Sunday 29 March 2009

Ruth Rikowski's 5th News Update





1. Article about the Benns by Ruth Rikowski
Last October (2006) I went to hear Tony Benn speaking about his diaries and archiving his material at CILIP Members' Day. It was very interesting, uplifting as well as witty, as indeed, Tony's speeches always are, in my view. I decided to write up a report about it and to include some further reflections, linking it to our own connections with the Benns and how they have inspired and motivated both Glenn Rikowski and myself over many, many years. In particular, Caroline Benn enthusiastically read and endorsed Glenn's little book, The Battle in Seattle: its significance for education, London: Tufnell Press, 2001, shortly before she died. This report is now available on our website - further details below.

'The Inspiration of the Benns: Reflection and Report'
Speaking about his Diaries and Archiving Material:‘The Importance of Keeping our History’at the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Members’ Day, on 26th October 2006, 6-7pm. Held at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Brunei Gallery, University of London.
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Tony%20and%20Caroline%20Benn





2. Article about Cambridge University Occupation by Ruth Rikowski
Last October (2006) I was also invited to give a talk at an occupation Teach-In at Cambridge University, against student top-up fees. This proved to be a very significant event - the first occupation at Cambridge for 5 years. There were a number of different speakers, including Joyce Canaan, University of Central England; Daniel Randall, National Union of Students and Ed Emery, who started the idea of the 'Free University'. There was also a slide presentation about 'Art and Anarchism' from Martyn Everett and a film by the Autonomous Study Project.
Given the importance of the event, I also wrote a report up about that as well and inserted it on our website - further details below.

Occupation of Sidgwick Lecture Theatre at Cambridge UniversityOrganised by Cambridge Education Not for Sale, 24-25th October 2006, from 6pm – 5am


Occupation of Sidgwick Lecture Theatre at Cambridge University by Ruth Rikowski

Building on the theme of the Free University (which Ed Emery spoke about), Koos Couvée, a student at Sussex University, wrote a piece about the Free University of Brighton, and this was also inserted on our website (and was also inserted in various other places). It is available in the 'Contributions' section – see
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=contributions&sub=Free%20University%20of%20Brighton Free University of Brighton by Koos Couvée


3. Obtaining Information for Social Change (ISC) issues (winter and summer) by subscription
ISC articles are available for free and to all and can be simply downloaded from the ISC website – http://libr.org/ISC Information for Social Change
However, if readers would like to receive a personal copy, then this can be obtained by subscription.

Thus, readers can Subscribe on the ISC Web site to receive future issues of Information for Social Change by email.
* The journal is free and will be emailed in PDF format to the email address you provide.* Subscribers will not be asked for any personal information. * Subscribers can unsubscribe from ISC at any time. * Email addresses will remain private and will not be shared by ISC, and there will be no 'SPAM'.
To subscribe to ISC visit:
http://www.libr.org/ISC/toc.html


4. Writing an article for insertion on 'Contributions' section of our website
We now have a separate 'Contributions' section on our 'Flow of Ideas' website, where we invite contributions from others - primarily in the form of short articles, poems, reports and short stories on subject areas pertinent to the main theme of the website, but we are happy to consider other material as well. You can email us about this through our website, or directly to - rikowskigr@aol.com.
Submissions in Word please (or if not, a simple text format).
The contributions section is at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=contributions



5. Writing an article for ISC
If anyone is interested in writing an article for the ejournal Information for Social Change, please do contact the individual Editors of the forthcoming special issues
See: http://libr.org/isc/forthcoming.html

The forthcoming issues will be on the following themes:

Library and information workers as political actors in times of war, civil war, military occupation, and social conflicts worldwide -
Edited by Toni Samek (email: toni.samek ualberta.ca) and Martyn Lowe (email: martynlowe usa.net) Summer 2007
(ii) Social Exclusion Edited by John Pateman and John Vincent (email: johnpateman9 hotmail.com) Winter 2007
(iii) Radical Bookshops - Edited by Martyn Lowe (email: martynlowe usa.net) Summer 2008
(iv) Principle of free library services and The democratic public library - Edited by Anders Ericson (email: frilanders gmail.com) Winter 2008




6. Contributing to the Forum on our website
We also have a Forum on our website, and warmly invite contributions. Log in procedure is very straightforward.
See: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/forum.php


7. Managing Information Goes Electronic: PDF version of print magazine, MI Lite and new blog
Managing Information the Award-winning magazine (the monthly ASLIB magazine) now has some new, exciting online features. I was the former book reviews editor of MI and have a variety of published articles and book reviews in it.
The new online features include: PDF versions of the print magazine, MI Lite and a new blog.

PDF Versions of Print Magazine - MI subscribers can now get PDF versions of the print magazine for 2006 and 2007 as they are published. Subscribers can subscribe to the print version only, electronic version only or both.

MI Lite - MI Lite (also by subscription) is an abridged PDF of the full magazine. MI Lite includes sample articles from the full magazine, as well as some material that will be written specifically for MI Lite


MI Web Log - the previous MI Forum has now evolved into a blog, available to MI subscribers. There are 2 items on it that are of particular interest to me, that I will be contributing to - see items below (all this information is available on the latest free MI newsletter). The second item refers once again to The Feminist Library, but also alerts us to the threat posed to the Wanlockhead Miner's Library in Scotland. It is the second oldest subscription library in Europe, and was established in 1756 with 32 men. Once again, this is another library that it would surely be a tragedy to lose.
Hopefully, this will lead to a lively discussion on these important subjects, re the modern public library and threats to specialist library collections.

Information from Managing Information Newsletter, of 15th March, Issue No 243 [reproduced with kind permission]
Blueprint For Public Library Excellence - Your Views?March 15th, 2007The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has launched a consultation A Blueprint for Excellence, which aims to set out ‘a shared universal understanding of the role of the modern public library and of the core services that the public can expect. The fact that the term ‘Blueprint’ with its suggestion of accuracy, precision, professionalism, high standards, rather than the over-used currently popular term ‘roadmap’, which to many suggests spin and is associated with incompetence, poor planning and not thinking things through, is an encouraging sign…http://www.managinginformation.com/subscribers/index.htm Blueprint for Public Library Excellence
Special Collections In DangerMarch 13th, 2007 A number of special libraries or special collections are currently in danger, Wanlockhead Miner’s Library and the Feminist Library being 2 examples. The pressures being brought about by the diversion of funds towards the London Olympics have the potential to undermine the funding of libraries. The aim of this section is to produce a list of special collections which are in danger of closure and dispersal. Please enter in this section any special collections which come to your attention as being threatened.http://www.managinginformation.com/subscribers/index.htm Special Collections in Danger


8. Managing Information Weekly Newsletter
For those of you that do not already know, Managing Information has a weekly newsletter with the latest news stories, event listings, employment vacancies and more. This service is completely FREE. You can sign up for the newsletter, by sending an email to Benjamin Dudoit, Assistant Editor - mailto:newsletter@aslib.com with your details. Previous newsletters are available on the Managing Information website at: http://www.managinginformation.com/newsletter.htm Managing Information Newsletters

9. Rikowski Newsletter
The aim of the Rikowski Newsletter is to tell people about some forthcoming and upcoming events and publications that Glenn and Ruth Rikowski are involved in. It has been going since 24th July 2006.


Best wishes

Ruth

March 2007

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