Exhibition Hall, closed for 40 years. More than 250 rarebooks, prints and manuscripts, drawn entirely from the Library's collections, will trace five centuries of censorship in Western culture, from the advent of printing to the present. Central Research Library, June 1- October 15. Monday-Saturday, 10-6; For details call 221-7676. COMPLEMENTARY EXHIBITIONS _________________________ Four exhibitions will focus on specialized topics of censorship: Censorship in the Slavic World and ______________________________ Censorship in Libraries Today, at the Central Research Library, _____________________________ June 1-October 15; Censorship in Black America, ___________________________ at the Schomburg Center, July 13-October 15; Censorship of British and American Theater, August 1-October 15. __________________________________________ For details call 221-7676. EXHIBITION TOURS ________________ Hour long tours of the three Censorship exhibits in the Central Research Library will be given Monday- Saturday at noon and 2 p. m. each day. To arrange a group tour, call 930-0501. FILMS _____ A series of 12 controversial films will be screened uncensored at the Donnell Library at 53rd Street. Cosponsored by Exit Art, the series will take place on Thursday evenings at 6 p. m., June 21-August. For details call 930-0855. PUBLIC FORUMS _____________ A series of panel discussions entitled "Who reads What? Censorship in School Libraries" will take place on Tuesday evenings at 6 p. m. on June 5, 12 and 19. Writers, librarians, community activists and academics will participate. From September to mid October, readings and panel discussions on contemporary issues of censorship will feature journalists, legislators, expatriate writers and community activists. Trustees Room, Central Research Library; for details and reservations, call 930-0855. --The New York Public Library Calendar of Exhibitions & Events, April-May 1984